Purpose: This study examines the structural impact of algorithmic management and platform governance on work precarity, cognitive strain, and psychological well-being among app-based delivery and logistics workers in urban India. Grounded in Labor Process Theory, Agency Theory, and the Conservation of Resources model, it investigates how automated surveillance, dynamic pricing, and opaque evaluation mechanisms reconfigure labor conditions.

Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods research design was employed. Quantitative survey data collected from urban platform workers were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Relative Weight Analysis (RWA) in IBM SPSS to evaluate the predictive power of specific algorithmic controls. Qualitative interviews were concurrently conducted to explore workers' lived experiences, coping strategies, and emerging modes of resistance against automated platform systems.

Findings: The results demonstrate that intense algorithmic surveillance—specifically real-time geo-fencing and speed monitoring—significantly increases work precarity and cognitive strain. Algorithmic opacity and the lack of transparent grievance redressal force workers to internalize operational risks, leading to prolonged working hours to meet target thresholds. While workers develop adaptive coping mechanisms and engage in informal resistance to mitigate resource loss, institutional and regulatory gaps perpetuate their structural vulnerability.

Research limitations/implications: The findings provide empirical evidence on how automated management practices systematically generate precarity in developing economies. The study highlights the need to expand labor process frameworks by incorporating the psychological costs of continuous algorithmic control.

Practical implications: The study emphasizes the urgent need for regulatory interventions, including mandatory algorithmic transparency, fair dispute resolution channels, and standardized social protections for platform workers in emerging markets.

Originality/value: This research contributes to the platform economy literature by offering an integrated empirical account of how algorithmic control mechanisms systematically impair worker well-being and fuel precarity within the Global South context