Manikantha Nataraj

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Labour process theory and political economy of labour
  • Algorithmic management and platform capitalism
  • Global production networks
  • Qualitative and quantitative research methods

Biography

Manikantha holds a PhD in Work, Employment and Organisation from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, an M.Phil in Applied Economics from the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, and an MA in Economics from the University of Hyderabad. His doctoral research on Amazon’s logistics networks in South India examined how algorithmic management, digital infrastructure, and subcontracting relations shape labour processes, working conditions, and workers’ rights through the lens of labour process theory, science and technology studies, and global production networks.

Before joining Azim Premji University, he worked as a Research Consultant at the National Centre for Good Governance, and Guest Lecturer and Knowledge Exchange Fellow at Strathclyde Business School. He collaborated with the Madras Institute of Development Studies on the Tamil Nadu Economic Survey 2025 – 26, the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, on the OXCGRT India project (2020 – 22), and the Officer of the Disability Commissioner, Government of Bihar, on the 2020 employment survey for persons with disabilities. 

Outside academia, he enjoys playing chess and listening to EDM.

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

Technical and government reports

Public facing articles

Working papers