New Delhi: The Union government is finalising a social security scheme for gig workers, which will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval. If the scheme is implemented, it will secure India’s growing gig economy workforce.
Business Today, citing sources, reported that the Ministry of Labour is currently in talks with gig worker associations, online aggregators, and state governments to fix the approach. It will be a 1-2 % contribution from every platform based on gig workers’ daily earnings.
Each gig worker will be enrolled on the e-Shram portal of the Ministry of Labour and will get a 12-digit Universal Account Number (UAN) as announced in the budget on February 1, 2025. A number will serve as their identification, and contributions will be collected from them by their work platforms. This will bring the workers into the benefits of provident fund and pension. While the platforms have not yet settled on the contribution amount, it’s set to be between 1–2%.
If a gig worker opts for a conventional job later, his or her social security account in the gig sector will be linked with their Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) account. According to the NITI Aayog, there were an estimated 7.7 million gig workers in India in 2020-21; this number has increased to more than 10 million now. Gig workers who don’t currently make salaries or have any allowances will likely benefit from this scheme.
The budget also said gig workers will be covered by the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), the government’s ambitious health insurance scheme.