Hailing the budgetary allocation for labour welfare in the Union Budget 2025, Union Minister for Labour and Employment Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday said that social security for “gig workers” is a transformative step.

He stated that the gig workforce is a vital pillar of India’s new-age economy, driving innovation and efficiency across digital platforms.

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Mandaviya said recognising their contribution, the government’s decision to provide them with identity cards, e-Shram registration, and healthcare security under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is a transformative step towards their social security and well-being, and added that this initiative will empower nearly one crore gig workers.

Beyond this, the Government remains committed to extending social security benefits to workers in other unorganised sectors as well, ensuring dignity, security, and prosperity for every worker in the country, he said.

The Minister said India’s gig and platform economy has witnessed rapid expansion, with NITI Aayog’s report ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ projecting that the workforce in this sector will cross one crore in 2024-25 and grow to 2.35 crore by 2029-30.

Recognising this transformation, he said the Code on Social Security, 2020 for the first time, defined ‘aggregator’, ‘gig worker’ and ‘platform worker and introduced legal provisions for gig and platform workers for the first time, ensuring their inclusion in social security measures.

“The Union Budget 2025-26 marks a significant milestone in this journey, with a comprehensive initiative to extend formal recognition and social security benefits to platform-based gig workers. The Finance Minister has announced measures to facilitate their identification through unique identity cards, streamline their registration on the e-Shram portal, and ensure access to healthcare under PM Jan Arogya Yojana. These steps will further strengthen the safety net for over 1 crore gig workers across sectors,” the Minister said.

He also informed that a pilot initiative has already been undertaken by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment to register platform workers and aggregators on the e-Shram portal.

“An Aggregator Module has also been piloted enabling digital platforms to onboard themselves and their workforce onto India’s national database for unorganised workers. As part of this pilot, four leading aggregators—Urban Company, Zomato, Blinkit, and Uncle Delivery—have already registered,” Mandaviya said.

He said the Budget 2025 announcement marks a significant expansion of this initiative, enabling a massive scale-up and institutionalising these efforts.

With enhanced resources, the initiative will ensure that every gig and platform worker has access to essential social security benefits through eShram portal, reinforcing the government’s commitment to safeguarding the interests of this workforce, added Mandaviya.