Gig workers enter the safety net, on paper first

A delivery rider has no employer in the traditional sense, and for years that meant no safety net either: no group health insurance, no paid sick leave, no employer pension contribution. In 2026 that began to change in law, though not yet in payouts. The four labour codes, including the Code on Social Security, 2020, came into force on 21 November 2025. The Code defines gig workers, those who earn outside a traditional employer-employee relationship, and platform workers, a subset who find work through an online platform, and it requires aggregators to contribute to a social security fund. The Social Security (Central) Rules, 2026, followed on 8 May 2026 and filled in the details.

The rules set an eligibility threshold that is itself controversial. To qualify for benefits, a worker needs at least 90 days of work with one aggregator in a financial year, or 120 days across several platforms, and eligibility ends at age 60. Aggregators must register on a government portal, share worker details including joiners and exits, and contribute 1 to 2 per cent of annual turnover to the fund, capped at 5 per cent of what they pay workers. The fund is meant to pay for life and disability cover, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, and old-age support. Workers register on the e-Shram portal with Aadhaar and receive a universal account number.

The scale is large. Nearly one crore workers were engaged in India's gig and platform economy as of 29 May 2026, and government projections place the number at around 2.5 crore by the end of the decade. The Union Budget 2025-26 had already announced identity cards, e-Shram registration, and health cover under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which provides health cover up to 5 lakh rupees a year, for about one crore gig and platform workers. Platform companies were directed to integrate worker data with e-Shram by 22 June 2026.

The honest caveat is that, as of late 2026, no central scheme had been notified under the Code, so platform workers were not yet receiving payouts from the new fund, and the announced Ayushman Bharat cover was still waiting to launch. States moved faster on their own: Rajasthan passed India's first gig-worker law in 2023, Karnataka followed in 2025 with a welfare board and cess, Telangana passed its own bill, and Tamil Nadu extended its manual workers' welfare board framework to platform workers. In late 2026 the Labour Ministry also notified two National Social Security Boards, for unorganised workers and for gig and platform workers, to design and monitor welfare schemes. Recognition in law is a real step; money in hand is the next one.