India’s gig worker social security system has taken another institutional step forward with the government notifying a National Social Security Board covering unorganised workers as well as gig and platform workers.
The move matters because India’s app-driven economy has expanded far faster than the traditional employment structures built around salaries, provident funds and employer-provided benefits. Delivery riders, drivers and other platform workers can earn through digital marketplaces without fitting neatly into the conventional employer-employee model.
The new board does not by itself mean every gig worker will immediately receive every social-security benefit. It does, however, create a formal national body under the labour-code framework to advise on and support welfare schemes for a workforce that is expected to become much larger.
Gig Worker Social Security Gets a National Board
The Ministry of Labour and Employment notified the National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers and Gig & Platform Workers on October 30.
The institutional foundation comes from the Code on Social Security, 2020, which came into force in November 2025. The code formally recognises gig workers and platform workers and provides for social-security schemes covering areas such as life and disability protection, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits and old-age protection.
It also provides for a Social Security Fund intended to finance welfare measures.
This is important because platform work sits between two familiar categories. A delivery rider or app-based driver may depend heavily on one or more digital platforms for income, yet may not receive the benefits normally associated with a salaried job.
The policy challenge is to provide meaningful protection without pretending that every platform relationship looks identical to traditional employment.
India’s Platform Workforce Is Growing Quickly
The scale of the issue is significant.
A NITI Aayog estimate cited by the government put India’s gig and platform workforce at about 7.7 million in 2020-21 and projected it could reach 23.5 million by 2029-30.
That growth is tied directly to the digital economy.
Food delivery, ride-hailing, logistics, home services, ecommerce and other app-based businesses have created flexible earning opportunities at enormous scale. Consumers benefit from convenience, while platforms can expand without building a conventional workforce for every transaction.
The trade-off is that income can be volatile and benefits may not travel easily when workers move between platforms.
The government has already been building some of the infrastructure needed to address that gap. Platform workers can register on the e-Shram portal, and policy measures have included identity cards and healthcare coverage initiatives.
By the end of 2025, more than 31 crore workers had registered on e-Shram across the wider unorganised workforce, while a dedicated platform-worker module had begun onboarding aggregators.
Why Portability Matters in the Digital Economy
Traditional social security is often linked to a specific employer. Platform work can be different.
A driver might use more than one ride-hailing application. A delivery worker can move between services. Someone may combine gig work with another occupation.
That makes portability central to any credible gig worker social security architecture.
An Aadhaar-linked identity on e-Shram can help create continuity when a worker changes platforms or location. The larger challenge is connecting that identity to actual benefits, contributions and claims in a way that is simple enough to work at scale.
The Code on Social Security also recognises aggregators as part of the system. That is crucial because the financing of worker protection cannot depend entirely on workers who may already have unpredictable incomes.
Implementation will determine how effectively responsibilities are divided among platforms, government and workers.
The Board Is Important, but Execution Is the Real Test
Creating a national board provides a place for policy coordination. It does not eliminate difficult questions.
Who qualifies for a particular benefit? How are contributions calculated when someone earns through several apps? What happens when platform records and worker declarations differ? How quickly can a worker make a claim after an accident? How are grievances handled?
Those operational details will decide whether the system feels like meaningful protection or another registration exercise.
There is also a business dimension.
India wants digital platforms to keep creating services, investment and earning opportunities. Excessive compliance complexity could disproportionately hurt smaller platforms. Weak protections, however, can shift too much risk onto workers while platforms capture the advantages of flexible labour.
The policy goal is therefore not simply more regulation. It is a workable balance between flexibility and security.
What This Means for Platforms and Workers
For large aggregators, social-security compliance is becoming part of the cost and infrastructure of operating in India’s digital economy. Worker registration, contribution records and benefit interfaces are likely to become increasingly important operational systems rather than peripheral policy issues.
For workers, the promise is more fundamental: access to protection that does not disappear simply because work is arranged through an app.
India’s gig worker social security framework is still evolving, and the creation of the National Social Security Board should not be mistaken for completion of that process.
But institutions matter.
India spent the last decade building digital infrastructure that made platforms easier to scale. The next phase is about building the social infrastructure needed around those platforms.
If the board can turn legal recognition into portable, accessible benefits, it could become an important bridge between India’s fast-growing digital economy and the millions of people whose work keeps that economy moving.
