Majority of India’s gig workers remain out of govt.’s reach, Pg9

Key Highlights:

• The Union government announced healthcare coverage for gig workers registered on the e-Shram portal in the 2025-26 Budget.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman projected this measure to benefit over one crore gig workers.
• As of January 29, 2026, only 8.58 lakh gig workers were registered on the e-Shram portal, indicating a significant gap.
• This means approximately five out of every six gig workers remain outside the government's reach for these benefits.

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Detailed Insights:

• The estimated size of India's gig workforce, often cited as over one crore, primarily stems from the NITI Aayog's June 2022 report, 'India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy'.
• This NITI Aayog report estimated 77 lakh gig workers in 2020-21, projecting 1.27 crore in 2024-25 and 1.43 crore in 2025-26.
• The e-Shram portal functions as an Aadhaar-seeded National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW), making registration a prerequisite for availing government benefits.
• The Code on Social Security, 2020, which came into force last year, officially defined gig workers and promised benefits like accident insurance and maternity benefits, though most are yet to materialize.
• Despite the gig workforce accounting for about 2% of India's total workforce, Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) reports are yet to capture gig workers as a distinct category.
• Registrations on e-Shram have not been uniform across states, with highly urbanized states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala not featuring among the top 10.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Gig Worker: An individual who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship.
• e-Shram Portal: A national database launched in 2021 for unorganised workers, including gig workers, to register and avail social security benefits.
• Code on Social Security, 2020: One of the four labour codes in India that consolidates laws relating to social security, officially defining gig workers and platform workers.
• NITI Aayog: A public policy think tank of the Government of India, responsible for formulating economic policy and programs.