India has granted legal status to millions of gig and platform workers under a new labor framework that took effect on Friday — a landmark shift for delivery, ride-hailing, and e-commerce workers. But despite the recognition, access to social security remains uncertain, and key protections still hinge on future regulations that have not yet been clarified.
Legal Status Arrives Without Clear Benefits
The change comes through the Code on Social Security, the only one of four newly implemented labor codes that mentions gig and platform workers. The other codes — covering wages, industrial relations, and workplace safety — do not extend minimum pay, employment protections, or working-condition guarantees to this workforce.
India has one of the world’s fastest-growing gig economies, with more than 12 million workers powering services from food delivery to online retail logistics. Major platforms — including Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Blinkit, Zepto, Uber, Ola, and Rapido — rely on gig workers who currently lack most conventional labor protections.
Under the new code, aggregators must contribute 1–2% of their annual revenue (capped at 5% of payments to workers) to a government-run social security fund. But major questions remain unresolved: what benefits will be offered, how eligibility will work, how contributions will be tracked across multiple platforms, and when payouts will begin.
The framework envisions extending workers to schemes such as Employees’ State Insurance and provident fund, but those details depend on future rules that states must draft and implement.
Implementation Likely to Vary by State
Because labor policy is shared between India’s federal and state governments, experts warn that benefits may roll out unevenly. Some states, like Karnataka, have moved quickly on gig-worker protections; others, like Rajasthan, have stalled legislation despite initial approval.
Platform companies have expressed cautious support but are still evaluating their obligations. Amazon India, Zepto, and food-delivery firm Eternal (formerly Zomato) all said they are reviewing the changes, though they expect manageable financial impact. E-commerce and delivery platforms will now face new compliance requirements, including registering workers, tracking contributions across multiple apps, and setting up grievance mechanisms.
A major barrier is registration on India’s E-Shram portal, which currently lists just 300,000 platform workers — a fraction of the estimated 10 million in the sector. Trade unions say many gig workers cannot afford to take time off to register, and the perceived benefits remain limited compared to urgent issues such as unstable earnings, sudden account deactivations, and lack of recourse.
Several unions are calling for withdrawal of the new labor laws and for gig workers to be granted minimum wage protections and a formal employer–employee relationship, neither of which the code provides.
Globally, courts in countries like the U.K., Spain, and New Zealand have moved toward treating platform workers as employees or “workers.” India’s new legal framework instead defines them as a separate category outside traditional employment, setting the boundaries for future protections.
Featured image credits: Zoshua Colah via Unsplash
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