Context: In the Union Budget 2025–26, the government announced healthcare coverage for gig workers registered on the e-Shram portal, launched in 2021.
- The measure was expected to benefit over 1 crore gig workers, but registrations remain far below the estimated workforce.
Large Registration–Workforce Gap
- As of January 29, 2026, only 8.58 lakh gig workers were registered on e-Shram, according to the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
- Even if registrations had subsequently doubled, they would cover only around 15% of the estimated gig workforce, leaving roughly 5 out of 6 gig workers outside the formal government database/social-security reach.
- The gap also highlights India's limited ability to measure and understand the rapidly expanding gig economy.
India’s Gig Workforce: Estimation Problem
- The frequently cited estimate of over 1 crore gig workers largely originates from NITI Aayog’s 2022 report, “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy”, which estimated 77 lakh gig workers in 2020–21.
- The report projected the workforce to rise to 1.27 crore in 2024–25 and 1.43 crore in 2025–26.
- In the absence of regular, dedicated measurement, these projections continue to serve as the principal basis for government estimates.
e-Shram: Gateway to Social Security
- e-Shram is an Aadhaar-seeded National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW) designed to create a unified database of unorganised workers, including gig workers.
- Linking access to welfare benefits with registration makes e-Shram an important mechanism for identification, tracking and delivery of social-security benefits to informal workers.
- The Budget announcement appears to have significantly increased gig-worker registrations, but coverage remains inadequate.
Weakness in Labour Data
- The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) does not yet capture gig workers as a separate category, despite their estimated share of around 2% of India’s total workforce of 61.6 crore in the 2025 PLFS.
- This creates a data gap for designing targeted policies on employment, wages, working conditions and social security.
Legal Recognition and Social Security
- The Code on Social Security, 2020 provided India's formal legal definition of a gig worker and came into force in 2025.
- It envisages benefits including accident insurance, maternity benefits and a dedicated social-security fund, but most of these provisions have yet to fully materialise.
- Thus, legal recognition has advanced faster than actual delivery of social protection.
Uneven State-wise Registration
- Registration growth has been highly uneven across States, indicating differences in awareness, platform-worker concentration, registration efforts and administrative outreach.
- Despite their high urbanisation and substantial service-sector activity, Tamil Nadu (31,654), Telangana (29,951) and Kerala (11,219) were not among the top 10 States in gig-worker registrations.
Sectoral Concentration
- NITI Aayog identified 21 sectors employing gig workers, including agriculture, healthcare, education and retail.
- However, e-Shram registrations show significant concentration in food services, transportation, and domestic/household work, reflecting the prominent role of platform-based delivery, mobility and personal services in India's gig economy.
Important Terms
- Gig worker: A person who earns income through work arrangements outside the traditional employer–employee relationship, generally undertaking short-term or task-based work.
- Platform worker: A person engaged through an online platform to access organisations or individuals seeking specific services; it is a subset within the broader gig economy.
Way Forward
- India needs regular and comprehensive measurement of gig employment, including a distinct category in labour surveys such as PLFS.
- e-Shram registration should be expanded through State-level outreach, platform companies and simplified registration, while ensuring that registration translates into actual social-security benefits.
- Effective implementation of the Code on Social Security, 2020 is essential to provide gig workers meaningful protection against health, accident, maternity and income-related risks.
