Workers will have to be employed with a single aggregator for a minimum period of 90 days in a year to avail social security benefits, as per pre-published draft rules on Code for Social Security
Amidst debate over welfare of gig workers, Centre’s pre-published draft rules states that such workers will have to be employed with a single aggregator for a minimum period of 90 days in a year to avail social security benefits, including for health, life and personal accident insurance. Gig workers, engaged with multiple aggregators, will have to offer services for a minimum 120 days in a financial year for them.
These have been laid out in the draft rules of Code on Social Security pre-published on December 30, with the Ministry of Labour and Employment giving 45 days’ time to people to submit feedback, including objections and suggestions, before it gets formalised and published.
The Niti Aayog in a 2022 published report, titled “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy,” said the number of gig workers and platform workers in the country was 7.7 million in 2020-21, which is expected to go up to 23.5 million by 2029-30.
For quite some time, gig workers have been agitating against platform monopoly and demanding labour rights for better pay, fair working conditions to end exploitative practices like low pay and unrealistic and life threatening pressure to deliver goods in 10 minutes, and social security.
The unions, however, argue that unless platforms voluntarily change course, regulatory intervention is inevitable.
Shaik Salauddin, founder president of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union and co-founder and national general secretary of IFAT, said the December 31 strike marked a turning point for gig workers. “The common people stood with us and amplified our struggle,” he said, adding that platform companies were “forced to come forward and issue justifications on social media.”
According to him, firms such as Zomato and Blinkit were compelled to publicly clarify their positions, while “members of Parliament and State labour ministers took responsibility and raised the issue.” He also said platforms were building “billion-dollar valuations on the backs of gig workers,” calling algorithmic control, arbitrary penalties and unsafe working conditions “systematic exploitation,” and warned that “we will not remain silent.”
The draft rules, meanwhile, make it clear that the aggregators will have to consider workers as engaged the day they start earning irrespective of the amount. If the workers are engaged with multiple aggregators on the same day, their stint with each of them will be treated separately. For example, if a gig worker gets employed with two aggregators on the same day, it will be counted as two days.
Such workers above 16 years of age will have to register using their Aadhaar number and other required documents. The draft rules make it mandatory for the aggregators to record individual details of gig and platform workers on a designated central portal — e-Shram — for generating a Universal Account Number which will help formalise the unorganised sector employment and help the government in offering social security. Each eligible worker will get an identity card, either physical or digital — bearing their individual details and photographs.
The e-Shram is a ‘One-Stop-Solution’ that enables registered unorganised workers access to different social security schemes and see benefits availed by them so far.
At the age of 60 or in case they are not engaged as per the code, registered workers will cease to get benefits of social security schemes. They may become eligible for pension depending on the contributions by employee and employers.
Published on January 4, 2026
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