Over 70K Gig Workers Registered On e-Shram After More Aggregators Joined

As many as 70,000 gig workers have reportedly registered with the e-Shram portal, benefitting from social security schemes, following the onboarding of ten major ecommerce platforms such as Uber, Zomato and Blinkit, a parliamentary panel has observed.

An ET report, citing Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, noted that as of February 19 this year, 70,306 platform workers of 36 states/UTs have been registered with e-Shram.

Apart from the aforementioned ecommerce players, Uncle Delivery, Swiggy, Rapido, Ola, Zepto and Ecom Express have also been onboarded on the portal.

The committee has also directed to look for other aggregators and swiftly register them on the portal in order to provide healthcare support to gig workers. It noted that nearly 35 Lakh workers will be eligible to register on the e-Shram portal in 2025-26. 

As per NITI Aayog, India’s gig workforce, currently at 7.7 Mn, is projected to expand to 23.5 Mn (2.35 Cr) by 2029-30.

This also comes close on the heels of the government planning to introduce a pension scheme requiring platform aggregators to contribute 2% of each worker’s income.

Aggregators’ Pushing Welfare Expansion Of Gig Workers

The rise of quick commerce, home delivery, and on-demand services has given a significant boost to India’s gig economy. Ecommerce platforms and aggregators have not only enhanced convenience for consumers but also created significant employment opportunities for the masses.

As the aggregator ecosystem expands rapidly, employing huge workforce, it underscores the growing need for social security for these workers

Gig workers’ collective have also urged the commerce ministry to take cognisance of skewed working conditions of the gig workers. 

While the government has recognised the issue and is preparing to take swift action to include gig workers in social security and welfare schemes, private companies should view this as a shared responsibility.

In her Budget 2025 speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Gig workers of online platforms provide great dynamism to the new-age services economy. Recognising their contribution, our government will arrange for their identity cards and registration on the e-Shram portal.” 

The ecommerce platform and aggregators need to join the eShram portal to ensure that gig workers avail the social security benefits. 

Industry experts opine that the aggregators must share data of gig and platform workers with the government to ease the implementation of the scheme. 

These platforms should also need to keep transparency with the workers and offer fair pay and good working conditions. To note, last year, ride-hailing companies Ola and Uber, and logistics startup Porter scored zero points on Fairwork India’s ratings for the working conditions of gig workers. The report also said that none of the digital players pay minimum wages enough to allow workers to afford a basic but decent standard of living.