National Social Security Board Notified: Gig and Platform Workers Get a Formal Voice in Welfare Policy
The Ministry of Labour and Employment notified the National Social Security Board for unorganised workers and for gig and platform workers under the Code on Social Security, 2020.
The Board is headed by the Union Minister for Labour and Employment. It includes representatives of the Central and state governments, aggregator companies (app-based platforms), employers, civil society groups, workers' unions and gig and platform worker associations.
Its job is to recommend social security schemes for these workers, advise the Centre on running the Code, monitor central welfare schemes, review record-keeping by states, and examine spending from the social security fund.
The Board must meet at least three times a year.
This follows the Social Security (Central) Rules, 2026 (notified 8 May 2026), which set eligibility rules for gig workers and asked platforms to upload worker details to the e-Shram portal.
Gig and Platform Workers: Social Security in India's Gig Economy
A gig worker is a person who earns money from short, task-based work without being a regular employee of any company. A platform worker is a gig worker who gets this work through an app or website, like a food delivery rider or a cab driver on a ride-hailing app. The company that runs the app is called an aggregator. India's Code on Social Security, 2020 was the first national law to define these three terms and promise them social security.
The Code had promised a national board to plan welfare for gig and platform workers. With the Board now notified, aggregators and gig worker associations sit at the same table as the government. This is the body that will recommend the actual schemes, such as insurance and pensions, funded partly by the aggregator contribution.
Code on Social Security, 2020
The Code on Social Security, 2020 is a single law that brings together nine older social security laws of India. Social security means protection for workers against risks like old age, illness, injury, death and childbirth. The Code is one of India's four labour codes. It also, for the first time, extends social security coverage to unorganised, gig and platform workers.
The notification of the National Social Security Board puts into action Section 6 and Section 114(6) of this Code. It turns the Code's promise of welfare for unorganised and gig workers into a working institution.
- Board notified: National Social Security Board for unorganised workers and gig and platform workers (October 2026)
- Chairperson: Union Minister for Labour and Employment
- Meetings: at least 3 times a year; term of the Board: 3 years
- Legal basis: Code on Social Security, 2020 (Section 6; Section 114(6) for gig and platform workers)
- Code in force since 21 November 2025; replaced 9 laws
- Aggregator contribution: 1% to 2% of annual turnover, capped at 5% of payments to workers
- Eligibility (2026 Rules): 90 days with one aggregator or 120 days with several in the previous financial year
- Gig workforce: about 1 crore now (Labour Ministry, 2026); 2.35 crore projected by 2029-30 (NITI Aayog, 2022)
- e-Shram: about 31.89 crore registrations, about 11.5 lakh platform workers (August 2026)
- PM-JAY health cover for platform workers: announced in Union Budget 2025-26, up to ₹5 lakh per family per year