New Delhi – India has formally brought gig and platform workers inside the social security system for the first time, and the practical question now is whether a delivery rider working three apps qualifies for anything at all.
The four labour codes came into force on 21 November 2025, consolidating 29 separate statutes into the Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, and the Code on Social Security. The Ministry of Labour and Employment notified central rules under all four in May 2026.
The qualifying threshold decides everything
Draft central rules propose that a worker must be engaged with a single aggregator for at least 90 days to qualify for benefits. Those spread across multiple platforms face a 120-day threshold.
That distinction matters more than the headline. Multi-apping is the norm in Indian gig work, not the exception. Riders switch between platforms within a single shift to chase incentives. A rule that sets a higher bar for exactly that pattern risks excluding the workers with the least security.
What is still missing
Two gaps keep the framework from operating. Contribution rates under the Social Security Code are not fully notified, so aggregators cannot calculate what they owe. And welfare boards in most states are not yet functional, so there is no machinery to receive contributions or disburse benefits.
Until both are resolved, the entitlement exists on paper and not in a worker bank account.
Why this is a disclosure question too
For listed platform companies, workforce composition and wage fairness feed the inclusive development and employee wellbeing attributes of BRSR Core. A company whose delivery fleet sits outside its reported employee count, while its social security obligation to that fleet becomes statutory, is carrying a reconciliation problem into an assured disclosure.
Source: Code on Social Security and central rules notified by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in May 2026.
