Centre Notifies National Social Security Board for Gig Workers, Giving Zomato, Swiggy and Other Aggregators a Seat at the Table

The Centre has formally set up the National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers and Gig and Platform Workers. The Ministry of Labour and Employment notified the board on Friday under the Code on Social Security. The board is the first permanent forum in which delivery riders, cab drivers and other app-based workers will be represented alongside the companies that hire them through apps.

On its own, the notification does not create a new benefit. What it does is put in place the body that will decide which benefits come next, and that matters to India's platform companies as much as to their workers.

Who sits on the board

The Union Labour Minister will chair the board. Its members will include representatives of the central and state governments, major aggregator companies, other employers, civil society groups, trade unions and associations of gig and platform workers. The board has to meet at least three times a year and will follow procedural rules set by the Centre.

Its job is to advise rather than decide. It will recommend welfare schemes for different groups of unorganised, gig and platform workers, and advise the government on questions about how the Code is being administered. It will also monitor the central welfare schemes already running for these workers, review how states keep their records, and keep an eye on how money from the social security fund is spent.

Why platforms should pay attention

The Code on Social Security, passed in 2020, already allows the government to require aggregators to contribute between 1% and 2% of their annual turnover to a fund for gig and platform workers. That contribution is capped at 5% of what the platform pays out to those workers. The schemes the board recommends will largely decide how that money is used, and how hard the government pushes on the levy.

The plumbing is already partly in place. Under the Social Security (Central) Rules, 2026, notified in May, aggregators have to share details of their gig and platform workers with the government's eShram portal through APIs. That gives the board a database to work from when it designs schemes such as accident cover, health insurance or old-age support.

For listed platforms such as Zomato's parent Eternal and Swiggy, and for ride-hailing and quick-commerce companies, the main question is cost. A contribution at the top of the permitted range would weigh on margins in businesses where profitability is still thin or only recently achieved. Having a seat on the board gives these companies a formal channel to argue for schemes that are well targeted and affordable.

A workforce that has outgrown the old rules

Gig workers do not fit India's older labour laws, which assume a clear employer and employee. A NITI Aayog study estimated the gig workforce at about 7.7 million in 2020-21 and projected it could reach 23.5 million by 2029-30. Most of these workers have no provident fund, no employer-paid insurance and no pension.

Some states, including Rajasthan and Karnataka, have passed their own gig-worker welfare laws. A national board could help bring those efforts into line, although it can only recommend, and every scheme will still need government approval and funding.

How quickly the board holds its first meeting, and which aggregators and worker groups are named to it, will show whether it becomes a working forum or stays a box ticked under the labour codes.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.