New Delhi, October 30 — The Ministry of Labour and Employment on Friday notified the National Social Security Board for unorganised workers and for gig and platform workers, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a statement.

Source: PIB via LearnThruPractice

The board is set up under the Code on Social Security, 2020, which came into force on November 21, 2025 and for the first time defined gig workers and platform workers in Indian law. Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will chair the board, with the Labour Secretary as vice-chair under the Code.

According to the ministry, the board will include representatives of the Centre and the states, aggregator companies, employers, civil society groups, trade unions and associations of gig and platform workers. On the gig and platform panel, seats also go to the heads of the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). The ministry listed six functions for the board, centred on recommending suitable welfare schemes, advising the government and monitoring how schemes are administered; the board is to meet at least three times a year.

Source: NewsPlainly

The board itself will not run any scheme. Under the Code, the Central Government frames and notifies the welfare schemes, and aggregators — the app platforms that link customers with workers — can be required to contribute 1 to 2 per cent of their annual turnover to a social security fund, capped at 5 per cent of what they pay gig and platform workers. The exact rate and start date are still to be notified, and no new benefit flows to workers until schemes are framed.

The scale of the workforce involved is large. A NITI Aayog report in 2022 estimated India had 7.7 million gig and platform workers in 2020-21 and projected the number would rise to 23.5 million by 2029-30. The PIB statement did not name the board's members or give a date for its first meeting, so the next step to watch is the member list and the first schemes the board recommends.

Source: Illustrated Daily News