Through registration, schemes and a levy on aggregators, not through employer contributions. Chapter IX of the Code on Social Security 2020 requires every gig and platform worker aged 16 or over to register, lets the Central Government frame schemes for them, and funds those schemes partly from aggregators at 1–2% of annual turnover. The Social Security (Central) Rules 2026 set the eligibility test: 90 days with one aggregator, or 120 across several, in the last financial year.
Who counts as a gig or platform worker
Someone who earns outside a traditional employer-employee relationship. A gig worker "performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationship" (s.2(35)). Platform work is the subset where organisations or individuals use an online platform to reach other organisations or individuals for specific services, in exchange for payment (s.2(60)), and a platform worker is anyone doing it (s.2(61)). An aggregator is "a digital intermediary or a market place" connecting a buyer with a service provider (s.2(2)).
The Seventh Schedule lists the aggregator categories the levy applies to: ride sharing, food and grocery delivery, logistic services, e-marketplaces for B2B and B2C sale, professional services, healthcare, travel and hospitality, content and media, and any other goods and services platform.
| Contract labour | Gig or platform worker | |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship | Employed by a contractor, on the site's work, with the principal employer answerable for unpaid wages | Outside a traditional employer-employee relationship (s.2(35)) |
| Social security | PF and ESI contributions by the employer, with the principal employer as backstop | Schemes under s.114, funded by government, aggregators and others |
| Registration | UAN and ESIC number through the employer | Self-registration on the Central Government portal, with aggregators uploading their workers (r.48(2)) |
| Wages and hours | Code on Wages and OSH Code apply in full | Not set by Chapter IX |
Registration and eligibility
Every gig or platform worker aged 16 or over must register, on a self-declaration with Aadhaar (s.113; r.48(2)(a)). The aggregator does much of the work under rule 48(2):
- Existing workers. Each aggregator had to share the details of its gig and platform workers on the Central Government's portal within 45 days of the rules' commencement on 8 May 2026, so that each gets a Universal Account Number (r.48(2)(b)).
- New workers and exits. Registered in real time or daily, by API or other electronic means, with exit details shared the same way (r.48(2)(c)).
- Monthly updates. Details of engaged workers shared monthly or as the portal specifies; a worker whose particulars are not updated may lose eligibility (r.48(2)(g)–(h)).
- Identity card. Each eligible registered worker gets a digital or physical card (r.48(2)(d)).
To draw benefits, a worker must have been engaged for at least 90 days with one aggregator, or 120 days across several, in the last financial year (r.48(2)(e)). A day counts if the worker earned any income from that aggregator on it, whatever the amount, and a day worked for three aggregators counts as three. Eligibility ends at 60, or when a worker falls below the 90 or 120-day test (r.49(4)). Rule 48(2)(f) brings in workers engaged "directly or through associate company or holding company or subsidiary company or limited liability partnership or through a third party".
What aggregators pay
Between 1% and 2% of annual turnover, at a rate the Central Government notifies, capped at 5% of what the aggregator pays or owes its gig and platform workers (s.114(4)). Turnover excludes taxes, levies and cesses paid to the Central Government. The contribution goes into a separate gig and platform workers' account within the Social Security Fund (s.141; r.49(1)(c)), and pays for schemes that may cover life and disability cover, accident insurance, health and maternity benefits, old-age protection and crèches (s.114(1)).
The rules fix the cycle. Each aggregator self-assesses in Form XX and pays a provisional contribution for the previous year by 30 June, then files a final return in Form XXI by 31 October once its accounts are audited, claiming any excess back; refunds are due within 90 days (r.49(3)). Late payment carries interest of 1% for each month or part of a month (r.49(2)). Section 114(5) leaves the date the contribution starts to a separate notification [VERIFY: whether the rate under s.114(4) and the commencement date under s.114(5) have been notified].
Where a warehouse or logistics site fits
Usually outside Chapter IX, unless it is itself an aggregator. A site that hires pickers, loaders or drivers through a contractor has contract labour, governed by the OSH Code and the rest of the Codes, whatever the crew is called. A site that fills shifts through an on-demand app sits closer to the line: the OSH Code treats anyone who "supplies contract labour for any work of the establishment as mere human resource" as a contractor (s.2(1)(n)), while Chapter IX applies to work outside a traditional employer-employee relationship. Which side a particular app arrangement falls on is a question for the site's counsel.
- Know what each arrangement is. For every source of labour on site, written down: direct, contractor, fixed-term or platform, with the documents to show it.
- Don't relabel contract labour. Calling a contractor's crew "gig workers" does not take them out of the OSH Code's contract-labour provisions or the principal employer's liability for their wages.
- For a site that runs its own platform. Check whether it falls within a Seventh Schedule category; if so, registration, monthly uploads and the Form XX and XXI cycle apply.
How Velura Services helps
We help sites choose between platform labour, a contract crew and direct hiring for each role, with the compliance each brings. Where a steady crew suits the work better than gig workers, we deploy it fully enrolled in PF and ESI.
Sources
- The Code on Social Security, 2020 (Act 36 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment — s.2(2) (aggregator), s.2(35) (gig worker), s.2(60)–(61) (platform work and worker), s.113 (registration), s.114 (schemes; aggregator contribution of 1–2% of turnover, capped at 5% of payouts; commencement by notification), s.141 (Social Security Fund), Seventh Schedule (aggregator categories). Opened and read.
- The Social Security (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 344(E) dated 8 May 2026 — r.48(2) (registration, aggregator uploads, eligibility of 90 or 120 days, third-party engagement), r.49 (collection, interest, Forms XX and XXI, refunds, cessation of eligibility). Opened and read from a mirrored copy of the Gazette [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI — s.2(1)(n) (contractor includes one who supplies contract labour as mere human resource). Opened and read.