One crore gig workers to get ID cards and healthcare coverage, FM announces in Union Budget 2025

NITI Aayog defines gig workers as those who are employed “outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement”.

A total of one crore gig workers, who work with Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto, BigBasket and several other online platforms, will get identity (ID) cards, the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced while presenting the annual budget on February 1.

NITI Aayog defines gig workers as those who are employed “outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement”. These workers broadly fall into two categories: platform and non-platform-based workers.

The government will also offer healthcare benefits to 1 crore gig workers under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana, registrations for which will be done on the e-Shram portal.

While this has been in place for a few years now, the new additions and benefits will remain to be seen.

"Social security for Gig workers is already envisaged under the Social Security Code, 2020 which is yet to come into effect. Budget announcement by Fin Minister reiterates the Government's emphasis on social security for this worker category. However, what needs to be seen is the mechanics of such scheme being funded," said Anshul Prakash, Partner, Khaitan & Co

Gig workers are the lifeblood of the new age service economy, Kunal Bahl, co-founder, Titan Capital and Snapdeal said.

"Great to see the Govt providing healthcare for 1 crore gig workers. Critical for their social security," he added.

There will be a total of 23.5 million, or 2.35 crore, gig workers by the end of 2029-30, up from 7.7 million (77 lakh) in 2020-21, the Economic Survey had revealed.  A person who does temporary and/or freelance work for more than one company at the same time on an informal or on-demand basis is categorised as a gig worker.

Trend shows the concentration of workers in medium skills is gradually declining and that of the low and high skilled is increasing, a previous NITI Aayog report had said.

Gig workers are not entitled to perks such as insurance and gratuity like on-roll employees. Companies such as Urban Company, Zomato, Swiggy, Uber and Ola are some of the biggest employers of gig workers.