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India’s economic story in the 2025–26 financial year is defined by speed and scale. The country continues to rank among the fastest-growing major economies, powered by rising digital adoption and expanding consumption. Yet beneath this momentum lies a structural imbalance – the rapid rise of the gig economy without a corresponding national framework of worker protection.

The numbers reveal both opportunity and concern. India’s gig workforce has expanded from 7.7 million in FY 2020–21 to 12 million in FY 2025, marking a 55% increase in four years, according to the Economic Survey 2025–26. With over 800 million smartphone users and over 20 billion UPI transactions each month, platform-based work has become a core pillar of employment. Projections by NITI Aayog indicate this workforce will reach 23.5 million by 2029–30, forming 6.7% of the non-agricultural workforce and contributing approximately Rs 2.35 lakh crore to GDP.

Despite this scale, the sector operates in a fragmented regulatory environment. Stark critical gaps remain in labour protections in the rapidly expanding platform economy, where companies recruit workers to perform jobs or “gigs” offered through apps or websites. While India accounts for nearly 20% of global platform workers, the absence of a uniform legal framework has created uneven protections across states.

The Code on Social Security, 2020, which formally recognised gig and platform workers, was expected to provide a welfare foundation. It proposed a 1–2% aggregator contribution toward........

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