1. Introduction — India’s Expanding Platform Workforce

India’s economy is rapidly transforming, driven by the platform model across sectors from food delivery to personal services. This evolving labour landscape is massive: NITI Aayog projects that the platform economy holds the potential to create up to 90 million jobs in the long term.[8] Furthermore, this sector is increasingly the source of first jobs, with youth participation (ages 16 to 23) increasing eight-fold between 2019 and 2022.[8]

Responding to the need for worker protection, the regulatory framework has begun to take shape, first at the central level with the Code on Social Security (CSS), 2020, and subsequently via pioneering state-level legislation.

2. The Central Framework: Code on Social Security, 2020

The CSS 2020 introduced the first statutory recognition of gig and platform workers.[9] The Code defines a “gig worker” as one performing work outside a traditional employment contract, and a “platform worker” as one accessing work through a digital interface.[9] Crucially, the Code takes a distinctive Indian approach: it creates a welfare safety net without attempting to reclassify these workers as “employees” or “workmen,” thus preserving the structural flexibility of the gig model.[9]

The Unique Funding Mechanism

To fund this welfare net, the CSS 2020 mandates that aggregators must contribute between 1% and 2% of their annual turnover, subject to a ceiling of 5% of the total gig worker payouts.[9] This contribution is made into a government-notified fund and is explicitly not to be deducted from the worker’s compensation, ensuring the burden lies with the platform based on its financial performance.[9]

3. The Emerging State-Level Regulatory Response: The Karnataka Bill, 2025

The Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025 (introduced in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on August 12, 2025) provides an authoritative example of how states are legislating on top of the central framework.[10] This Bill’s features reflect a broader national policy dialogue:

• Institutional Structure: It mandates the establishment of a dedicated Welfare Board responsible for overseeing registration, creating specific social security schemes, and monitoring their application.[10]
• Welfare Fund: A Social Security and Welfare Fund is established, financed by contributions from aggregators, gig workers, and both central and state governments.[10]
• Mandatory Registration: Aggregators are required to register gig workers within 60 days of the Act’s commencement and submit a database of registered workers to the Board.[10]

4. Strengths: Statutory Recognition and Institutionalisation

The primary strength of the 2025 state-level efforts is the institutionalisation of protection. By creating dedicated Welfare Boards and funds, these bills move beyond mere definitions to establish concrete compliance mechanisms.[10] This provides gig workers, for the first time, with legal visibility and formal access to benefits like insurance and pensions routed through state schemes.[10, 9]

5. Critical Policy Gaps

Despite these advances, the current regulatory architecture contains critical gaps, primarily rooted in the conscious decision not to alter the employment status:

• No Employment Status: By not reclassifying gig workers as “employees” or “workmen,” the framework excludes them from traditional protections such as minimum wage, guaranteed holidays, and statutory collective bargaining rights.[9]
• Algorithmic Accountability: The Karnataka Bill introduces a key transparency mandate, requiring aggregators to inform workers about how automated monitoring and decision-making systems impact working conditions.[10] The challenge of ensuring algorithmic fairness and non-discriminatory termination remains a major policy hurdle.
• Regulatory Fragmentation: National aggregators must now navigate a complex regulatory environment, with the central code mandating financial contributions and state bills imposing additional, varying obligations regarding registration, welfare boards, and transparency disclosures.[10, 9]

6. Conclusion — The Road to Fair Flexibility

The Gig Workers’ regulatory framework, crystallised by the CSS 2020 and exemplified by the Karnataka Bill, 2025, represents an important, distinctive path for India. It acknowledges the need for social protection while seeking to preserve the structural flexibility platforms demand.

However, true progress requires moving beyond welfare funding to guarantee minimum economic standards. The road ahead involves not only building robust state-level boards but also developing comprehensive rules around algorithmic fairness and ensuring that the financial contributions mandated by the CSS 2020 translate swiftly and effectively into tangible social security for India’s millions of platform workers.