For years, delivery riders and cab drivers sat in a legal gap: not employees, not quite independent, and outside every social security law India had. The Code on Social Security closed part of that gap — but not the part most people assume.
Gig and platform workers are now a recognised statutory category, and aggregators must contribute 1-2% of annual turnover towards their social security. It does not make you an employee, and it does not give you PF, gratuity or notice pay.
India's four Labour Codes were brought into force on 21 November 2025, replacing a tangle of older statutes. Most of the coverage focused on wages and working hours. The quieter change was that the Code on Social Security, 2020 wrote gig and platform work into law for the first time — creating definitions, a funding mechanism, and a registration route where previously there was nothing at all.
This guide sets out what that actually means if you drive, deliver, or take work through an app — and, just as importantly, what it does not mean.
The bottom line
You are now a recognised category of worker with a statutory route to accident cover, health and maternity benefit, old-age protection and life and disability cover.
You are not an employee. Provident fund, gratuity, notice period, minimum wage and unfair-dismissal protection still do not apply to you.
The benefits arrive through government schemes funded by an aggregator levy — so how much you actually receive depends on schemes that are still being framed.
Who counts as a gig worker, and who counts as a platform worker?
The Code draws a distinction that sounds academic but decides which rules reach you.
A gig worker is a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from it outside a traditional employer-employee relationship. That is deliberately wide — it catches anyone doing paid work who is not on a payroll.
A platform worker is narrower and sits inside that first group: someone who accesses other organisations or individuals through an online platform to solve a specific problem or provide a service, in exchange for payment. A rider taking orders through a delivery app is a platform worker. A freelancer found through word of mouth is a gig worker but not a platform worker.
The distinction matters because the funding obligation attaches to aggregators — digital intermediaries that connect a buyer with a seller or a service provider. The Code lists the aggregator categories in a schedule, covering ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, logistics, e-marketplaces, professional services, healthcare, travel and hospitality, and content and media services.
The aggregator levy: 1-2% of turnover
This is the mechanism that makes the rest of it possible, and it is worth understanding precisely.
Aggregators must contribute an amount between 1% and 2% of their annual turnover towards social security for gig and platform workers. There is a ceiling: the contribution cannot exceed 5% of the total amount payable by the aggregator to its gig and platform workers.
Two features of that design are easy to miss:
- It is charged on turnover, not profit, so a loss-making aggregator still contributes. Turnover for this purpose excludes any tax, levy or cess paid to the Central Government.
- The 5% cap ties the levy back to what the platform actually pays workers, so a company with enormous turnover and few workers does not pay without limit.
The money flows into a social security fund rather than to you directly. You do not receive a monthly credit the way an employee sees provident fund on a payslip. It funds the schemes described below.
What benefits does this actually buy?
The Code empowers the Central Government to frame schemes for gig and platform workers covering:
- Life and disability cover
- Accident insurance — the most immediately relevant for anyone on a two-wheeler for eight hours a day
- Health and maternity benefit
- Old age protection
- Creche facilities
Note the wording: the government may frame schemes. The Code builds the pipe and fills it with money; the benefits reach you through schemes notified separately. Several are at various stages of design, and state rules are still being issued unevenly. So the honest position in 2026 is that the funding obligation is real and the entitlement framework exists, while the individual benefits are arriving in stages.
Registration: the step you have to take yourself
Nothing reaches you automatically. To be eligible for any of these schemes you must be registered, and registration is on you rather than on the platform.
Registration is done on the government portal on the basis of a self-declaration, using Aadhaar. The broad conditions are that you have completed 16 years of age and submit the required details electronically. Once registered, you receive a distinguishable identification number.
If you work through more than one app — which most riders do — you register once as a worker, not once per platform.
What has not changed
This is where most of the confusion sits, and it is the part worth being clear-eyed about.
Recognition as a gig or platform worker is not a finding that you are an employee. The Code creates a third category rather than moving you into the first. As things stand:
- There is no provident fund contribution of the kind an employee receives.
- There is no gratuity, which depends on continuous service under an employer.
- There is no notice period or retrenchment compensation. An app can deactivate your account without the process an employer would owe an employee.
- Minimum wage guarantees attach to employment; per-order or per-trip earnings are not covered in the same way.
Whether a particular arrangement is genuinely gig work or is really disguised employment is a question courts decide on the substance of the relationship — how much control the platform exercises, whether you can refuse work, whether you can substitute someone else — not on what the contract calls it. That question has not gone away; the Code sits alongside it.
Worked example
A delivery platform has annual turnover of ₹800 crore and pays ₹120 crore to its riders across the year.
Its contribution obligation is 1-2% of ₹800 crore, so between ₹8 crore and ₹16 crore. The cap is 5% of ₹120 crore, which is ₹6 crore. The cap is lower, so the cap applies and the contribution is ₹6 crore.
A rider on that platform who has not registered on the portal receives nothing from that ₹6 crore, because eligibility runs through registration. A rider who has registered becomes eligible for whichever schemes have been notified and apply to them.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the platform registers you. Aggregators have their own reporting duties, but your individual registration is yours to complete.
- Reading recognition as employment. It is a distinct status with its own, narrower set of entitlements.
- Expecting a visible monthly deduction or credit. The levy is on the aggregator's turnover and goes to a fund, not to a personal account.
- Registering separately for each app. Registration is worker-level.
- For aggregators — treating the 5% figure as the contribution rate. It is a ceiling on the 1-2% turnover charge, not the charge itself.
Checklist
- Confirm whether you are a gig worker, a platform worker, or arguably an employee in substance.
- Register on the government portal with Aadhaar and keep the identification number safe.
- Keep your own record of trips, orders and earnings — you have no payslip to fall back on.
- Check which schemes have actually been notified for your category and state, since these are rolling out in stages.
- If you are an aggregator: identify your schedule category, compute 1-2% of turnover, apply the 5% cap, and check your state's rules.
Frequently asked questions
Am I an employee now? No. The Code creates a separate recognised category. Employment status is still decided on the substance of the working relationship, not on this recognition.
Do I get provident fund? Not as a gig or platform worker. PF attaches to employment. The Code routes social security to you through schemes funded by the aggregator levy instead.
How much does the aggregator pay? Between 1% and 2% of its annual turnover, capped at 5% of what it pays its gig and platform workers.
Do I have to register? Yes, and it is the single most important step. Benefits run through registration on the government portal, using Aadhaar and a self-declaration.
I work on three different apps. Does that change anything? You register once as a worker rather than once per platform. Each aggregator carries its own contribution obligation separately.
Can an app deactivate me without notice? The Code does not create notice-period or unfair-dismissal protection for gig and platform workers. What your platform agreement says still governs, subject to general contract law.
When do the benefits actually start? The funding obligation is in force. Individual benefit schemes and state rules are being notified in stages through 2026, so check what applies in your state rather than assuming full coverage.