Towards a Unified Legal Framework for Gig and Platform Workers in India: Employment Classification, Social Security, Algorithmic Transparency and Insolvency Protection in the Platform Economy

Abstract

Background:

India is home to the world's fastest-growing platform workforce: from 7.7 million gig workers in 2020–21, NITI Aayog projects growth to 23.5 million by 2029–30, representing 4.1% of India's total livelihood. Yet this workforce operates in a profound regulatory vacuum — misclassified as independent contractors, excluded from social security, subjected to opaque algorithmic management, and unprotected in the event of platform insolvency.

Aim:

This paper analyses India's emerging legal framework for gig and platform workers and proposes a Unified Gig Workers' Rights Framework (UGWRF) for India, addressing five interconnected regulatory gaps: employment status misclassification, social security exclusion, algorithmic surveillance and transparency deficits, insolvency risk, and the absence of collective bargaining rights.

Method:

A doctrinal legal analysis of India's Four Labour Codes (2019–2020), state-level legislation (Rajasthan 2023, Karnataka 2025, Telangana 2025, Bihar and Jharkhand 2025), and Indian case law (Ola Drivers Union v. State of Karnataka; Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers v. Union of India) is employed. International comparators — the EU Platform Work Directive 2024/2831 and Singapore's intermediate worker category — are used as benchmarks rather than primary objects of study. Empirical grounding is provided by the CBR-PWI 2025, the ILO (2025) sustainable social protection framework, and the longitudinal panel study of van Zoonen et al. (2025).

Results:

India's legal architecture is fragmented: the Social Security Code 2020 creates a welfare framework but lacks enforcement teeth; state laws are inconsistent and unevenly implemented; Indian courts have extended limited protections on a case-by-case basis under the control-and-supervision test; and algorithmic management by platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, and Urban Company operates entirely outside any transparency obligation. The Karnataka Ordinance 2025 is the most advanced domestic instrument, introducing welfare fees of 1–5% of transaction value, human-contact requirements, and algorithmic disclosure provisions.

Conclusion:

A UGWRF is proposed incorporating: (1) a rebuttable presumption of platform-worker status with a statutory floor of rights; (2) a portable social security entitlement system built on the e-Shram portal and financed by mandatory platform cess contributions; (3) an Algorithmic Transparency Register mandated at the national level; and (4) recognition of gig worker collectives as bargaining parties. The framework is designed to resolve the federal fragmentation between the Social Security Code 2020 and state-level legislation, and aligns with the ILO's 2026 Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy.