Under its social security welfare schemes for online platform gig workers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced that all gig workers will be registered on the e-Shram portal and will have their own identity cards. Additionally, they will be included under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana.

Sitharaman estimated that the move will impact almost 1 crore gig-workers. A NITI Aayog report had estimated the number of gig workers to rise to 2.35 crore by 2029-30.

Over 30 crore unorganised workers have already registered on the e-Shram portal, within three years, enabling quicker access to government’s social security schemes.

"It is very encouraging for us to note that the Finance Minister regards platforms and gig workers as an important part of India's urban landscape. Government's decision to cover gig workers under health insurance under PM Aarogya Yojana is a worthy one,” said Dinker Vashisht, Group Head and Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Swiggy.

Launched under the Ayushman Bharat mission in 2018, the scheme provides a health cover of ₹5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 12 crore poor and vulnerable families, with as many as 55 crore beneficiaries, that form the bottom 40% of the Indian population.

“Swiggy, and several other platforms are already providing health and other forms of insurance to our Delivery Partners for the past several years. We will await more details, to see how insurance can be continued to be best provided, and the interests of our delivery partners are best served,” Vashisht added.

Additionally, Sitharaman announced in her Budget speech that under the PM SVANidhi scheme more than 68 lakh street vendors have been benefitted, “giving them respite from high-interest informal sector loans.” The scheme has now been revamped with enhanced loans from banks, UPI linked credit cards with ₹30,000 limit, and capacity building support.

“The focus of the government is on the poor (Garib), youth (Yuva), farmers (annadata) and women (naari). (The government) has matched (its) words with actions, and the policies and measures announced will go a long way in empowering these sections of our society,” said Rohit Kapoor, CEO Food Marketplace, Swiggy.

“At Swiggy, in one way or another, we are involved in all these facets - our workforce and delivery partner cohort is extremely young, and we are creating significant job opportunities, we are getting more and more women in formal economy through entrepreneurship and gig opportunities, our retail business has a direct beneficial impact on our farmers,” Kapoor added.