e-SHRAM: Why registering on the portal is beneficial for gig workers
e-SHRAM registration has become the formal gateway for gig workers to access accidental insurance, healthcare cover, and other social security benefits.
e-Shram registration gives gig and unorganised workers access to government welfare schemes and social security benefits.
New Delhi-e-SHRAM: Fifteen major platform aggregators — including Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit, Uber, Ola, Rapido, Amazon, Zepto, Urban Company and Porter — have already been onboarded onto the government’s e-SHRAM portal, and the Ministry of Labour and Employment has set June 21, 2026, as the final deadline for all remaining aggregators to complete onboarding and API integration. The directive, issued on June 1, 2026, warns that non-compliance may attract penalties under Section 133 of the Code on Social Security, 2020.
The move follows the implementation of the Code on Social Security, 2020, on November 21, 2025, which empowers the central government to frame formal social security schemes for gig and platform workers. Under Rule 48(2) of the Social Security Rules, 2026, aggregators are required to share worker-related data electronically with the government within 45 days of the Rules coming into force.
For India’s gig workforce — delivery riders, ride-hailing drivers, and platform-based service professionals — this regulatory push has a direct bearing on access to insurance and social security. Registration on e-SHRAM is the mechanism through which these benefits are extended.
Also Read: Buying Term Insurance? The One Metric You’re Probably Overlooking
What the e-SHRAM portal is
Launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on August 26, 2021, e-SHRAM is a National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW), built to bring workers outside the formal economy — including gig and platform workers, migrant labour, and home-based workers — under a unified identity system. Registered workers receive a 12-digit Universal Account Number (UAN), which the government uses to link them to welfare and social security schemes.
To streamline registration specifically for platform workers, the Ministry launched a dedicated Aggregator Module on December 12, 2024, allowing aggregators to onboard their workers directly and share data with the government.
Who is eligible to register e-SHRAM
An unorganised sector worker — including a gig or platform worker — between the ages of 16 and 59 can register on e-SHRAM, provided they are not an active income tax payer and are not already a member of the EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund) or ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation). This covers delivery partners working with platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy or Blinkit, ride-hailing drivers with Ola or Uber, and independent contractors or home-based professionals working through platforms like Urban Company.
e-SHRAM: The insurance and social security benefits linked to registration
The core reason registration matters for gig workers is that e-SHRAM is now the gateway through which several insurance and welfare schemes are being extended to this workforce:
Accidental insurance cover. Registered workers are eligible for accidental insurance coverage of ₹2 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), one of the social security schemes integrated with the e-SHRAM database.
Healthcare coverage under AB-PMJAY. Following the Union Budget 2025-26 announcement, the government has extended healthcare coverage under Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to registered gig and platform workers. The scheme provides coverage of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation across more than 31,000 empanelled public and private hospitals. The government has stated that it has undertaken policy and technology measures to ensure interoperability between e-SHRAM and PMJAY.
Also Read: RBI’s New FD Rules From October 1: What Mean for Insurance Buyers Comparing Guaranteed Returns
Life insurance access. e-SHRAM is also linked to the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), a life insurance scheme, alongside the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-SYM), a pension scheme, and the Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
Broader scheme access. As of a written reply given by Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje in the Lok Sabha on December 1, 2025, fourteen schemes across different central ministries and departments had been integrated with the e-SHRAM portal, giving registered workers a single point of access to social security, health, and welfare benefits rather than having to apply separately to each scheme.
Formal identification. Registration also gives workers a unique identity card and UAN, which the government has said will help establish formal recognition of platform-based work — a category that has historically fallen outside traditional labour protections.
e-SHRAM: The scale of registration so far
Government figures cited in the Lok Sabha in December 2025 put total e-SHRAM registrations at over 31 crore unorganised workers, with more than five lakh gig and platform workers registered specifically under that category at the time. Separately, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had earlier stated that registration on the portal was an ongoing, budget-linked exercise targeting several million gig workers. These figures are expected to rise further as the aggregator onboarding deadline takes effect and platforms push registration among their workforce.
e-SHRAM: How the process works
Under the Aggregator Module, platform companies are required to facilitate registration for workers engaged with them, in addition to workers being able to self-register directly on the e-SHRAM portal (eshram.gov.in) using their Aadhaar-linked mobile number. The Ministry has said aggregators failing to complete onboarding and data-sharing by the June 21 deadline could face penalties under the Code on Social Security, 2020.
e-SHRAM: What this means going forward
With the regulatory deadline now in force and major platforms already onboarded, registration on e-SHRAM is set to become the standard route through which gig and platform workers in India access accidental insurance, health coverage, and other social security benefits. Workers who have not yet registered can do so independently through the portal or through their platform aggregator, ahead of wider scheme rollouts expected to follow the aggregator compliance deadline.
