The Telangana government is set to introduce legislation in the Assembly to provide social security to gig workers by creating a welfare fund with fees collected from aggregators and online platforms.

The state on Monday unveiled the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers (Registration, Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025.

In 2023, when the Congress was in power, the Rajasthan Assembly passed the Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, while the party-helmed Karnataka government last month notified the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Ordinance.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, posted on X that the proposed law would protect and support 4.2 lakh gig workers in Telangana. Although the Rajasthan law is yet to be implemented, the Congress is trying to create a template on labour welfare through these bills.

Food and household goods delivery companies such as Swiggy, Zomato and Amazon, and service-providing companies like Urban Company and Uber provide platforms to people for work. The workers do not get the status of employees of the company, and their remuneration is linked to the number of assignments or deliveries they achieve. There is no paid leave, no provident fund or pension for gig workers. Some companies have, however, started medical and accident insurance.

According to the bill, gig and platform-based workers and aggregators and platforms will be registered with a Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Welfare Board. Workers will be issued unique IDs. Aggregators and platforms have to provide data on all gig and platform workers to the board. The workers can self-register too.

The state will create a Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Social Security and Welfare Fund with sums received from welfare fund fees levied under the law, contributions made by individual workers towards any social security scheme, money received as grant-in-aid from the government and funds received from corporate social responsibility.

The welfare fund fee from aggregators and platforms will be between 1 and 2 per cent of the payout to the worker in each transaction. Failure to pay the fee will attract imprisonment or a fine for the platforms. The workers will have access to general and specific social security schemes.

Muhammad Mukhtar Alam, national coordinator of the Gig Workers Association, said the Union labour ministry and the states needed to join hands for the welfare of gig workers. “However, at present, there seems to be no coordination between the Union government and states like Karnataka and Telangana which are keen to enact laws,” he said.