India’s labour laws regulate employer-employee relations, ensuring fair wages, safe conditions, and worker rights through a consolidated framework.
India’s labour laws have undergone significant consolidation, with four key Labour Codes enacted between 2019 and 2020 streamlining over 29 prior statutes into unified frameworks for wages, social security, industrial relations, and occupational safety. These reforms, fully effective by 2026, aim to enhance worker protections while simplifying compliance for employers.
India’s new Labour Codes, particularly the Code on Social Security 2020 (effective since November 2025), formally recognize gig and platform workers for the first time, extending social security benefits previously limited to traditional employees. This marks a shift toward protecting non-traditional workers in the expanding gig economy.
Core Labour Codes
The Code on Wages, 2019 mandates timely minimum wages, equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, and prohibits exploitative salary manipulations. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 limits daily work to 8 hours (up to 48 weekly), requires safe workplaces, annual health checkups, and special safeguards for women, including night-shift protections.
Definitions and Eligibility
Gig workers earn from arrangements outside employer-employee relationships, while platform workers use online platforms for services; aggregators connect them to buyers. Eligibility requires 90 days of engagement (any income earned) with one aggregator or 120 days across multiple in the prior financial year; days accumulate, counting multiples per day.
Social Security and Relations
The Code on Social Security, 2020, extends provident fund, gratuity (after 5 years), ESI medical coverage, and up to 26 weeks of maternity leave to gig workers and formal employees. The Industrial Relations Code, 2020, governs standing orders on classification, shifts, leave, termination procedures, and dispute resolution, with stricter strike rules and protections against unfair practices.
Benefits Provided
Workers gain access to life/disability insurance, health/maternity benefits, old-age protection, provident fund equivalents, and integration with the e-Shram portal and Ayushman Bharat. Benefits are portable across states via Aadhaar-linked Universal Account Numbers, ceasing at age 60 or ineligibility
Key Compliance Notes
Employers must issue formal appointment letters detailing wage structures and obtain single licenses for contract labour. Violations risk penalties, emphasizing timely payroll, overtime pay, and grievance mechanisms to ensure fairness across sectors and extend protections to fixed-term/gig workers, and impose digital record-keeping with penalties for violations.
Aggregator Obligations
Platforms must contribute 1-2% of annual turnover (capped at 5% of payments to workers) to a Social Security Fund, with interest on delays; exemptions possible. Aggregators share worker data for registration on government portals, enabling ID cards and helplines.
Implementation Status
Draft rules (January 2026) invite feedback, targeting April 2026 rollout; states must notify aligned rules. A National Social Security Board recommends schemes, amid gig worker strikes for better protections.
Employer Impact
Businesses face higher PF/gratuity costs (basic wage ≥50% CTC), universal minimum wages, and faster tribunals, balancing flexibility (e.g., layoffs up to 300 workers without approval) with stronger safeguards.