Karnataka Assembly passes gig workers’ Bill; proposes 1%-5% fee on online aggregators

With the rise in the number of gig workers in cities and towns, the State legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025, to protect the rights of workers, set up a welfare fund for them, and place obligations on aggregators.

During the debate on the Bill, Labour Minister Santosh Lad said the Bill proposed a welfare fee in the range of 1% to 5% on the payout to the worker during each transaction, for different categories of aggregators of platforms.

23.5 million by 2030

The NITI Aayog said there would be 23.5 million gig workers in India by 2029-30. At present, there are four lakh gig workers, including part-time and full-time, in the State. About 10,500 workers have registered.

The Minister said health issues were a major concern for the workers due to riding two-wheelers and pollution. Many workers earn ₹1,800 by working 16 hours a day, Mr. Lad said.

He said the welfare board would take decisions on issuing health cards, safety guards, and other social security issues of workers.

What Bill aims at

The Bill is aimed at providing dispute resolution mechanisms, creating a welfare fund for gig workers, registering workers with the board, registering aggregators or platforms, and providing income security and reasonable working conditions to the workers.

The Gig Worker’s Social Security and Welfare Fund would be created for the benefit of registered platform-based gig workers. The fund would receive money from all contributions made by individual platform-based gig workers; grant-in-aid from the State Government and Central Government; and grants, gifts, donations, benefactions, bequests or transfers.

A gig workers’ welfare board will be established to ensure registration of workers by the platforms, welfare fee collection and implementation of social security schemes.

Administrative costs

It said not more than 5% of the fund would be used for administrative costs of the board or employees of the board.

Aggregators include ride-sharing services, food and grocery delivery services, logistics services, e-Marketplace for wholesale/retail sale of goods and/or services, business-to-business /business-to-consumer, professional activity provider, healthcare, travel and hospitality and content and media services.

The Bill has replaced the Ordinance.