Gig Workers: Will delivery boys also get a pension from EPFO? The Labor Ministry is making a plan..

The central government has started discussions with stakeholders to arrange pensions to provide social security to lakhs of gig workers working in the service delivery sector at the age of retirement. In this direction, the Ministry of Labor and Employment is discussing with all the major aggregator companies working in the service sector to bring gig workers under the pension ambit through the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO).

To provide pensions to gig workers, the Ministry of Labor and EPFO ​​​​are engaged in initiatives to look at options like persuading aggregator companies to give one percent of their annual profit to the pension fund. Amidst the ever-increasing size of the service sector, the number of gig workers in the country is also increasing in the same proportion and the government is feeling the need to bring those working in this sector under the cover of social security.

According to government sources, given this, the Ministry of Labor and EPFO ​​​​has started discussions with all stakeholders to provide pensions to gig workers from the age of retirement. In this sequence, discussions have been held with the top management of some big aggregator companies like Swiggy, and Zomato.

It is said that during these discussions, the Ministry of Labor thought that the salary of gig workers working in aggregator companies is limited and in such a situation, it would not be appropriate to give pension by taking contribution from a part of their salary. Given the increasing size and business of aggregator companies, they should contribute one percent of their annual profit to the pension fund of their gig workers.

The Ministry of Labor and EPFO, based on their study estimates, has also told the aggregator companies that this small contribution will not make much difference to them, but gig workers will get a social security guarantee in the form of a monthly pension after retirement. Both workers and companies will get the benefit of stability in the workplace and social security.

According to the data of the Ministry of Labor, the number of gig workers in the country at present is around one crore, which will reach five crore in the next five years. The Employees' Provident Fund Organization is seriously considering giving the current members as well as the new youth joining it the option to increase their social security contribution as per their wish.

The Ministry of Labor and Employment has started the process of taking forward the reforms related to EPFO ​​for this. In this sequence, the agenda of simplifying the complexities related to EPFO ​​pension along with contributing to the Provident Fund and Pension Fund flexible is at the forefront. According to sources, the Ministry of Labor is in favor of increasing the limit of 12 percent contribution of employees in EPFO. In this, there is a proposal to allow the employee to contribute more than 12 percent as per his wish.

However, no change will be made to the current contribution limit of the employer. The intention of the ministry behind the proposal to increase the employee contribution limit is that the youth joining the job can plan better for their social security future in the initial years, while the people who are nearing the end of their service period can plan to increase the contribution according to their needs.