As India works towards the vision of Viksit Bharat, the e-Shram Portal is completing five years with a growing role in bringing millions of workers in the unorganised sector into a formal, technology-enabled social security ecosystem.
Launched on August 26, 2021, by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, e-Shram was created to address a long-standing challenge: ensuring that workers outside the formal employment system can be identified, connected with welfare programmes and access social security benefits in a more portable and transparent manner.
The portal has so far recorded 31.89 crore registrations, making it one of the country’s largest digital platforms for the unorganised workforce. Developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), e-Shram created India’s first Aadhaar-authenticated National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW) and provides each registered worker with a unique 12-digit Universal Account Number (UAN).
Over five years, the platform has evolved beyond being a database of workers. With the introduction of the e-Shram One-Stop Solution in October 2024, it has become a unified platform bringing together welfare, employment, skilling, apprenticeship and pension-related services.
Creating a national identity for unorganised workers
India’s unorganised workforce includes agricultural labourers, construction workers, domestic workers, street vendors, migrant workers, self-employed workers, wage workers, gig and platform workers and several other categories.
For workers in this segment, access to government welfare programmes can often depend on their ability to establish their identity, occupation and eligibility. The e-Shram database seeks to provide a common digital identity and improve the delivery of social security programmes.
The portal’s objectives include enabling convergence of welfare schemes across ministries and departments, facilitating secure sharing of worker data through APIs, improving the portability of benefits for migrant and construction workers and providing a comprehensive database for planning and responding to emergencies and crises.
An unorganised worker under the system includes a home-based, self-employed or wage worker in the unorganised sector. It also covers workers in the organised sector who are not members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) or government employees.
From worker registry to one-stop social security platform
A major transformation came on October 21, 2024, when the e-Shram One-Stop Solution was launched.
The platform now brings 15 social security and welfare schemes together, allowing registered workers to access eligible schemes and view benefits they have already received. The initiative is aligned with the Union Budget 2024-25 vision of providing a broad range of labour services through a single digital platform.
Among the schemes integrated with the platform are the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-SYM), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
The platform also enables e-Shram registrants to enrol in PMSBY and PMJJBY.
Under PMSBY, eligible workers can receive accidental insurance cover of ₹2 lakh in case of accidental death or permanent disability and ₹1 lakh for partial disability. PMJJBY provides ₹2 lakh life insurance cover in case of death due to any cause.
For workers seeking employment opportunities, e-Shram is connected with the National Career Service (NCS). It also provides access to the Skill India Digital Hub for skilling and apprenticeship opportunities and to myScheme, through which workers can identify government schemes for which they may be eligible.
The portal also facilitates enrolment in PM-SYM, which provides an assured minimum pension of ₹3,000 per month after attaining the age of 60, subject to eligibility.
To make the platform more accessible, multilingual functionality in 22 languages was introduced in 2025 through the Bhashini platform.
Extending social security to migrant and platform workers
Migration is an important feature of India’s unorganised workforce, and e-Shram has introduced provisions aimed at improving the portability and delivery of benefits to migrant workers.
The portal captures family details of migrant workers and enables the sharing of construction workers’ data with States and Union Territories. This can facilitate their registration with the respective Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Boards.
Another significant development has been the inclusion of gig and platform workers in the national database.
Around 11.5 lakh platform workers have registered on e-Shram so far. The database is expected to support the formulation and implementation of suitable social security and welfare measures for this growing category of workers.
31.89 crore registrations in five years
The scale of e-Shram’s expansion is reflected in its registration figures.
As of August 18, 2026, the portal had recorded 31.89 crore registrations. Women account for 54.28 per cent of registered workers, compared with 45.72 per cent men.
The age profile shows that the largest group of registered workers is between 18 and 40 years. Around 55.21 per cent of workers belong to this age group. Another 24.18 per cent are aged between 40 and 50 years, while 20.53 per cent are above 50 years. Workers aged 16-18 years account for 0.08 per cent.
Agriculture, domestic and household work, construction and apparel are among the occupational categories with the highest number of registrations.
The largest numbers of registrations have come from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Common Service Centres (CSCs) have been the principal channel for registration, followed by self-registration, reflecting the importance of assisted digital access for workers who may not independently navigate online government platforms.
Simple and free registration
Registration on e-Shram is designed as a one-time and free process.
Workers aged 16 years and above engaged in the unorganised sector are eligible to register, provided they are not income-tax payers and are not members of EPFO or ESIC.
Workers can register through the e-Shram portal, their nearest Common Service Centre or State Seva Kendra. State government field officers also facilitate registration at district and sub-district levels.
The registration process requires an Aadhaar number for e-KYC and a mobile number, preferably one linked with Aadhaar. Workers are not required to pay any fee to any registering agency or service provider.
The system covers a wide spectrum of workers, including agricultural workers, construction workers, migrant workers, domestic workers, street vendors and gig and platform workers.
Technology as an enabler of inclusion
The evolution of e-Shram reflects a broader shift in the way labour welfare can be delivered through digital infrastructure.
Instead of maintaining separate access points for different categories of government support, the platform seeks to connect workers with multiple schemes and services through a common digital identity.
Its database can also help government agencies use worker information for evidence-based policymaking and improve the targeting and delivery of welfare measures.
For migrant and construction workers in particular, portability is an important component. Workers whose employment and residence may change across States can potentially benefit from a system designed around a national database rather than a purely local registration framework.
The platform’s expansion to include gig and platform workers also reflects the changing nature of employment and the need for social security systems to account for newer forms of work.
Five years of expanding coverage
The journey from a national worker registry to a broader service-delivery platform represents the central evolution of e-Shram.
When it was launched in 2021, its primary purpose was to create a national database of unorganised workers. The subsequent integration of welfare schemes, employment services, skilling, apprenticeship and pension facilities has broadened its role.
The availability of services in 22 languages through Bhashini further seeks to make the platform accessible to workers across linguistic backgrounds.
The scale of participation also indicates that the platform has reached workers across different age groups, genders, occupations and States. With more than 31 crore registrations, the database provides a substantial foundation for designing and implementing policies for India’s unorganised workforce.
A digital pillar of labour welfare
Five years after its launch, e-Shram has emerged as a significant digital component of India’s social security architecture for workers outside the formal sector.
Its core contribution has been to give unorganised workers a recognised digital identity while creating a mechanism through which multiple welfare and employment-related services can be brought together.
The platform’s development from a database into a one-stop solution has also strengthened the emphasis on convergence – connecting workers not only with social security schemes but also with employment opportunities, skilling, apprenticeships and pensions.
With 31.89 crore registrations, including around 11.5 lakh gig and platform workers, e-Shram has created a nationwide foundation for reaching a diverse workforce that plays a vital role in India’s economy.
As its coverage and services continue to expand, the portal represents the government’s effort to build an inclusive, technology-enabled and future-ready social security ecosystem, supporting the broader objective of ensuring that India’s economic growth is accompanied by greater social protection for its unorganised workforce.
