Budget 2023 | Startup founders want FM to scale up incentives for gig economy

According to a recent NITI Aayog report, 7.7 million workers were engaged in the gig economy during 2020-2021, constituting 2.6 percent of the non-agricultural workforce and 1.5 percent of the total workforce in India.

As the gig economy continues to surge, industry leaders are calling on the government to step in, take action and provide support through incentives and legislation to ensure the prosperity and sustainability of the vital sector that supports millions of workers.

So, what does the gig economy sector want from Budget 2023?

To discuss this, Startup Street spoke to Saurabh Tandon, co-founder and Group COO of BetterPlace, and Praveen Sah, Co-founder and CTO of Awign.

Tandon said the DESH-Stack eportal launched in the last Budget was the first significant step to formalise what is generally an ignored part of the frontline workforce management, which is skilling.

"With the launch of the DESH-Stack, we created a value chain from skilling to employment. I think it's logical that in this Budget, we should focus more on scaling it," Tandon said.

He said the government can incentivise the use of APIs.

Sah, meanwhile, said the government should focus on detailing a proper definition of gig workers.

"The government launched Social Security in the previous Budget, and once we have a proper definition of gig workers, we can offer those social securities. Also, the eShram portal launched last year as a central database helps us to add data and helps everyone as gig workers take up multiple jobs,” he said.

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