Budget 2025: I-cards, registration on e-Shram portal for 1 crore gig workers

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the government will arrange identity cards and registration on the e-Shram portal to assist 1 crore gig workers.

Presenting the Union Budget 2025-26, the finance minister also said a scheme for the socio-economic upliftment of urban workers will be implemented.

"...Gig workers of online platforms provide great dynamism to the 'New Age' services economy. Recognising their contribution, our government will arrange for their identity cards and registration on the e-Shram portal," she said.

Such workers will be provided health care facilities under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) and this measure is likely to assist nearly one crore workers, Sitharaman added.

In her presentation, the finance minister also said that by next year, 10,000 seats will be added in medical colleges and hospitals while another 75,000 seats will be added in the next five years.

The government will also facilitate the setting up of daycare cancer centres in all district hospitals in the next three years.

Besides, the infrastructure ministries will come up with a 3-year pipeline of projects to be implemented in PPP (public-private partnership) mode, Sitharaman said.