India's informal workforce registration

In late July 2026 India’s Ministry of Labour reported that the e‑Shram portal had registered 317.8 million unorganised workers, extending a national database that began in 2021 and now links multiple social‑security schemes. While this registration effort marks a significant step toward formalising gig, platform and migrant labour, a broader analysis released a week later underscored the scale of the informal economy: roughly 540 million Indian workers remain outside contracts, social security or stable wages, accounting for most of the country’s 600 million‑strong labour force. The second report highlighted the limited reach of formal benefits, declining trade‑union density and a shrinking share of labour income in GDP, as well as public protests sparked by remarks likening the unemployed to “cockroaches.” Together, the snapshots illustrate India’s ongoing challenge of integrating a massive informal workforce into formal social‑security structures while the sector continues to dominate employment statistics and shape labour‑market insecurity.