NPS without a fixed minimum: How Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, Uber workers can build retirement savings at their own pace

India’s gig and platform workers can build a retirement corpus through the National Pension System (NPS) without being tied to a fixed minimum or maximum contribution under the NPS e-Shramik (Platform Service Partner) model. The flexibility is designed to accommodate workers whose earnings can vary significantly from one month or task to another.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) launched the NPS e-Shramik model on October 29, 2025, to bring platform workers into a structured retirement savings framework. The model is aimed at workers providing services through digital platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, Uber and Urban Company.

Unlike conventional employment-linked retirement benefits, gig workers typically do not have a fixed salary or the same social-security coverage as formal-sector employees. The e-Shramik model seeks to address this gap by allowing contributions to be made according to the worker’s earning capacity and the arrangement with the platform aggregator.

No fixed contribution requirement

A key feature of the model is that PFRDA has not prescribed a mandatory minimum or maximum contribution for the individual pension account. This means a worker does not have to commit to making a fixed contribution at regular intervals.

PFRDA recently highlighted that workers can start with as little as Rs 99 and contribute at their own pace. However, the Rs 99 figure should not be interpreted as a mandatory minimum contribution prescribed by the regulator. It is an example of a possible contribution, while the contribution structure can be determined between the platform aggregator and the worker.

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This flexibility can be particularly relevant for workers whose income depends on the number of bookings, deliveries, rides or assignments they receive. A worker could potentially contribute more during months with higher earnings and reduce or skip contributions when income is weaker, subject to the terms agreed under the platform arrangement.

Worker or platform can contribute

The e-Shramik framework also allows flexibility over who contributes to the pension account. Contributions can be made solely by the worker, solely by the platform aggregator, or jointly by both.

According to PFRDA's October 2025 circular, the Points of Presence (PoPs) are responsible for engaging and educating platform aggregators and facilitating the onboarding of their workers. The aggregator and worker can also decide the applicable minimum contribution for their arrangement.

This creates a different model from the traditional employer-employee structure, where retirement contributions are generally linked to a formal employment relationship.

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Bridging the social-security gap

The initiative comes against the backdrop of India's rapidly expanding gig economy. Platform workers are generally not treated as regular employees of the companies through which they receive assignments and therefore do not receive the same employment-linked retirement benefits available to many formal-sector workers.

For gig workers, the absence of a predictable monthly income can make conventional long-term investing difficult. The NPS e-Shramik model attempts to address this by making contribution frequency and amounts more compatible with irregular earnings.

For workers, however, flexibility also makes consistency important. Since retirement savings depend on contributions made over time, building a meaningful corpus will ultimately require workers to contribute whenever their income permits and remain invested for the long term.

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