Hyderabad: Currently, about one crore workers are earning under gig economy in India, which is likely to more than double to about 2.4 crore by 2030, Sumita Dawra, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt of India, referring to a Periodic Labour Force Survey, said.

Addressing more than 300 industry members at a session organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Employers’ Federation of India (EFI), in Hyderabad on Friday, Dawra mentioned that about eight crore new jobs were created in India over the last five years.

“India’s GDP, that is currently at about $3 trillion, is expected to reach $33 trillion by 2047. Our demographic dividend and labour reforms will drive this growth going ahead. In employment generation, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) and startups are driving the growth,” Dawra said further that a taskforce was formed by the Centre to study the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the future of work.

She highlighted the ease of doing business reforms introduced by Ministry of Labour and Employment, which includes decriminalisation of labour laws, increasing female workforce participation, social security, and labour welfare that will drive inclusive growth in India.

The State Labour Department was represented by Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Labour Secretary, Government of Telangana. He said that the State government is working on upgrading ITIs into Advanced Training Centres and industries are adopting ITIs.

Sai D Prasad, Chairman, CII Telangana, in his address, mentioned that CII – Employers Federation of India are working together on increasing women workforce participation. CII’s vision is to increase the participation of women in the workforce to 50 per cent, he added.

In this regard, a taskforce has been constituted to work with industry members, and the taskforce has come out with the compendium of best practices for the industry to adopt. He further said that to bridge formal and informal workforce divide a taskforce on Gig and Platform workers has been constituted. The taskforce will work on drawing recommendations on social security coverage to these workers and build international perspective on the same.

During the event, CII announced its partnership with Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India to establish 100 additional CII Model Career Centres to link the job seekers to industry job providers.