Currently, no minimum wage structure exists for delivery personnel working for food, grocery, medicine, and other e-commerce platforms in Kerala.
Published Oct 18, 2025 | 5:51 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 18, 2025 | 5:51 PM
Gig workers. (Representational/ iStock)
Synopsis: Earlier, in August 2024, Labour Minister V Sivankutty had announced the plan to come out with a Kerala State Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill thereby ensuring legal protection, improved working conditions, economic security, enhanced welfare and building support for gig workers in the state.
In a first-of-its-kind step in the state, the Kerala government has initiated the process to fix minimum wages for those employed in the rapidly growing online delivery services sector, which includes gig workers engaged with app-based platforms.
The Labour and Skills Department, through a notification issued under Section 27 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, has expressed its intention to include “Employment in Online Delivery Services” in Part-I of the Schedule to the Act, thereby bringing these workers under the ambit of statutory wage protection.
Currently, no minimum wage structure exists for delivery personnel working for food, grocery, medicine, and other e-commerce platforms in Kerala.
If the proposal is implemented, the state will be able to legally fix minimum pay rates for this workforce — a move likely to impact thousands of gig workers and delivery executives.
The government has invited objections or suggestions from stakeholders and the public within three months from the date of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette.
Submissions can be addressed to the Special Secretary to Government, Labour and Skills (E) Department, Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram.
This move is seen as part of Kerala’s larger push to bring gig and platform workers under a formal wage and welfare framework. Labour experts say the decision could set a precedent for other states.
“This is a significant step in recognising gig workers as part of the formal labour ecosystem. Ensuring minimum wages can bring stability and dignity to their work,” said a senior labour official.
Online delivery workers, who form a major part of the urban informal economy, often face unregulated pay structures, with earnings fluctuating based on demand, distance, and incentives.
Labour unions have long demanded a fair wage floor and social security for this segment.
Earlier, in August 2024, Labour Minister V Sivankutty had announced the plan to come out with a Kerala State Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill thereby ensuring legal protection, improved working conditions, economic security, enhanced welfare and building support for gig workers in the state.
The state had also earlier constituted a technical committee to study the problems faced by the platform based/online food delivery workers and to formulate general guidelines regarding service/ wage provisions of online food delivery workers in the state.
The legislation is said to be in its preparatory stage.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Dileep V Kumar)
