The e-Shram portal is a flagship digital initiative by the Government of India, launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on August 26, 2021. It is a scheme designed to create a comprehensive National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW), which includes gig, platform, construction, and migrant workers. The portal was created to solve the problem of the unorganised sector's lack of a centralised database, which hindered the effective delivery of social security and welfare benefits to the estimated 38 crore workers in this sector.
The mechanism works by registering unorganised workers, who must be aged between 16 and 59 and not be members of the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) or Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Upon registration, which is free of cost and requires Aadhaar and bank account details, the worker is assigned a Universal Account Number (UAN), a permanent 12-digit number. This UAN card facilitates the portability of social security benefits across the country.
The portal connects to and facilitates access to numerous Central Government schemes, such as the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), and Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan (PM-SYM). A significant recent change occurred on October 21, 2024, when the Ministry of Labour and Employment launched the e-Shram–“One-Stop-Solution”. This upgrade integrated 14 schemes from different Central Ministries, allowing registered workers to access and track their social security benefits through the single e-Shram portal. Furthermore, the portal has been made multilingual, leveraging the Bhashini project to offer services in 22 Indian languages.