New Delhi, March 8: The Labour Ministry on Saturday urged the platform workers to self-register themselves on e-Shram portal, so that they may be considered for the benefits under the scheme at the earliest.

The gig and platform economy is expanding, offering new jobs in sectors like ridesharing, delivery, logistics, and professional services.

NITI Aayog has projected that the gig economy in India will employ over 1 crore workers in 2024-25, subsequently reaching 2.35 crore by 2029-30.

Recognizing the contribution of the gig and platform workers to the nation’s economy, Union Budget 2025-26 announcement has provisions for registration of online platform workers on e-Shram portal, issue of identity cards, and healthcare coverage under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

The AB-PMJAY health scheme provides a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation across over 31,000 public and private empanelled hospitals in India.

For early implementation of these Budget provisions, the Ministry of Labour and Employment is soon launching the scheme, and has asked platform workers to register on e-Shram Portal for formal recognition and access to AB-PMJAY benefits.

“As a first step, Ministry requests the Platform Workers to self-register themselves on e-Shram portal, so that they may be considered for the benefits under the scheme at the earliest,” it added.

The platform aggregators are also requested to disseminate this information among the platform workers engaged with them and facilitate them to register on e-Shram portal.

Meanwhile, over 30.58 crore unorganised workers have been registered on the e-Shram Portal for receiving benefits under various social welfare schemes of the government.

The e-Shram portal has registered over 1.23 crore workers in 2024, averaging 33,700 enrolments per day.

The e-Shram portal is meant to register and support the unorganised workers by providing them with a Universal Account Number (UAN) on a self-declaration basis.

The e-Shram portal has been integrated with the National Career Service (NCS) Portal. An unorganised worker can register on NCS using his or her Universal Account Number (UAN) and search for suitable job opportunities. A link has also been provided to the workers registered on the e-Shram portal to seamlessly register on the NCS.

New Delhi, March 8: India’s inflation fell to 4.31 per cent in January from 5.22 per cent, approaching the RBI’s 4 per cent target after four months above 5 per cent and this trend reinforces the case for potential rate cuts, with the repo rate at 6.25 per cent, a new report showed on Saturday.

The observed market trajectory suggests a cautious sentiment among investors, potentially influenced by macroeconomic conditions, sector-specific developments, and global financial market trends, according to the Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund report.

The Nifty 500 Index declined by 7.88 per cent in February, reflecting contractions across multiple sectors. Factor-based strategies reflected broader market movement, while fixed-income instruments, including Nifty 5 year Benchmark G-Sec (+0.53 per cent), exhibited relative stability.

Globally, developed markets displayed mixed movements, where Switzerland (+3.47 per cent) and United Kingdom (+3.08 per cent) registered gains, while Japan (-1.38 per cent) showed a contraction, the report mentioned.

The US CPI inflation stood at 3 per cent, reflecting marginal increase from 2.90 per cent in the prior month.

Another HSBC report mentioned that India’s long-term outlook remains strong and the investment cycle is projected to be on a medium-term uptrend supported by government investment in infrastructure and manufacturing, pickup in private investments, and a recovery in the real estate cycle.

The HSBC Mutual Fund’s ‘Market Outlook Report 2025’ expects higher private investments in renewable energy and related supply chains, localisation of higher-end technology components, and India becoming a more meaningful part of global supply chains to support faster growth.

The real economy, as of now, has evinced resilience to global developments.

“Basis the growth-inflation numbers, the MPC’s last policy action as well as the MPC minutes, we believe the RBI-MPC would deliver another 25 bps cut at its April policy while continuing to stay nimble and flexible on its liquidity strategy,” the report projected.

For a third rate cut, inflation trajectory, monsoon outlook and global developments will possibly be key inputs going into the June policy meeting

Mumbai, March 7: SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Friday that the capital markets regulator aims to improve efficiency and transparency to protect investors with the support of technology.

Speaking at a media event here, Pandey said, “SEBI has taken measures to reduce risk in the system to protect investors. Broadly, the reforms are aimed at improving efficiency and transparency in the market. For this, the regulator has used technology in a big way.”

He said the capital markets regulator would continue to work on enhancing investor awareness. There is a need to make people aware of risk, wealth management and how to balance the two by knowing how best to allocate their capital across segments, both equity and debt, he added.

“An informed investor is well protected. SEBI’s efforts in the days ahead would be to create awareness among both existing and prospective investors,” Pandey remarked.

Pandey acknowledged the role that domestic investors are playing in improving the resilience of the capital markets and said that the regulator also wants to support foreign investments. He said that, to grow at the speed that is aimed for, “we need both domestic and foreign investments”.

“We at SEBI are conscious about the need to create conducive environment to attract foreign capital. We will be happy to engage with FPI and AIF industry participants to address their difficulties and further rationalise regulations to promote ease of operation,” he said.

Pandey also said that the SEBI won’t be aiming for “maximum regulations” but for “optimal regulations” in its approach to oversee the markets.

He said that he looks forward to engaging with all stakeholders to discuss what more needs to be done to encourage voluntary compliance.

Pandey further stated that reforms to improve the functioning of the capital markets need not necessarily be big band reforms as small incremental reforms can also be important. Going forward, SEBI will use a right mix to both to achieve the objective, he added.

He also highlighted that the number of unique investors in SEBI’s ecosystem has surged from 49 million in March 2020, to 136 million now.

“The first 10 months (April-January) of the current financial year has seen record equity issuance valued at Rs 4 lakh crore which is twice that of the previous year. This access to capital markets drives economic growth, he added.