01123nam a22001337a 4500 533791 533791 260624b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Mahapatra, Sushanta Kumar, and Meher, Madan 61318 Welfare fees, welfare boards and platform capture in India’s Gig economy: The Karnataka experiment Economic & Political Weekly 61(23), Jun 6, 2026: p.27-29 While Karnataka’s Platform-based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2025 aims to formalise precarious labour and guarantee insurance, pensions, and grievance mechanisms, its real-world impact remains uncertain. Platforms may shift the levy to workers via lower commissions or to consumers through higher prices, and compliance costs may disadvantage smaller aggregators, reinforcing market concentration. Karnataka’s experiment highlights both the promise and perils of subnational innovation in India’s gig economy. – Reproduced https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/23/commentary/welfare-fees-welfare-boards-and-platform-capture.html Economic & Political Weekly AR 0 0 ddc 0 0 408971 IIPA IIPA 2026-06-24 61(23), Jun 6, 2026: p.27-29 AR139253 2026-06-24 AR