Telangana Set To Drop Jail Term For Gig Aggregators, Shift to Heavy Fines
After talking with app companies and worker groups, the government chose to drop jail time. Instead, it will use fines that get bigger with each type of offence.
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2025-07-12 06:23 GMT
Hyderabad: Telangana plans to drop the one-year jail term for app companies in its Gig and Platform Workers Bill 2025. It will instead use heavy fines to make sure they follow the social security rules for gig workers.
The original draft had proposed imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of 82 lakh for aggregators who failed to pay into the Gig Workers Welfare Fund or withheld required data.
After talking with app companies and worker groups, the government chose to drop jail time. Instead, it will use fines that get bigger with each type of offence.
Under the revised plan, repeat offences could attract fines up to 10 lakh, a jump from the originally proposed 2 lakh. Lesser breaches may draw penalties up to 250,000. Sources indicate a tiered structure with first, second and third violations carrying fines of 215 lakh, 187 lakh and 10 lakh respectively, is under review.
A senior law-department official said the amendments are being finalised. When the new bill is approved, it will keep gig worker's rights safe and spare businesses from jail.
The article has been authored by Cheeram Kanishka Yadav, an intern at Deccan Chronicle.