Research declarations
Beyond the Employee–Contractor Divide: Platform Work, Algorithmic Control and Labour Protection in India
Yuvraj · Published version 1
These declarations reproduce the recorded publication version. They are author disclosures, not independent verification by The Legal Gazette.
Research declarations
Funding and sponsor involvement
No external funding. The research was independently undertaken without financial sponsorship or grant support.
Competing interests
The author is associated with The Legal Gazette, the intended publisher of this manuscript. No other financial, professional, institutional or personal competing interests are declared.
Author contributions
Yuvraj was solely responsible for conceptualisation, research design, methodology, investigation, collection and analysis of legal materials, comparative legal analysis, drafting, revision and final approval of the manuscript.
Originality and related publications
This manuscript is a substantially revised and updated version of an article previously published in 2024 under the title “The Implication of the Gig Economy on Labour Law.” The earlier version has subsequently been withdrawn from public circulation and removed from the platforms on which it was previously available. The present manuscript has undergone substantial revision, restructuring and updating to incorporate subsequent legislative developments, judicial decisions and comparative legal analysis. This version is submitted as the substantially revised and updated manuscript for publication in The Legal Gazette. The author acknowledges the prior publication and will provide the details of the earlier publication upon editorial request. The author confirms that no concurrent submission of this manuscript is being made to another publication.
Methods and legal currency
This article adopts doctrinal and comparative legal research methods. It examines Indian legislation, judicial decisions, official government publications, international legal instruments and selected academic literature. Comparative analysis draws upon legal frameworks in the United Kingdom, California and the European Union. The legal review is current as of 28 October 2026. No interviews, surveys or statistical analysis of platform-worker data were undertaken.
Limitations
The research primarily concerns Indian labour and social-security law. Comparative jurisdictions are used for analytical purposes and are not treated as directly applicable to India. The article does not undertake empirical verification of registration, contribution collection, benefit disbursement or the operational effectiveness of welfare schemes. Its findings are doctrinal and normative rather than empirical.
Ethics and participant protections
Not applicable. This is a desk-based doctrinal and comparative legal study relying on publicly available legislation, judicial decisions, official publications and academic literature. No human participants, interviews, surveys, personal records or animal subjects were involved.
Data and materials availability
The research is based on publicly accessible legislation, judicial decisions, official government publications, international instruments and academic literature cited in the manuscript. No original empirical dataset was generated. Third-party publications and legal materials remain subject to their respective copyright, licensing and access conditions.
AI and writing assistance
Generative AI tools were used to assist with language refinement, editorial organisation and writing assistance during manuscript preparation. The author independently reviewed the manuscript and takes full responsibility for its contents, legal analysis, interpretations, conclusions and source accuracy. No AI system is listed as an author.