The Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled in Parliament on January 29, 2026, devoted dedicated chapters to three transformative policy domains: the gig economy and labour formalisation, state-level deregulation, and climate adaptation strategy.
The gig economy chapter estimates India's gig workforce at 1.2 crore workers — spanning platform-based delivery, ride-hailing, freelancing, and domestic services. It highlights the precarious nature of gig work: absence of social security, irregular incomes, and lack of legal employment status. The Survey recommends extending portable social security benefits to gig workers through the four Labour Codes enacted in 2019-2020, specifically the Code on Social Security 2020. The portability concept ensures that a worker moving between platforms or employers does not lose accumulated social security credits. The Survey calls on states to notify the Labour Codes expeditiously and on platforms to contribute to a dedicated gig worker welfare fund.
The deregulation chapter catalogues over 630 state-level regulatory reforms implemented between 2021 and 2025. These reforms span business licensing simplification, land use approvals, environmental clearances, and building permissions. The Survey cites World Bank Doing Business-style metrics to argue that states that deregulated faster attracted higher FDI inflows and saw stronger MSME growth. It advocates a 'regulatory guillotine' — systematic review and sunset of outdated rules — as a growth accelerator.
The climate chapter introduces India's 'adaptation-first' strategic posture, contrasting it with the global emphasis on mitigation. The Survey argues that given India's developmental stage, adaptation investments in agriculture, water management, coastal protection, and heat-resilient urban planning must precede and accompany emission reductions. It also warns of grid stress arising from rapid renewable energy transition — specifically the challenge of integrating intermittent solar and wind power with baseload requirements — and recommends investment in grid modernisation, storage, and flexible natural gas-based peaking capacity to ensure energy security during the transition.