India’s first social security app, “TankhaPay,” developed by Akal Information Systems Ltd., has received 2.7 million USD in funding from prominent Japanese investors. This app helps employers cover their informal, gig, and temporary workers under government schemes of PF and ESI, ensuring the financial and social security of workers by formalizing their payroll and covering them under social security benefits. The company aims to promote the use of TankhaPay in a wider market segment. The TankhaPay app covers all workers of the informal sector under government social security benefit schemes.

Social security for gig and informal workers is the need of the day. However, companies are struggling to offer social security to their informal and gig workers because they are not regular employees. These workers do not work full-time but work for multiple companies simultaneously and earn on a gig basis. TankhaPay fills in the gap by converting these gig compensations from multiple companies into a formalized salary to provide PF and ESI to the workers. Additionally, startups and small businesses that do not have the means to provide social security and are looking for easier ways to manage payrolls of their workers can use the app.

Launched in April 2023, TankhaPay is India’s first app that streamlines social security benefits for informal, gig, and temporary workers. Employers, including MSMEs, startups, and large platforms, can provide benefits like EPF (employee provident fund) and ESI (employee state insurance) to informal staff by using the app,” said the project leader from AKAL. She added further, “It is hassle-free to use, cost-effective, and a time-saving tool.”