India Wins ISSA Award 2025 Social Security Expansion

Award & Recognition

• India has won the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Award 2025 on the outstanding achievement in social security.
• The award was given at the World Social Security Forum (WSSF) 2025 in Kuala Lumpur at a globally attended event with 163 countries attending.
• The international labour organisation (ILO) has also officially acknowledged this.

Scale of Expansion: Major Key Achievement.

• India has made a historic jump in covering social security as stressed by Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
• Coverage has gone up to more than 940 million citizens as a result of an increase in numbers (19% in 2015, to 64.3% in 2025).

Success Factors: Digital Public Infrastructure.

• The success of India can be explained by its innovative use of the online platform:
• e-Shram Portal: This is a centralised, national database and has enrolled more than 310 million workers in the unorganised sector where welfare schemes are linked to them through various languages.
• National Career Service (NCS): NCS is connected with e-Shram in order to connect skilled workers with vacant positions, which will enable the workers to seek jobs without losing their social security payments.

An Agencies and Holistic Vision implementation.

• The Employees Provident Fund organisation (EPFO) and Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) have played an important role in the provision of pensions, healthcare and insurance.
• The government approach is holistic and therefore, financial inclusion, the development of skills, self-employment and social protection are linked as major pillars of inclusive growth.