Minimum Wage in India

Legislative protection for workers to receive a minimum wage, can be considered as the hall mark of any progressive nation. It is one of the fundamental premises of decent work. In India, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 provides for fixation and enforcement of minimum wages in respect of scheduled employments.

The Act aims to prevent sweating or exploitation of labour1( According to the NSSO (2004-05) 61st round, around 395 million workers (86%) out of the total workforce of around 457 million workers constitute the unorganized/informal sector. In fact 7% of those employed in organized sector has been identified as informal workers raising the toll of informal sector to 422 million (92%).)through payment of low wages by ensuring a minimum subsistence wage for workers. The Act also requires the appropriate government (both at Centre and States) to fix minimum rates of wages in respect of employments specified in the schedule and also review and revise the same at intervals not exceeding five years.

Currently, the number of scheduled employments in the Central sphere is 45 whereas in the States sphere the number is 1650 (when all states are counted). With effect from November 2009, the National Floor Level of Minimum Wage (NFLMW) was increased to revised from Rs 100/day (2007) to Rs 137/day. In July 2015 the National Floor Level of Minimum Wage was raised to Rs 160 per day. National Floor Level Minimum Wage has been revised again to Rs 176/day. The new rates came into effect from 2018.

Since the respective state governments have been empowered to independently fix minimum wages, disparities between wages in neighbouring states are common. In order to reduce this problem and bring comparability the Central government has set up 5 regional committees (table below) for harmonization of minimum wages.

5 Regional Committees in India