India Operationalises New Labour Codes On Wages And Industrial Relations

With the publication of the final rules under the Code on Wages, 2019 and Industrial Relations Code, 2020 on Friday, May 8, 2026, the Union Government of India has fully operationalized them. Apart from these, the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has also notified the Model Standing Orders, 2026, for the mining, manufacturing and services sectors.

The final rules on the other two new labour codes – the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and working Conditions Code, 2020 will also be published soon, according to the officials in the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment.

All the four controversial labour codes were notified on November 21, 2025, just after BJP’s spectacular win in Bihar Legislative Assembly election. However, the codes were not implemented due to stiff opposition by the joint platform of the 10 Central Trade Unions (CTUs) in the country which threatened all India strike if implemented.

Thereafter, the Union Ministry of Labour announced that the full implementation of the labour codes will be rolled out from April 1, 2026 with the beginning of the new financial year 2026-27. The Ministry said that they needed further feedback from the stakeholder on the final rules.

Consequently, the final draft central rules were published on December 30, 2025 for stakeholders’ feedback. The government gave a 30-days feedback period for the Industrial Relations Code, while for other three codes the given feedback period was 45-days.

In the meantime, on February 12, 2026, the joint platform of the CTUs, farmers unions, scheme workers, bank associations and other sectoral unions organized an all India strike against the labour codes demanding their immediate withdrawal. It was the largest ever workers’ strike in India. They also threatened that if the government went ahead with roll out of the final rules for full implementation of the codes, they would organize an unprecedented level of protest and strike action, which will include multi-days general strike of the workforce in the country.

The government has now published the final rules on two of the codes after the spectacular win in the West Bengal. It is worth recalling that West Bengal is the only state that has not published its own rules under the Central Labour Codes, which was legally required for their implementation because labour is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution of India. Now a BJP government is in power in West Bengal, and therefore, there will be no problem for the Centre to get the rules framed and published by the state under the new labour codes. It will pave the way for full implementation of the labour rules across the states in the country.

The Code of Wages subsumes 4 laws – on Minimum Wages, Payment of Wages, Payment of Bonus, and Equal Remuneration. The Industrial Relations Code subsumes 3 laws – on Industrial Disputes, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders), and Trade Unions. Final rules were published on these two codes.

The Code on Social Security subsumes 9 laws which included EPF, ESIC, Maternity Benefit and Gratuity. The Occupations Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code subsumes 13 laws which included Factories Act, Mines Act, and Contract labour. Official sources said that final rules regarding these will be published soon for fully operationalizing all the four labour codes. As for now, old rules will remain in force until final publications of the new rules relating to these codes.

With the final publication of central rules on Wages and Industrial Relations, these will be implemented immediately on the sectors and units under the central government. However, the state governments are supposed to publish their rules as soon as possible as per the central rules.

Official sources say that the publication of final rules were delayed chiefly because certain definitions and provisions needed explanations. With the publication of the final rules, that hurdle has been removed. Publication of final rules was necessary for making the new codes fully operational. Now these can be enforced in the country.

The rules under the Code on Wages empowers the Union government to set minimum wages, a national floor wage, and also to prescribe the manner in which payments are to be made. It makes the employer responsible for non-payment of bonus to the contractual employees, though they may be working under contractors. Variable dearness allowances are to be revised twice a year as per the CPI for industrial workers. Weekly working hours have been capped at 48 hours, and anyone working beyond will be paid twice the amount of their defined hourly wages.

Under the Industrial Relations Code rules, the government will set up a National Reskilling Fund. A worker losing job will be given one-time severance pay and will be financially supported from the fund to gain new skills.

Though the government has termed the implementation of the codes the next transformative step for much needed labour reform, the CTUs have criticised it and demanded immediate withdrawal of the codes threatening unprecedented large scale protest across the country. (IPA Service)