India’s new Labour Codes officially came into force on Friday, sweeping away 29 older labour laws and ushering in one of the most far-reaching reforms in the country’s workforce regulations. The four codes — Code of Wages (2019), Industrial Relations Code (2020), Code on Social Security (2020) and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (2020) — bring India’s fragmented labour laws under a single, modernised framework.
They introduce uniform wage rules, stronger safety standards, expanded social security and simplified compliance for employers. Notably, IT and IT-enabled services must now ensure salaries are disbursed by the 7th of each month. This is expected to improve trust between workers and employers by increasing transparency and reducing financial stress.
What did the Labour ministry say?
According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, prior to these reforms, there was no mandatory compliance for employers on timely wage payments. Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced the implementation on X, saying that the codes would ensure timely minimum wages for all workers, appointment letters for all employees, equal pay and greater workplace dignity for women, gratuity for fixed-term employees after one year, free annual health check-ups for workers over 40, among other things.
Key features
Under the new framework, IT companies will have to ensure all employees including gig workers receive social security benefits, including provident fund, ESIC, insurance and gratuity. This addresses a long-standing demand from the sector, where large portions of the workforce operate on fixed-term contracts, vendor arrangements or project-based deployments.
It comes more than five years after Parliament passed the laws in 2020.
With the new law in force, women are now allowed to work at night and in all types of occupations, subject to their consent and the required safety measures. The codes also mandate that IT companies give ‘equal pay for equal work’, while strengthening the participation of women in the workforce. Companies are further required to provide facilities for women to work night shifts, boosting workforce participation.
A senior government official told IE that while the Acts are notified, the rules will be rolled out in the next 5-7 days and sections not requiring rules will be implemented immediately.