Minimum wages in India are not fixed by one central number. Each state sets its own rate, based on skill level, zone, and industry. The Central Government’s advisory, National Floor Level Minimum Wage (NFLMW), sets a floor — currently ₹178 per day — that no state can go below, plus its own rates for central sphere employment. Everything else is set by the states. Presently, unskilled workers earn a minimum wage of ₹783 per day. Skilled and highly skilled roles pay more. Get a complete breakdown of current minimum wages by state, how they’re calculated, and everything in between.
What is the minimum wage in India?
One of the most interesting aspects of India is that because it’s a huge country in terms of demographics, population, and everything, there is no single national minimum wage system. The minimum wage in India is the lowest amount an employer can legally pay a worker for a day or month of work. It exists to protect low-income workers from underpayment, regardless of the sector they work in.
The entire structure of minimum wage in India is distributed across skill categories, scheduled employments, and geographic zones.
Skilled: Jobs requiring specific vocational training, proficiency, or judgment.
Semi-skilled: Roles requiring a minor degree of skill or operational familiarity.
Unskilled: Basic manual labour requiring no special training or experience.
Employment and jurisdiction:
Scheduled employments: Specific industries, trades, or occupations explicitly listed under legal schedules.
Central sphere: Sectors under direct federal oversight, such as railways, mines, and oilfields.
State sphere: All other regional, commercial, and local employments managed individually by each state or union territory.
Wage components and geography:
Wage elements: Composed of a basic rate of pay plus an optional or mandatory Variable Dearness Allowance to counter inflation.
Geographic zones: Rates are adjusted locally by states based on urban classification.
Minimum Wages Act and Code on Wages
For a very long time, minimum wages in India have fallen under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. But that changed in 2019, when a law was introduced, and the past act got folded into the Code on Wages, 2019. Along with that, three other wage-related laws: the Payment of Wages Act, the Payment of Bonus Act, and the Equal Remuneration Act.
The Code brought a few real changes for employers:
Universal coverage:
Earlier, minimum wage rules applied only to “scheduled employments.” The Code extends protection to almost every worker, organized or unorganized.
A national floor wage:
The Centre sets a baseline figure. No state can legally notify a rate below it.
A 50% wage definition rule:
Basic pay, dearness allowance, and retaining allowance must together make up at least 50% of a worker’s total pay. If they don’t, the shortfall gets added back for calculating dues like PF and gratuity.
Faster gratuity eligibility for fixed-term staff:
Employees are eligible for gratuity after 1 year of service.
States are rolling out their own rules under this Code at different speeds, so the effective date for full enforcement can vary by state. Employers should track their specific state’s notification rather than assume a single all-India date.
Current minimum wages in India by state (2026)
State
Skilled
Semi-Skilled
Unskilled
Delhi
₹22,411
₹19,473
₹18,066
Kerala
₹19,800
₹17,750
₹16,500
Haryana
₹18,400
₹16,780
₹15,220
Maharashtra (Zone I)
₹17,200
₹15,800
₹14,500
Karnataka (Zone I)
₹16,650
₹15,240
₹13,990
Uttar Pradesh
₹16,310
₹14,850
₹13,690
Gujarat (Zone I)
₹15,900
₹14,600
₹13,400
Tamil Nadu (Zone I)
₹15,600
₹14,300
₹13,200
Telangana (Zone I)
₹15,400
₹14,200
₹13,100
Andhra Pradesh (Zone I)
₹15,100
₹13,900
₹12,800
West Bengal (Zone A)
₹14,800
₹13,600
₹12,500
Rajasthan
₹14,500
₹13,300
₹12,200
Madhya Pradesh
₹14,100
₹12,900
₹11,800
Punjab
₹13,700
₹12,500
₹11,389
Bihar
₹13,400
₹12,200
₹11,100
Odisha
₹13,100
₹11,900
₹10,800
Jharkhand
₹12,800
₹11,600
₹10,500
Central Sphere
₹954/day (approx. ₹24,804/month)
₹868/day (approx. ₹22,568/month)
₹783/day (approx. ₹20,358/month)
National Floor Level Minimum Wage (NFLMW)
—
—
₹178/day (approx. ₹5,340/month)
Note: Minimum wages in India vary state by state and keep getting changed. Therefore, employers must visit the official website of the Ministry of Labour & Employment and cross-check before processing their payroll.
How are minimum wages calculated?
A state doesn’t invent a number out of thin air. Minimum wage calculation in India rests on a few consistent inputs, and an equation:
Minimum wage = Basic + VDA
Minimum wage: The fixed core amount, shaped by local cost of living.
Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA): An inflation-linked top-up tied to the Consumer Price Index, typically revised every April and October.
House Rent Allowance (HRA): Covers housing costs in some state schedules, though under the Code, excluded allowances like HRA can’t push more than 50% of total pay outside the “wages” definition.
Because VDA moves with inflation, the current minimum wages in a state today may not match the figure from six months ago. That’s also why payroll teams treat this as a recurring compliance check rather than a one-time setup.
States are required to formally revise the underlying wage structure at least once every five years, with VDA adjustments happening far more often in between.
Employer compliance: What’s required and what’s the cost of getting it wrong?
Paying the applicable state or central rate isn’t optional. Under the Code on Wages, non-compliance carries real financial and legal exposure:
Paying below the notified minimum wage can draw a fine of up to ₹50,000.
A repeat offence within five years can mean imprisonment up to 3 months, a fine up to ₹1 lakh, or both.
Breaking other provisions, like recordkeeping, can cost up to ₹20,000.
Employees can file a claim for unpaid wages, and the burden of proof sits with the employer.
For companies hiring across states – a common setup for manufacturing and logistics employers – this means tracking multiple state notifications, multiple VDA revision cycles, and multiple skill-band schedules at once. Manual tracking gets error-prone fast, especially when a state revises rates mid-cycle.
This is exactly the kind of recurring, multi-state compliance work that good payroll software is built to absorb, auto-applying the right wage floor by location and skill category before a payslip ever gets generated, so no one’s relying on someone remembering the last gazette notification.
Conclusion
Minimum wages in India work on a layered system. The numbers keep on shifting. For employers, the safest approach is simple – check the applicable state notification before every payroll cycle, keep VDA revisions on your radar, and build in a system that flags changes automatically instead of catching them after the fact.
That’s easier said than done when it’s tracked manually across states. Super Payroll automates salary calculations, PF, ESI, PT, and TDS with real-time statutory updates, so wage revisions don’t have to be chased down and applied by hand for every employee, every cycle. Flexible salary structures and one-click processing mean a state-level wage change gets reflected in payslips without reworking the whole payroll run. Book a demo now!
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