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The latest minimum wages in Bihar, effective 01 April 2026, are fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 read with the Bihar Minimum Wages Rules, 1951, and notified by the Labour Resources Department, Government of Bihar at Patna. Rates are notified as a single daily figure inclusive of the Variable Dearness Allowance, revised twice a year against the All-India Consumer Price Index, and they apply statewide with no zone split.
The short answer From 01 April 2026, minimum wages in Bihar are ₹436 per day for unskilled work, ₹452 for semi-skilled, ₹551 for skilled and ₹672 for highly skilled, each figure inclusive of VDA. On a 26-day month that is ₹11,336 to ₹17,472. The revision raised the VDA by ₹8 for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, ₹10 for skilled and ₹12 for highly skilled, calculated on the All-India Consumer Price Index for July to December 2025. The notification covers all scheduled employments together with twelve piece-rate schedules.
Bihar notifies a daily figure inclusive of VDA, so there is no allowance to add on separately. Convert to a monthly figure by multiplying the daily rate by 26 – unskilled work at ₹436 a day works out to ₹11,336 a month. Overtime is paid at twice the ordinary rate, derived by dividing the daily figure by the hours in the normal working day. For piece-rated workers, the notified piece rate must produce earnings at least equal to the time-rate minimum for the period worked.
The mistake to avoid: assuming an even step between categories. Bihar’s ladder is deliberately uneven – unskilled to semi-skilled is only ₹16 a day, but semi-skilled to skilled jumps ₹99. An employer who assumes a uniform increment and places a skilled tradesman one rung down underpays by ₹2,574 a month, not by a marginal amount.
Worked example – unskilled worker
Notified daily rate = ₹436 (inclusive of VDA)
Per month = 436 × 26 = ₹11,336
Per year = 11,336 × 12 = ₹1,36,032
Per hour at an 8-hour day = 436 ÷ 8 = ₹54.50
One overtime hour = 54.50 × 2 = ₹109.00
Bihar classifies employees by skill level, and the schedule also recognises supervisory and clerical work alongside the four manual grades. Classification follows the work actually performed rather than the designation on the appointment letter. The uneven gaps between grades make accurate classification unusually consequential here.
Act on this: audit the boundary between semi-skilled and skilled first. It is the single largest step in the Bihar schedule at ₹99 a day, and it is where a long-serving operative who now works independently is most likely to be sitting on the wrong side.
Minimum wages in Bihar apply across the scheduled employments notified by the state government, and coverage does not depend on headcount. The April 2026 notification covers all scheduled employments together with twelve piece-rate schedules, so employers paying by output as well as by time are within its scope. Contract workers are covered on the same footing as directly employed staff, and where a contractor pays below the notified rate the principal employer carries the liability.
Paying below the notified rate exposes an employer to recovery of the shortfall for the whole affected period, compensation on top, and prosecution. Under the Code on Wages, 2019 a first offence attracts a fine of up to ₹50,000, and a repeat offence within five years can mean up to three months imprisonment and a fine of up to ₹1 lakh. Claims reach back three years.
Act on this: for piece-rated work, keep output records alongside attendance. The obligation is not merely to pay the notified piece rate but to ensure a worker of ordinary efficiency reaches the time-rate minimum – and without output data you cannot demonstrate that in either direction.
Minimum wages in Bihar are fixed by the Labour Resources Department under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the Bihar Minimum Wages Rules, 1951, and revised twice a year with effect from 01 April and 01 October. The April 2026 revision was based on the All-India Consumer Price Index for July to December 2025, at a converted index average of 9,696.43, and produced a VDA increase of ₹8 a day for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, ₹10 for skilled and ₹12 for highly skilled.
Act on this: note that the VDA increment differs by skill category in Bihar, unlike states that apply a flat allowance across the board. A payroll system configured to add a single VDA figure to every category will be wrong for three of the four.
Revision history for minimum wages in Bihar. Rates are notified inclusive of VDA.
| Effective From | Unskilled / Day | Semi-Skilled / Day | Skilled / Day | Highly Skilled / Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr 2026 | ₹436 | ₹452 | ₹551 | ₹672 |
| 01 Oct 2025 | – | – | – | – |
| 01 Apr 2025 | – | – | – | – |
Figures marked – are to be filled from the corresponding notification. The April 2026 revision added ₹8 to the unskilled and semi-skilled rates, ₹10 to skilled and ₹12 to highly skilled, based on the All-India Consumer Price Index for July to December 2025. Verify against the Labour Resources Department, Government of Bihar notification before finalizing payroll.
Bihar sits at the lower end of the national range, and its structure is distinctive in two ways: the daily rate is notified inclusive of VDA rather than split into components, and the steps between skill grades are deliberately uneven rather than uniform.
Unskilled minimum wage per day, compared with other states. Comparison figures are to be filled from each state’s own notification.
| State / Benchmark | Unskilled / Day | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar | ₹436 | Single daily rate inclusive of VDA, statewide, revised 01 Apr and 01 Oct |
| Uttar Pradesh | ₹435.14 | Basic ₹5,750 + VDA ₹5,563.65 a month, three skill bands |
| West Bengal – Zone A | ₹406 | Consolidated monthly rate ₹10,558, two zones |
| Odisha | ₹472 | Basic ₹462 + VDA ₹10 a day, single zone |
| Jharkhand | – | Area A, B and C classification with skill grades |
| National Floor Wage | – | Advisory floor, not directly enforceable on employers |
Act on this: Bihar and Uttar Pradesh sit within a rupee of each other at the unskilled level but are structured completely differently — Bihar notifies a daily figure inclusive of VDA, UP a monthly basic plus a separate allowance. Do not port a rate card between them even though the headline numbers look interchangeable.
The table below sets out minimum wages in Bihar effective 01 April 2026. Daily rates are as notified and are inclusive of the VDA component. Monthly figures are the daily rate multiplied by 26, and the same rates apply statewide.
| Skill Category | Per Day | Per Month | Per Year | VDA Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unskilled | ₹436 | ₹11,336 | ₹1,36,032 | ₹8 |
| Semi-Skilled | ₹452 | ₹11,752 | ₹1,41,024 | ₹8 |
| Skilled | ₹551 | ₹14,326 | ₹1,71,912 | ₹10 |
| Highly Skilled | ₹672 | ₹17,472 | ₹2,09,664 | ₹12 |
Source: Labour Resources Department, Government of Bihar – notification revising minimum wages with VDA effective 01 April 2026, under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the Bihar Minimum Wages Rules, 1951. VDA increase column shows the rise applied at this revision, based on the All-India CPI for July to December 2025.
Bihar notifies a single set of rates applying across the state, so there is no zone classification to apply – the variables are skill category and, for some work, whether the employment is time-rated or piece-rated.
Because Bihar applies one statewide schedule, the notified rate is the same everywhere in the state. An unskilled worker earns ₹436 a day whether the workplace is a shop in Patna, a unit in Muzaffarpur, a site in Gaya or an establishment in a rural block. The same holds at every grade – skilled at ₹551 a day and highly skilled at ₹672. With no geographic variable in play, the only questions that change the rate are the skill category and whether the work is time-rated or piece-rated.
From 01 April 2026, minimum wages Bihar are ₹436 per day or ₹11,336 a month for unskilled work, ₹452 per day or ₹11,752 for semi-skilled, ₹551 per day or ₹14,326 for skilled, and ₹672 per day or ₹17,472 a month for highly skilled. Each daily figure is inclusive of VDA.
No, it is already included. Bihar notifies a single daily figure inclusive of the Variable Dearness Allowance. The April 2026 revision raised the VDA component by ₹8 a day for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, ₹10 for skilled and ₹12 for highly skilled — note the increment differs by category rather than being flat.
Twice a year, with effect from 01 April and 01 October, through a VDA revision linked to the All-India Consumer Price Index. The April 2026 revision was based on the AICPI for July to December 2025 at a converted index average of 9,696.43.
No. Bihar applies a single statewide schedule with no zone classification, so the same rate applies in Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur and every rural block. The variables that change the rate are the skill category and whether the work is time-rated or piece-rated.
Multiply the notified daily rate by 26. Unskilled at ₹436 a day gives ₹11,336 a month and ₹1,36,032 a year. Overtime is twice the ordinary rate — ₹109.00 an hour for an unskilled worker on an eight-hour day.
Yes. The April 2026 notification covers twelve piece-rate schedules alongside the time-rate categories. The piece rate must be set so that a worker of ordinary efficiency earns at least the time-rate minimum for the period worked, and output records are what demonstrate that.
Alpesh Vaghasiya (CEO)
Alpesh Vaghasiya is the Co-founder and CEO of Superworks, a smart business management solution that Indian SMBs and large enterprises use to run attendance, payroll, and statutory compliance from a single system. He has spent over 15 years building software out of Surat, founding Artoon Solutions, now a 350+ person product engineering firm serving clients across 30+ countries, in 2009, before launching Superworks in 2020.
His writing comes from the operator's side of compliance - what actually breaks when payroll has to absorb a minimum wage revision, reconcile attendance across multiple sites, or file returns under different state rules in the same month. A Charter Member of TiE Surat and an active angel investor in early-stage Indian startups, he holds a B.E. in Computer Engineering from Gujarat University.
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