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The latest minimum wages in Chandigarh are fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and notified by the Labour Department, Chandigarh Administration. Unlike most states, Chandigarh notifies a single consolidated rate per employee category with no zone split — the Union Territory is one wage area, so the same rate applies from Sector 17 to the periphery villages.
The short answer Minimum wages in Chandigarh run from ₹14,562 a month (₹560 per day) for unskilled work to ₹15,637 a month (₹601 per day) for highly skilled work, under the notification dated 16 December 2025. Chandigarh uses nine categories rather than the usual four – Unskilled, Semiskilled-II and I, Skilled-II and I, Highly Skilled, and three staff classes. Rates are consolidated, so the notified figure is the whole wage, not a basic to which you add an allowance.
Chandigarh notifies a consolidated monthly rate and a matching daily rate for each category, so there is no basic-plus-VDA arithmetic to do. The daily figure is the monthly figure divided by 26 – unskilled work at ₹14,562 a month works out to ₹560 a day. Part months are paid proportionately on days actually worked. Overtime is paid at twice the ordinary rate, derived by dividing the daily rate by the hours in your normal working day.
The mistake to avoid: the consolidated rate cannot be split into allowances. Some employers show ₹9,000 basic plus ₹5,562 of HRA and conveyance and treat the total as compliant. Under the Code on Wages allowances of that kind fall outside the definition of wages, so the wage floor is not met and the shortfall is recoverable.
Worked example – unskilled worker
Notified monthly rate = ₹14,562
Per day = 14,562 ÷ 26 = ₹560
Per year = 14,562 × 12 = ₹1,74,744
One overtime hour at 8 std hrs = 560 ÷ 8 × 2 = ₹140.00
Highly skilled comparison = ₹15,637 a month, a gap of ₹1,075 over unskilled
Chandigarh splits its workforce nine ways, which is more granular than the four-category schedules most states use. The extra tiers matter: the gap between Semiskilled-II and Skilled-I is ₹525 a month, and putting a worker one rung too low is the most common source of wage claims here. Classification follows the work actually performed, not the designation printed on the appointment letter.
Act on this: hold the category as a field on the employee master and reconcile it against actual duties once a quarter. With nine tiers only ₹100 to ₹400 apart, a stale classification is easy to miss on a payslip and expensive across a year and a headcount.
Minimum wages in Chandigarh apply to every worker in a scheduled employment across the Union Territory – shops and commercial establishments, factories, hotels and restaurants, hospitals, educational institutions, security agencies, construction and transport. Coverage does not depend on headcount. Contract workers get the same notified rate as directly employed staff, and where a contractor underpays, the principal employer carries the liability. Any agreement to accept less is void to that extent.
Penalty for Not Paying Minimum Wages in Chandigarh
Paying below the notified rate exposes an employer to recovery of the full 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; 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, so a shortfall stays live long after the wage period closes.
Act on this: ask every contractor for a category-wise breakup on each invoice showing headcount and rate per category. A lump sum per head per month gives you nothing to verify and no defence if it turns out to sit below the floor.
The Labour Department of the Chandigarh Administration fixes and revises minimum wages for all scheduled employments in the Union Territory. Rates are consolidated rather than split into basic and dearness allowance, and are revised periodically against movements in the Consumer Price Index. The current reference is the notification dated 16 December 2025, which applied to the wage period 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026 – note the notification was signed more than two months after the period it governs had begun.
Act on this: the 1 October 2025 notification was published on 16 December 2025, which means employers who waited for it owed two and a half months of arrears. Do not wait for publication. Diarise the revision dates, keep provision for the increase, and settle arrears as a labelled payslip line as soon as the notification lands.
Recent revision history of minimum wages in Chandigarh. Note the consistent gap between the effective date and the notification date.
| Applicable Period | Notified On | Unskilled / Month | Unskilled / Day | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Oct 2025 – 31 Mar 2026 | 16 Dec 2025 | ₹14,562 | ₹560 | Latest published rates |
| Preceding period | 03 Sep 2025 | – | – | Earlier revision |
| Preceding period | 07 Jan 2025 | – | – | Earlier revision |
Figures marked – are to be filled from the corresponding notification. The revision for the period beginning 01 April 2026 had not been published at the time of writing; until it is, the December 2025 rates remain the reference and arrears will apply retrospectively once it appears. Always verify against the official notification before finalizing payroll.
Chandigarh sits between Punjab and Haryana and draws its workforce from both, so employers running establishments across the tri-city area of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula are applying three different schedules to workers who may live on the same street. The structural difference matters more than the headline gap.
Unskilled minimum wage per day, compared with other jurisdictions. Comparison figures are to be filled from each state’s own notification.
| State / Benchmark | Unskilled / Day | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Chandigarh (UT) | ₹560 | Consolidated monthly rate, no zone split, nine employee categories |
| Goa – Zone A | ₹561.00 | Basic ₹412.00 + VDA ₹149.00, revised on 01 Apr and 01 Oct |
| Gujarat – Zone I | ₹512.50 | Basic ₹452.00 + VDA ₹60.50, revised on 01 Apr and 01 Oct |
| Punjab | – | Basic + VDA, revised half-yearly |
| Haryana | – | Consolidated rate, revised annually from 01 April |
| National Floor Wage | – | Advisory floor, not directly enforceable on employers |
Act on this: if you operate across the tri-city area, hold Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana as three separate rate masters. A single tri-city band will underpay somewhere, and underpayment is the side that creates liability.
The table below sets out the latest minimum wages in Chandigarh across all nine employee categories, as notified on 16 December 2025. Rates run from ₹14,562 to ₹15,637 a month. Daily figures are the monthly rate divided by 26.
| S.No. | Category of Employee | Per Month | Per Day | Per Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unskilled | ₹14,562 | ₹560 | ₹1,74,744 |
| 2 | Semiskilled-II | ₹14,712 | ₹566 | ₹1,76,544 |
| 3 | Semiskilled-I | ₹14,812 | ₹570 | ₹1,77,744 |
| 4 | Skilled-II | ₹15,012 | ₹577 | ₹1,80,144 |
| 5 | Skilled-I | ₹15,237 | ₹586 | ₹1,82,844 |
| 6 | Highly Skilled | ₹15,637 | ₹601 | ₹1,87,644 |
| 7 | Class III (Staff) | ₹14,837 | ₹571 | ₹1,78,044 |
| 8 | Class II (Staff) | ₹14,987 | ₹576 | ₹1,79,844 |
| 9 | Class I (Staff) | ₹15,347 | ₹590 | ₹1,84,164 |
Source: Labour Department, Chandigarh Administration – notification dated 16 December 2025, applicable 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026. Annual figures are the monthly rate × 12.
No. This is the single biggest structural difference between Chandigarh and the states around it, and it simplifies compliance considerably.
Because Chandigarh has no zones, the daily wage rate is the same everywhere in the Union Territory. An unskilled worker earns ₹560 a day whether the workplace is a showroom in Sector 17, a unit in Industrial Area Phase I or II, a shop in Manimajra, or an establishment in a periphery village. The same applies at every other category – skilled-I at ₹586 a day and highly skilled at ₹601 a day, UT-wide. The only question that changes the rate is which of the nine categories the worker falls in.
Under the notification dated 16 December 2025, minimum wages in Chandigarh are ₹14,562 a month or ₹560 a day for unskilled work, rising through Semiskilled-II at ₹14,712, Semiskilled-I at ₹14,812, Skilled-II at ₹15,012 and Skilled-I at ₹15,237, to ₹15,637 a month or ₹601 a day for highly skilled work.
Nine. Unskilled, Semiskilled-II, Semiskilled-I, Skilled-II, Skilled-I, Highly Skilled, and three staff classes — Class III at ₹14,837, Class II at ₹14,987 and Class I at ₹15,347 a month. Most states use four, so a schedule imported from a neighbouring state will not map cleanly onto Chandigarh.
No. Chandigarh is a single wage area. The same rate applies across all sectors, the industrial area, Manimajra and the periphery villages. Punjab and Haryana rates do not apply inside the UT, and Chandigarh rates do not apply in Mohali or Panchkula.
No. Chandigarh notifies a consolidated rate, so the figure in the notification is the whole wage. There is no separate dearness allowance line to add. Equally, the consolidated figure cannot be broken into basic plus allowances to reduce statutory liability — under the Code on Wages those allowances fall outside the definition of wages.
Divide the monthly rate by 26. Unskilled at ₹14,562 a month gives ₹560 a day and ₹1,74,744 a year. Highly skilled at ₹15,637 a month gives ₹601 a day. Overtime is twice the ordinary rate, derived by dividing the daily figure by the hours in your normal working day.
Yes. Contract workers, security guards and housekeeping staff supplied through an agency must receive at least the notified rate for their category. Security guards fall in the unskilled category at ₹560 a day unless their duties place them higher. If the contractor underpays, the principal employer is liable for the shortfall.
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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