An all-in-one business management solution for all your business needs!
Book a free demo to know more!
Built to scale with your business.
AI-powered solution to automate workflow.
Cost-effective for growing businesses.
An all-in-one business management solution for all your business needs!
Book a free demo to know more!
The latest minimum wages in Odisha, effective 01 April 2026, are fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and notified by the Labour Directorate, Government of Odisha through the Labour Commissioner. Odisha applies a single wage area for the whole state - there are no zones - and a four-tier skill structure in which each tier steps up by exactly ₹50 a day.
The short answer For the wage period beginning 01 April 2026, the labour rate in Odisha runs from ₹472 per day (₹12,272 a month) for unskilled work to ₹622 per day (₹16,172 a month) for highly skilled work. Every rate carries a Variable Dearness Allowance of ₹10 a day, uniform across all four tiers. The rates apply to 91 scheduled employments statewide, and the notification is dated 01 May 2026 with retrospective effect from 01 April.
The daily minimum is the notified basic for the skill tier plus the current VDA – for unskilled work that is ₹462 plus ₹10, or ₹472 a day. The monthly figure is the daily rate multiplied by 26. Odisha’s notified daily rates are stated to be inclusive of the wages payable for the weekly rest day, so the 26-day multiplier already accounts for it. Where a day is deducted for absence, the deduction is calculated on a different divisor than the one used to build the monthly figur- check the notification wording before applying a deduction.
The mistake to avoid: treating the ₹50 step between tiers as negotiable. Odisha’s structure is unusually regular – unskilled to semi-skilled, semi-skilled to skilled and skilled to highly skilled each move by exactly ₹50 a day – which makes a misclassification arithmetically obvious to an inspector. If a worker is one tier low, the shortfall is ₹1,300 a month and it is trivially easy to demonstrate.
Worked example – unskilled worker
Basic = ₹462 / day · VDA = ₹10 / day
Total per day = 462 + 10 = ₹472
Per month = 472 × 26 = ₹12,272
Per year = 12,272 × 12 = ₹1,47,264
One overtime hour at 8 std hrs = 472 ÷ 8 × 2 = ₹118.00
Odisha uses four skill tiers with a uniform ₹50 a day step between each, which makes the schedule one of the easiest in India to apply and one of the least forgiving to get wrong. Classification follows the training and judgment the work actually requires. Clerical staff share the skilled rate rather than sitting in a separate band.
Act on this: in the mining, steel and port belts, review anyone whose role has grown into machinery operation or safety-critical work. Odisha’s schedule leans heavily toward those sectors, and a worker hired as a helper who now runs equipment unsupervised has moved at least one tier — worth ₹1,300 a month from the date the duties changed.
The minimum wages act in Odisha applies across 91 scheduled employments, with heavy representation from mining, steel, ports and allied industry alongside shops, construction, hospitality and services. Coverage does not depend on headcount. The notification states expressly that the minimum rates apply to employees engaged by contractors as well, so routing staff through an agency does not shift the obligation — where a contractor underpays, 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: in mining and port contracting, ask for the tier-wise breakup before you sign, not after the first invoice. A per-head monthly rate that cannot cover ₹12,272 plus PF and ESI is evidence of underpayment on its face, and as principal employer you are the party an inspector approaches first.
Minimum wages in Odisha are fixed by the Labour & ESI Department under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and notified by the Labour Commissioner. The Variable Dearness Allowance is revised twice a year, on 01 April and 01 October, against the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers on the 2016 base series. The mechanism can produce a nil revision: for the period from 01 October 2025 the CPI moved only from 143.55 to 143.58 – a rise of 0.03 points – and the notification of 21 November 2025 accordingly left the VDA unchanged across all four tiers.
Act on this: do not read a nil revision as no notification. Odisha issues an order either way, and the October 2025 order confirming no change is still the document you produce in an inspection covering that period. File it alongside the ones that move the rate.
Revision history for minimum wages in Odisha. Only the VDA moves at the half-yearly revision.
| Effective From | Notified On | Unskilled / Day | Unskilled / Month | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr 2026 | 01 May 2026 | ₹472 | ₹12,272 | Basic ₹462 + VDA ₹10, all 91 employments |
| 01 Oct 2025 | 21 Nov 2025 | – | – | No change – CPI rose only 0.03 points, 143.55 to 143.58 |
| 01 Apr 2025 | – | – | – | Rates carried forward through the October 2025 period |
Figures marked – are to be filled from the corresponding notification. The official order is published by the Labour Directorate, Odisha. A draft Odisha Code on Wages Rules, 2026 has been issued under Notification No. 998–LESI-LR-POL-0001/2026/LESI, which would establish a Technical Committee chaired by the Labour Commissioner to advise on skill categorisation – watch for the final rules.
Odisha sits mid-table nationally but is structurally the cleanest schedule in India: one zone, four tiers, a uniform ₹50 step between tiers and a flat ₹10 VDA across all of them. The trade-off is inflation protection – a ₹10 a day allowance is about two per cent of the total, so the real value of the floor erodes between revisions more than in states where the VDA carries a larger share.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Odisha | ₹472 | Basic ₹462 + VDA ₹10 a day, single zone, 91 scheduled employments |
| West Bengal – Zone A | ₹406 | Consolidated monthly rate ₹10,558, two zones |
| Goa – Zone A | ₹561.00 | Basic ₹412.00 + VDA ₹149.00 a day |
| Uttar Pradesh | ₹435.14 | Basic ₹5,750 + VDA ₹5,563.65 a month, three skill bands |
| Jharkhand | – | Basic + VDA by scheduled employment |
| National Floor Wage | – | Advisory floor, not directly enforceable on employers |
Act on this: if you operate across the eastern belt, note that Odisha sits meaningfully above West Bengal at the unskilled level. A shared eastern rate band set from Kolkata will breach the Odisha floor by roughly ₹66 a day per worker.
The table below sets out the minimum wage rate in Odisha for all 91 scheduled employments, effective 01 April 2026. The VDA of ₹10 a day is the same for every tier, and the same rates apply statewide. Monthly figures are the daily rate multiplied by 26.
| Class of Employment | Basic / Day | VDA / Day | Total / Day | Total / Month | Per Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unskilled | ₹462 | ₹10 | ₹472 | ₹12,272 | ₹1,47,264 |
| Semi-Skilled | ₹512 | ₹10 | ₹522 | ₹13,572 | ₹1,62,864 |
| Skilled / Clerical | ₹562 | ₹10 | ₹572 | ₹14,872 | ₹1,78,464 |
| Highly Skilled | ₹612 | ₹10 | ₹622 | ₹16,172 | ₹1,94,064 |
Source: Labour Directorate, Government of Odisha – notification on minimum wages with VDA dated 01 May 2026, applicable with effect from 01 April 2026. Daily rates are inclusive of wages payable for the weekly rest day. Monthly figures are daily × 26; annual figures are monthly × 12.
No. Odisha operates a single wage area for the entire state, which removes the zone question from compliance altogether – unusual among the larger states.
Because Odisha has no wage zones, the labour rate in Odisha is identical everywhere in the state. An unskilled worker earns ₹472 a day whether the workplace is an office in Bhubaneswar, a plant in Rourkela, a port operation at Paradip or a site in Keonjhar or Sundargarh. The same applies at every other tier – skilled at ₹572 a day and highly skilled at ₹622. In the mining and steel belt the practical risk is not geography but classification, since a large share of the workforce sits close to the boundary between semi-skilled and skilled work.
From 01 April 2026, minimum wages of Odisha are ₹472 per day or ₹12,272 a month for unskilled work, ₹522 per day or ₹13,572 for semi-skilled, ₹572 per day or ₹14,872 for skilled and clerical, and ₹622 per day or ₹16,172 a month for highly skilled. Each figure includes a VDA of ₹10 a day.
The central Minimum Wages Act, 1948. There is no separate state Act — Odisha fixes rates by notification under the central legislation, issued by the Labour & ESI Department through the Labour Commissioner. A draft Odisha Code on Wages Rules, 2026 has been published, which would move the framework onto the Code on Wages, 2019.
No. Odisha applies a single wage area statewide with no zones, so the same rate applies in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela and every rural block. The only variable that changes the rate is the skill tier.
Twice a year, on 01 April and 01 October, through a VDA revision linked to the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers. A revision can be nil — from 01 October 2025 the CPI rose only 0.03 points and the VDA was left unchanged, but a notification confirming that was still issued.
Yes. The notification states expressly that the minimum rates apply to employees engaged by contractors. Contract workers get the same tier rate as directly employed staff, and where the contractor pays less, the principal employer is liable for the shortfall.
Multiply the daily rate by 26. Unskilled at ₹472 a day gives ₹12,272 a month and ₹1,47,264 a year. The notified daily rates are stated to be inclusive of the wages payable for the weekly rest day, so the 26-day multiplier already accounts for it.
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.
Superworks keeps minimum wage slabs, zones, and statutory deductions correct across all your locations.
