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The minimum wages of Uttarakhand, effective 01 April 2026, are fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and notified by the Labour Department, Government of Uttarakhand. Rates are paid as a basic wage plus a Variable Dearness Allowance and are split not by district but by the population of the place where the establishment operates - above or below one lakh.
The short answer For the wage period beginning 01 April 2026, minimum wages in Uttarakhand run from ₹12,909 a month (₹496.50 per day) for unskilled work in a place with population under one lakh, to ₹15,793 a month (₹607.42 per day) for Clerical Category-I work in a place above one lakh. Every rate carries a Variable Dearness Allowance of ₹518 a month, identical across all five categories and both population bands. The governing order is 460(1)/VIII-1/2026–228 dated 22 April 2026.
The monthly minimum is the notified basic for the category and population band plus the current VDA – for unskilled work in a town above one lakh that is ₹12,539 plus ₹518, or ₹13,057 a month. The daily rate is the monthly figure divided by 26; annual is monthly times twelve. Overtime is paid at twice the ordinary rate, derived from the full monthly wage including VDA, not from the basic alone.
The mistake to avoid: applying the wrong population band. The split is on the population of the place where the establishment operates, not the district. Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rudrapur and Kashipur sit above one lakh; most of Uttarakhand’s hill towns do not. A single-band rate master across a state with both plains cities and hill establishments will underpay somewhere.
Worked example – unskilled, population above one lakh
Basic = ₹12,539 / month · VDA = ₹518 / month
Total per month = 12,539 + 518 = ₹13,057
Per day = 13,057 ÷ 26 = ₹502.19
Per year = 13,057 × 12 = ₹1,56,684
One overtime hour at 8 std hrs = 502.19 ÷ 8 × 2 = ₹125.55
Uttarakhand uses five categories rather than the usual four, separating clerical staff into two grades that sit above the skilled rate. That is unusual and it catches employers out: a competent clerk in Uttarakhand is entitled to more than a skilled tradesman. Classification follows the work actually performed, not the designation on the appointment letter, and it must move when duties change permanently.
Act on this: check your clerical staff first. Because Uttarakhand places both clerical grades above the skilled rate, back-office employees on a generic office-staff band are the group most likely to be sitting below the floor without anyone noticing.
Minimum wages of Uttarakhand apply to every worker in a scheduled employment notified by the state government – shops and commercial establishments, factories, hotels and restaurants, hospitals, educational institutions, construction, security services and transport. Coverage does not depend on headcount. Contract workers are covered on the same footing as directly employed staff, and where a contractor underpays, the principal employer carries the liability. Any agreement at a lower figure is void to that extent.
Underpayment 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. Because the VDA revises every six months, an unnoticed notification quietly builds arrears across the whole workforce until someone catches it.
Act on this: reconcile your wage register against the notified rate for both population bands after every April and October revision. Uttarakhand employers with a plains office and hill-town branches carry two rate sets, and the branch is usually the one that gets missed.
Minimum wages of Uttarakhand are fixed in two parts. The basic rate for each category and population band is set by the Government of Uttarakhand under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and revised at intervals not exceeding five years – the current basic structure dates from the April 2024 revision. On top of it the Labour Department declares a Variable Dearness Allowance linked to the Consumer Price Index, revised every six months on 01 April and 01 October. Government Order 460(1)/VIII-1/2026–228, dated 22 April 2026, fixed the VDA at ₹518 a month with effect from 01 April 2026.
Act on this: put 01 April and 01 October in the payroll calendar and hold the April run for a rate check before disbursement. The April 2026 order took effect on 01 April but was signed on 22 April, so an employer who waited for publication owed a full month of arrears on every worker.
Revision history of minimum wages in Uttarakhand. Only the VDA moves at the half-yearly revision; the basic structure has been unchanged since April 2024.
| Effective From | Notified On | VDA / Month | Unskilled >1 Lakh / Month | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr 2026 | 22 Apr 2026 | ₹518 | ₹13,057 | G.O. 460(1)/VIII-1/2026–228 |
| 01 Oct 2025 | – | – | – | Half-yearly VDA revision |
| 01 Apr 2024 | 15 Mar 2024 | – | ₹12,539 | Basic rate structure revised |
Uttarakhand notifies monthly rather than daily rates and splits by population rather than by zone or district, which makes a direct comparison with neighbouring states less straightforward than it looks. Converted to a daily figure, the unskilled floor sits below Delhi and below Goa, and roughly level with Gujarat.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Uttarakhand – Pop. > 1 Lakh | ₹502.19 | Basic ₹12,539 + VDA ₹518/month, revised on 01 April and 01 October. |
| Uttarakhand – Pop. < 1 Lakh | ₹496.50 | Basic ₹12,391 + VDA ₹518/month, revised on 01 April and 01 October. |
| Gujarat — Zone I | ₹512.50 | Basic ₹452.00 + VDA ₹60.50/day, revised on 01 April and 01 October. |
| Goa – Zone A | ₹561.00 | Basic ₹412.00 + VDA ₹149.00/day. |
| Uttar Pradesh | – | Basic + VDA, revised half-yearly. |
| National Floor Wage | – | Advisory floor wage; not directly enforceable on employers. |
Act on this: if you run establishments in both Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, do not carry a shared rate band across the border. The two states run different schedules, different category structures and different revision paperwork, and the shared history between them is no defence in an inspection.
The table below sets out the minimum wages of Uttarakhand for Commercial Establishments and Shops, effective 01 April 2026. Rates are shown for both population bands. Monthly figures are as notified; daily figures are the monthly rate divided by 26.
| Category | Population Band | Basic / Month | VDA / Month | Total / Month | Total / Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unskilled | Pop. > 1 Lakh | ₹12,539 | ₹518 | ₹13,057 | ₹502.19 |
| Pop. < 1 Lakh | ₹12,391 | ₹518 | ₹12,909 | ₹496.50 | |
| Semi-Skilled | Pop. > 1 Lakh | ₹13,280 | ₹518 | ₹13,798 | ₹530.69 |
| Pop. < 1 Lakh | ₹13,110 | ₹518 | ₹13,628 | ₹524.15 | |
| Skilled | Pop. > 1 Lakh | ₹14,023 | ₹518 | ₹14,541 | ₹559.27 |
| Pop. < 1 Lakh | ₹13,838 | ₹518 | ₹14,356 | ₹552.15 | |
| Clerical CAT-II | Pop. > 1 Lakh | ₹14,340 | ₹518 | ₹14,858 | ₹571.46 |
| Pop. < 1 Lakh | ₹14,139 | ₹518 | ₹14,657 | ₹563.73 | |
| Clerical CAT-I | Pop. > 1 Lakh | ₹15,275 | ₹518 | ₹15,793 | ₹607.42 |
| Pop. < 1 Lakh | ₹15,035 | ₹518 | ₹15,553 | ₹598.19 |
Source: Labour Department, Government of Uttarakhand – Government Order 460(1)/VIII-1/2026–228, notified 22 April 2026, effective 01 April 2026. Daily figures are the notified monthly rate ÷ 26.
Uttarakhand does not use lettered zones. It splits on a single test – whether the place where the establishment operates has a population above or below one lakh. The gap between the two bands is ₹148 to ₹240 a month depending on category.
The band follows the workplace
Apply the band of the place where the employee actually reports, not where the head office is registered. An establishment headquartered in Dehradun with a branch in a hill town runs two rate sets in the same payroll.
No Uttarakhand city has a separate notification. Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rudrapur and Kashipur fall in the above-one-lakh band, so an unskilled worker in any of them earns ₹13,057 a month or ₹502.19 a day, and a Clerical Category-I employee earns ₹15,793 a month. An establishment in a smaller town or a hill district applies the lower band, where unskilled work pays ₹12,909 a month or ₹496.50 a day. The difference is ₹148 a month at the unskilled level and ₹240 at Clerical Category-I – small per head, material across a workforce.
From 01 April 2026, minimum wages in Uttarakhand are ₹13,057 a month or ₹502.19 a day for unskilled work in places above one lakh population, rising through Semi-Skilled at ₹13,798, Skilled at ₹14,541 and Clerical CAT-II at ₹14,858, to ₹15,793 a month for Clerical Category-I. Places below one lakh population pay ₹148 to ₹240 a month less by category.
Twice a year. The Labour Department revises the Variable Dearness Allowance with effect from 01 April and 01 October, linked to the Consumer Price Index. The basic rate structure is reviewed separately, at intervals not exceeding five years — the current basics date from the April 2024 revision.
Yes. Uttarakhand notifies basic plus VDA rather than a consolidated figure. From 01 April 2026 the allowance is ₹518 a month, the same for every category and both population bands. Unskilled work above one lakh population is ₹12,539 basic plus ₹518 VDA, totalling ₹13,057 a month.
It differs by population band, not by district. Places with population above one lakh — Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Kashipur — carry the higher rate; everywhere else carries the lower. Apply the band of the place where the employee actually works, not where the head office is registered.
Divide the notified monthly total by 26. Unskilled above one lakh at ₹13,057 a month gives ₹502.19 a day and ₹1,56,684 a year. Overtime is twice the ordinary rate, calculated on basic plus VDA, derived by dividing the daily figure by the hours in your normal working day.
Yes, and this surprises employers. Both clerical grades sit above the skilled rate in the Uttarakhand schedule. Skilled work above one lakh population pays ₹14,541 a month, while Clerical CAT-II pays ₹14,858 and Clerical CAT-I pays ₹15,793. Back-office staff on a generic office band are the group most often found below the floor.
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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