What is the Minimum Wages Act?
The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 empowers the central and state governments to fix minimum wage rates for employment in "scheduled employments" — specific industries and job categories listed under the Act — to prevent exploitation of workers. Rates are periodically revised and vary significantly by state, sector, skill level (unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, highly skilled) and sometimes by zone within a state.
Who it applies to
- Employers in scheduled employments notified by the respective central or state government.
- Rates differ by state and by skill category, so the applicable minimum wage depends on where and in what role an employee works.
- Both the central government (for central sphere establishments) and state governments (for state sphere establishments) notify and revise rates for their jurisdictions.
How compliance works
- Employers must pay at least the applicable minimum wage for the relevant scheduled employment, skill level and zone, and maintain wage registers as required.
- Rates are typically revised periodically by the appropriate government and often linked to cost-of-living/Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) adjustments.
- Because rates vary by state and change periodically, employers with multi-state operations need to track the current notified rate for each location separately — check labour.gov.in or the relevant state labour department for current rates.
Common mistakes
- Using a single company-wide minimum wage figure across states instead of the locally notified rate.
- Not updating payroll when a state revises its VDA-linked minimum wage mid-year.
- Misclassifying a worker's skill category, resulting in underpayment relative to the correct slab.
Sources
Last updated 2026-10-12.