India Notifies All Four Labor Codes, Ushering in Landmark Workforce Reforms

India implements four Labor Codes from November 2025, consolidating 29 laws to modernize labor governance with better wages, safety, social security, and simplified compliance.

In a historic step toward modernizing India’s labor governance framework, the Government of India has made all four Labor Codes – the Code on Wages (2019), Industrial Relations Code (2020), Code on Social Security (2020), and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code (2020) – effective from November 21, 2025.

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The move consolidates and rationalizes 29 central labor laws, replacing fragmented regulations with a unified, simplified, and future-ready labor architecture that strengthens worker protection while reducing compliance burden for businesses. Positioned as a transformative reform for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the Codes align India’s labor ecosystem with changing global standards, expanding social security, improving working conditions, and formalizing employment across sectors.

For decades, India relied on labor laws originating in the pre-Independence and early post-Independence era – frameworks that struggled to keep pace with new forms of work, digital employment models, and a rapidly changing economic landscape. The implementation of the four Labor Codes marks a generational shift, ensuring improved wages, safety, welfare, social security, and job opportunities for India’s 500-million-strong workforce, including gig, platform, migrant, women, and unorganized-sector workers.

Changes to current HR management landscape

Source: Press India Bureau

Sector-wise benefits: What changes for India’s workforce

The Labor Codes introduce sweeping improvements across industries, touching formal and informal employment alike.

Fixed-term employees (FTE)

• FTEs receive all benefits on par with permanent workers.
• Gratuity eligibility reduced from five years to one year.
• Incentivizes direct employment and reduces excessive contractualization.

Gig & platform workers

• First-time legal recognition of gig work, platform work, and aggregators.
• Aggregators to contribute 1–2 percent of annual turnover (capped at 5 percent of payouts) towards worker welfare.
• Aadhaar-linked Universal Account Number enables full portability of benefits across India.

Contract workers

• Social security and health benefits assured through the principal employer.
• Fixed-term eligibility for gratuity after one year.
• Free annual health check-up provisions.

Women workers

• No discrimination; equal pay for equal work.
• Night-shift work permitted with consent and stringent safety norms.
• Mandatory representation in grievance committees.
• Family definition includes parents-in-law, expanding dependent coverage.

Youth workers

• Minimum wages guaranteed for all.
• Appointment letters ensure formal employment history.
• Mandatory wage payment during leave.
• Floor wage ensures a basic standard of living.

MSME workers

• Full coverage under Social Security Code.
• Access to essential facilities – canteens, drinking water, rest areas.
• Defined working hours, overtime rules, and timely wages.

Beedi & cigar industry

• Minimum wages and capped work hours (8–12 hours/day; 48 hours/week).
• Double wages for overtime; bonus eligibility after 30 days of work.

Plantation workers

• Covered under OSHWC and Social Security Codes.
• Mandatory safety training and protective equipment.
• Full ESIC benefits for workers and families.

Digital, audio-visual & media workers

• Mandatory appointment letters; clarity on roles and entitlements.
• Double overtime wages; timely wage payments.

Mine workers

• Commuting accidents recognized under social security (subject to conditions).
• Central safety standards notified; compulsory annual health check-ups.
• Capped working hours (8–12 hours/day; 48 hours/week).

Hazardous industries

• Free annual health check-ups.
• National safety standards to be framed.
• Women allowed to work in hazardous occupations with safeguards.
• Mandatory safety committees.

Textile workers

• Equal wages and welfare benefits for migrant workers.
• Claims for pending dues allowed up to three years.
• Double wages for overtime.

IT & ITES workers

• Salaries must be released by the 7th of every month.
• Equal pay and gender-neutral opportunities.
• Night-shift flexibility for women workers.
• Stronger dispute-resolution mechanisms and universal social security.

Dock workers

• Formal recognition and legal protection.
• Provident fund, pension, insurance benefits for all workers.
• Mandatory employer-funded annual health check-ups.

Export sector workers

• FTEs eligible for gratuity, PF, and social security.
• Annual leave after 180 days; guaranteed timely wage payments.
• Night-shift opportunities for women with safety provisions.

Broader reforms strengthening India’s labor architecture

Beyond sectoral measures, the Labor Codes introduce several structural advancements:

• National Floor Wage ensuring a minimum living standard nationwide.
• Gender-neutral protections, including non-discrimination for transgender workers.
• Inspector-cum-Facilitator model promoting compliance guidance over punitive action.
• Faster dispute resolution through two-member Industrial Tribunals.
• Single registration, license, and return for unified labor compliance.
• National OSH Board to set harmonized safety standards.
• Safety committees in establishments with 500+ workers.
• Eased applicability thresholds for smaller factories to reduce regulatory burden.

The government will continue stakeholder consultations while framing detailed rules, schemes, and standards under each Code. Until the transition is complete, provisions under existing labor Acts will remain in force where applicable.

A milestone in India’s social security expansion

Over the last decade, India’s social security coverage has grown from 19 percent of the workforce (2015) to over 64 percent in 2025, earning global recognition for expanding worker protection. The Labor Codes take this momentum forward by embedding portability, ensuring nationwide coverage, and placing workers – especially gig, migrant, women, and youth – at the center of India’s reform agenda.

With simplified compliance, modern work arrangements, stronger protections, and a deeper social-security net, the Labor Codes mark a decisive step toward a resilient, inclusive, and globally competitive labor ecosystem.

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