9 Hour working day in draft labour code

As opposed to the existing 8-hour working day, the Labour Ministry has suggested the idea of nine-hour regular working day in its draft wage code which could face resistance from labour unions. However, the Ministry didn’t fix a national minimum wage, which has been left in the hands of an expert committee. The draft also states that the country will be segregated into three geographic categories – metropolitan area with a population of 40 lakh or more, non-metropolitan area with a population of 10-40 lakh and rural areas – to set the minimum wage.

“The single value of the national minimum wage for India should be set at Rs 375 per day as of July 2018”, recommended an internal panel of the labour ministry.