Four new labor laws will come into force, covering 40 crore employees

India has notified all four labor laws, promising broader social security, clearer wages and protection for gig workers. But economists warn that poor registration, uneven state willingness and weak institutional capacity could limit reforms, even as unions oppose the move. | Photo credit: PTI

The Ministry of Labor and Employment on Friday issued four separate gazette notices to enforce four labor laws: the Wage Act (2019), the Working Conditions Act (2020), the Social Security Code (2020) and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (2020).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the reforms and said of

Gig framework

The laws address the needs of a rapidly evolving economy by including IT and ITES workers and defining ‘gig work’, ‘platform work’ and ‘aggregators’ to contribute 1-2 percent of their annual turnover, subject to a maximum of 5 percent of the amount paid/payable to gig/platform workers.

Notably, states like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Telangana and Bihar have already passed their own gig worker legislation, largely modeled on the central statute.

The Center highlighted timely minimum wages, appointment letters for all new employees, equal pay for women, gratuity for employees on temporary contracts after one year, free annual health check-ups for employees above 40 and double wages for overtime as highlights of the labor reforms. According to Labor and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, 40 crore workers would be covered under a strengthened social security framework.

Policy gaps

However, labor economist Shyam Sundar said the bigger challenge is to extend these benefits to workers, which will require institutional structures that facilitate their implementation. For example, construction workers have not been able to effectively use the Building and Construction Workers Cess Fund over the past twenty years because they have not been able to register.

Similarly, around five lakh of the estimated 1 crore gig workers across the country have reportedly registered with the e-Shram portal. It is a similar situation in almost all other welfare schemes for unorganized workers.

“If the employees are registered with the aggregators, they should help with their registration. There should be portability. With Aadhaar, the employees find it extremely difficult to register and then re-register. Easy registration and total portability should be ensured,” Sundar told. business line.

Union Opposition

Since Labor is part of the Concurrent List, some provisions of the Labor Laws have to be notified by the Center and others by the states. However, this does not include West Bengal, where the state government has told the assembly that it would not enforce central laws.

The central unions rejected the labor laws, warning that the new framework dilutes worker protections and weakens the trade union movement.

In a joint statement, 10 central unions strongly condemned what they called “the blatantly one-sided implementation of labor laws that are against employees and employers.”

Published on November 21, 2025