Replace 29 central laws, most comprehensive and progressive reforms, says PM
India has notified all four labour codes, promising wider social security, clearer wages and protections for gig workers. But economists caution that poor registration, uneven state readiness and weak institutional capacity could limit the reforms, even as trade unions oppose the move. | Photo Credit: PTI
Five years after Parliament passed four labour codes replacing 29 central laws, the Centre on Friday announced their nationwide implementation, calling the move a “historic step” to ensure “dignity for every worker.”
The Ministry of Labour and Employment issued four separate gazette notifications on Friday to enforce four Labour Codes — the Code of Wages (2019), Industrial Relations Code (2020), Code on Social Security (2020) and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (2020).
Hailing the reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X: “It is one of the most comprehensive and progressive labour-oriented reforms since Independence. It greatly empowers our workers. It also significantly simplifies compliance and promotes Ease of Doing Business.”
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’ who must contribute 1-2 per cent of their annual turnover, capped at 5 per cent of the amount paid/payable to gig/platform workers.
Notably, States like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Telangana and Bihar have already enacted their own legislations for gig workers, largely modelled on the central statute.
The Centre underlined timely minimum wages, appointment letters for all new employees, equal pay for women, gratuity for fixed-term workers after one year, free annual health check-ups for workers over 40, and double wages for overtime as highlights of the labour reforms. According to Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, 40 crore workers would come under a strengthened social security framework.
Policy gaps
However, Labour Economist Shyam Sundar said the bigger challenge in extending these benefits to the workers which will require institutional structures that facilitate their implementation. For instance, construction workers have not been able to avail of the Building and Construction Workers Cess Fund effectively for the last two decades because they have not been able to get registered.
Similarly, for the estimated 1 crore gig workers across the country, just about five lakh have reportedly registered with the e-Shram portal. It is a similar situation in almost all other welfare schemes run for the unorganised workers.
“If the workers are registered with the aggregators, they should help with their registration. There should be portability. With Aadhaar, the workers find it extremely difficult to register and then re-register. Easy registration and total portability have to be ensured,” Sundar told businessline.
Union Opposition
Labour being part of the Concurrent List, some provisions of the Labour Codes have to be notified by the Centre and others by the states. This, however, does not include West Bengal, where the State government has told the assembly that it would not comply with the central laws.
The central trade unions rejected the labour codes, warning that the new framework dilutes worker protections and weakens the trade union movement.
In a joint statement, ten central trade unions expressed strong condemnation of what they called “the blatantly unilateral implementation of anti-worker, pro-employer labour codes”.
Published on November 21, 2025
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