The Ministry of Labour’s expert panel under the leadership of Dr Anoop Satpathy, fellow, VV Giri National Labour Institute, has estimated the national minimum wage to be Rs 375 per day and Rs 9750 per month.
The panel was set up in 2017 to determine the national minimum wage. As per its recommendations, the need-based national minimum wage for India should be fixed at Rs 375 daily and Rs 9750 monthly, for a family of 3.6 consumption units, across sectors, skills, professions and locations.
The panel also suggests that an extra house rent allowance be introduced— of an average of Rs 55 per day, that is, Rs 1430 per month — for urban workers, in addition to the national minimum wage.
The panel also determined the minimum wages for various locations in India, for which it divided the country into five regions. The panel took into consideration the nutritional requires of each and every household to arrive at the estimate.
The report reveals that the balanced nutritional consumption of each family is approx. 2400 kcal daily. Taking this into account, the minimum wages for each of the five regions was estimated to be within the range of Rs 341.05 and Rs 446.6.
It was also suggested that a research unit be established within the Labour Ministry, which would serve as an advisory board for the central and state-level labour units.
