Centre likely to roll out labour codes by early next financial year
The four labour codes passed by Parliament during 2019-20 seek to usher in investment-friendly legislation and social security frameworks for newer forms of employment, such as gig workers, in the country long hobbled by a web of archaic and complex employment rules.
New Delhi The Centre is likely to implement the long-pending labour codes by early next financial year even if one state fails to wrap up the process of framing draft rules, as nearly all states and Union territories are done with finalising these norms, a person aware of the development said.

The four labour codes passed by Parliament during 2019-20 seek to usher in investment-friendly legislation and social security frameworks for newer forms of employment, such as gig workers, in the country long hobbled by a web of archaic and complex employment rules.
The labour ministry is handholding” states in bringing about uniformity in the draft rules framed by them so that they conform to the central legislation and these don’t vary widely from state to state, the person said.
Nagaland, the only remaining state other than West Bengal to frame the rules or subordinate legislation, has told the Centre that it would finish finalising the draft rules within a month. While West Bengal has showed inclination to update its labour rules, it hasn’t committed to any time frame yet, HT has learnt.
The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, in its previous term, had enacted four labour codes by revamping and amalgamating a complex set of 29 federal laws to ramp up hiring and social security for the country’s labour force.
The labour reforms haven’t been implemented because all states and Union territories are required to “pre-publish” the subordinate laws. Under the Constitution, labour figures on the concurrent list, which means states also have a say in matters related to labour-market regulations.
“By March, we intend to complete all aspects related to implementation so that the country can have labour laws that give adequate protection to workers and also boost investment and employment in the country,” the person cited above said, adding, “We cannot wait indefinitely.”
States have devised draft rules with “handholding” by the Centre and it is natural to have some divergences due to local factors since labour conditions and needs are diverse in the country, the person said.
The four legislation are the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; the Industrial Relations Code, 2029; and the Code on Wages, 2019. They were enacted by amalgamating 29 central laws.
The codes provide for new hiring and firing rules by raising the threshold number of workers employed by a factory for terminating jobs without the government’s permission.
They also stipulate a mandatory national minimum wage and social-security benefits for informal workers, among other changes. Separately, the government is in the process of finalisation of a social security framework for the country’s estimated 10 million gig workers.