Background
Under Sections 3 and 4 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Government of Uttarakhand fixes minimum rates of wages for scheduled employments, which may consist of a basic rate together with a cost-of-living (variable dearness) allowance adjusted at intervals in line with the Consumer Price Index. The variable dearness allowance (VDA) is revised every six months by the Office of the Labour Commissioner, Uttarakhand, Haldwani.
For the period October 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, the Labour Commissioner has issued three circulars revising the VDA, on the basis of the average Consumer Price Index for January – June 2026:
Applicability
The revised rates apply to all employers in the State of Uttarakhand engaging workers in any of the 57 scheduled employments covered by the State’s March 15, 2024 notifications – including, among others, shops and commercial establishments, construction and road works, hotels and restaurants, private schools, coaching institutes and clinics, transport undertakings and automobile workshops, tea plantations, brick kilns, rice, flour, dal and oil mills, and the residual category of all registered factories not mentioned elsewhere – as well as to engineering units and industries employing 50 or more workers, and to employers engaging unskilled workers in agricultural employment.
Compliance Requirements
For the scheduled employments listed below. The minimum wage payable is the basic rate under the employment’s own notification plus ₹634.
Sl. No. | Scheduled Employment | Basic-Rate Notification No.* |
1 | Commercial establishments and shops in Uttarakhand | 286 |
2 | Construction or maintenance of roads or building operations | 287 |
3–13 | Stone breaking or stone crushing; chikan work; match industry; ice candy/ice-cream manufactories; bakery and biscuit manufactories; ice factories; asbestos cement and other cement-product manufactories; laundry or washing establishments; book binding; cold storage; pottery, ceramics or refractories | 288 |
14–29 | Rubber manufactories and rubber products (including tyres and tubes); plastic and plastic products; sweetmeat industry; aerated drinks; fruit-juice manufactories; plywood; petrol and diesel pumps; dairy and milk dairies; readymade garments; construction and maintenance of dams, embankments and irrigation projects, and digging of wells and tanks; private clinics and private medical shops; foundries; metal industries; tin-plate shaping and tin printing; engineering industries employing fewer than 50 persons; all registered factories not mentioned elsewhere | 289 |
30 | Textile printing | 290 |
31 | Clubs | 291 |
32 | Private printing presses | 292 |
33–35 | Public motor transport; mechanical transport workshops; automobile repairs | 293 |
36 | Cinema industry | 294 |
37 | Tailoring industry | 295 |
38 | Allopathic, Ayurvedic and Unani pharmacies | 296 |
39 | Miniature bulbs and glass products (excluding spectacle glass and glass bangles) | 297 |
40 | Dharamshalas | 298 |
41 | Private libraries | 299 |
42 | Hotels and restaurants | 300 |
43 | Private coaching classes, private schools including nursery schools, and private technical institutions | 301 |
44 | Tea plantations | 302 |
45 | Hosiery | 303 |
46–48 | Rice, flour or dal mills (excluding roller flour mills); oil mills; roller flour mills | 304 |
49 | Forestry, timber logging and wood work, including collection of forest produce and its carriage to the mandi | 305 |
50 | Brick kilns | 306 |
51 | Wood work and furniture | 307 |
52 | Tobacco manufacturing | 308 |
53 | Carpet weaving | 309 |
54–56 | Washing/toilet soap, silicate, soap powder or detergent manufacture; woollen blanket establishments; khandsari | 310 |
57 | Handloom and powerloom industry | 311 |
Applying the ₹634 VDA to the notified basic rates for shops and commercial establishments (Notification No. 286) gives the following minimum wage for October 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027:
Category of Worker | Basic – Towns above 1 lakh (₹) | VDA (₹) | Total – Towns above 1 lakh (₹/month) | Basic – Rest of State (₹) | Total – Rest of State (₹/month) |
Unskilled | 12,539 | 634 | 13,173 | 12,391 | 13,025 |
Semi-skilled | 13,280 | 634 | 13,914 | 13,110 | 13,744 |
Skilled | 14,023 | 634 | 14,657 | 13,838 | 14,472 |
Clerical Category II | 14,340 | 634 | 14,974 | 14,139 | 14,773 |
Clerical Category I | 15,275 | 634 | 15,909 | 15,035 | 15,669 |
For engineering industries employing 50 or more workers. The basic wage plus VDA payable per month from October 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 is as follows:
Category of Worker | Basic Wage (₹/month) | VDA (₹/month) | Total Minimum Wage (₹/month) |
Unskilled | 13,800 | 195 | 13,995 |
Semi-skilled | 15,100 | 213 | 15,313 |
Skilled | 16,900 | 239 | 17,139 |
For unskilled workers employed in agriculture. The minimum wage payable is the agricultural basic wage fixed under the 2015 Government Orders plus ₹4,300.
Component | Amount (₹) |
Basic wage – unskilled agricultural worker (G.O. dated July 15/30, 2015) | – |
VDA, October 1, 2026 – March 31, 2027 | 4,300 |
Total minimum wage | [Basic + 4,300] |
Penalty and Consequences
The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 has been repealed and subsumed by Section 69 of the Code on Wages, 2019, which is in force. Under Section 54(1)(a) of the Code, an employer who pays an employee less than the amount due is punishable with a fine of up to ₹50,000. Under Section 54(1)(b), repeating the offence within five years of the first conviction is punishable with imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of up to ₹1,00,000, or both.
Under Section 54(1)(c) of the Code, contravening any other provision of the Code, or of any rule or order made under it, is punishable with a fine of up to ₹20,000. Under Section 54(1)(d), repeating such a contravention within five years is punishable with imprisonment of up to one month, a fine of up to ₹40,000, or both. Under the Code, the employer is also liable to pay the shortfall in wages, with compensation, as determined by the competent authority.
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