New Delhi : The Prime Minister”s office (PMO) has scuttled a notification readied by the Labour Ministry for increasing the minimum wages by up to 25% on the ground that it will be detrimental to the Indian manufacturers already hit by a fall in both global and domestic demand.
It advised the Labour Ministry to put on hold for the time being the notification proposing a substantial hike in the labour wages since it gos against the government”s approach to ”Make in India.”
The PMO found the proposal going against the government projecting lower cost of labour in India, vis-a-vis China as major attraction for manufacturers to set up their shops in the country by grabbing offers of “ease of doing business.”
The ministry sources, however, said the hike in the minimum wages is a periodic affairs to compensate the labour for inflation and as such the finalised proposals may be effected by the end of the current year when the demand in the manufcturing sector is expected to go up.
The rates proposed by the ministry were worked out by dividing the states and union territories into three groups, based on their per capita income and the prevailing minimum wages of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers.
Maharashtra, Goa, Delhi, Sikkim, Chandigarh and Puducherry having higher per capita income were put in the first category to fix the minimum wage for the unskilled labour in the rnge of Rs 8,000-9,000 per month. As regards the skilled and semi-skilled workers, the proposed wages were between Rs 12,000 and Rs 16,000 per month.
