Mumbai: The Centre’s decision to implement the Labour Code has compelled the Maharashtra government to roll back proposed amendments to two key laws governing working hours in factories, shops and commercial establishments.
After the Code was introduced in November last year, the state rolled back the tweaked Bill to the Factories Act, 1948 that had been sent for Presidential nod. An ordinance amending the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017 is also being rolled back, the Assembly was told.
The key reason is the divergence over working hours. While Maharashtra had proposed extending daily working hours from eight to 12 in some sectors, the centrally enacted Labour Code mandates an eight-hour workday. Labour Minister Akash Phundkar said this in a written reply to a question raised by Nitin Raut, Sanjay Kelkar and Rohit Pawar.
In September 2025, the state cabinet had cleared amendments allowing private-sector employees to work up to 10 hours a day, up from the existing nine, while capping weekly hours at 48. Safeguards for overtime pay were included, and written consent from employees was to be made mandatory for overtime work. The government had argued that increasing daily working hours in shops and establishments from nine to 10 would boost income and employment.
The move was pitched as a way to attract investment and ensure operational flexibility during peak demand or labour shortages, while guaranteeing overtime compensation. The proposed changes were also framed as part of Maharashtra’s “ease of doing business” push. Establishments employing fewer than 20 workers were to be exempted from obtaining mandatory registration certificates, with a simple intimation to authorities deemed sufficient.
For industries, the withdrawn proposal sought to raise daily working hours from nine to 12, allow rest intervals after six hours instead of five, and increase the quarterly overtime ceiling from 115 to 144 hours. However, in order to align state legislation with the Centre’s Labour Code framework, the Maharashtra government has now rolled back the proposed reforms. Labour unions affiliated with Left parties had strongly opposed the amendments.
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