Mandating a minimum wage

At Rs 12,223 per month, minimum wage in Karnataka’s garment industry is lower than in other sectors

A recent report that the Government of Karnataka would raise minimum wages (MW) for unskilled workers to Rs 20,000 per month is an occasion
to examine the overall implications of a state-stipulated minimum remuneration. The national MW at Rs 178 per day is certainly not a model although it could be considered the lowest level below which no state
can be allowed to fix a minimum wage.

In 2024, the minimum wage for unskilled workers ranged widely: Rs 9,956 in West Bengal, Rs 17,988 in Delhi, Rs 14,610 in Gujarat, Rs 11,130 in Tamil Nadu, Rs 15,000 in Kerala and Karnataka. It is when we look at the actuality of wages earned at the lowest levels of the working classes that the functionality of MW is brought into question.

We draw here on CIVIDEP’s 2024 report on ‘Home and the World of Work: Examining the Intersections of Gender, Labour and Capital in Karnataka’s Apparels Export Industry’. Globally, India is one of the largest exporters of Ready Made Garments (RMG) with Karnataka, Tirupur, and the NCR region being the three large hubs of export apparels production. In Karnataka, there are around 1,500 production units employing more than five lakh workers, about 85% being women, typically migrants with less than high school education. Except for master tailors, who are typically men, garments work can be considered to be unskilled or semi-skilled. A high rate of attrition, whereby women workers frequently leave a job to be quickly replaced by another waiting to find work, demonstrates that minimal, on-the-job training is sufficient for work that is repetitive, disconnected from the final product, and largely non-creative.

While a Minimum Wage Board exists in this sector, it is subject to the unequal power balance between workers and garment factories. In February 2018, a draft MW announcement of Rs 445.69 was brought down to Rs 341.94 per day, due
to pressure by the industry. In 2024, the MW was raised to Rs 470.12 per day. At
Rs 12,223 per month, it isless than the minimum wage in other sectors. For Zone 1 (notified areas of the BBMP), the minimum wage for
skilled workers is Rs 14,106, for unskilled it is Rs 13,606.

Worries over work hours

The question of wages is, of course, inextricably linked to hours of work. The New Labour Code of 2019 which sought to bring in a 12-hour working day in industries is yet to come into force. However, a notification of the Government of Karnataka on January 4, 2025 announced the extension of daily maximum of work to nine and half hours subject to a maximum of 48 hours a week, as specified under Section 51 (Factories Act 1948), to Shahi Exports Private Ltd, Mysuru, with two days of the week as paid holidays.

This increase of working hours may well become a model for other garment companies. Although the total weekly working hours remain the same, trade union leaders have resisted these changes claiming that in a highly intensive work process, longer hours would place severe physical hardships on workers.

The debate around MW in the RMG industry has time and again brought to the surface that wages are indefensibly low in this sector. In a 2018 publication of the National Law School of India University – Critiquing the Statutory Minimum Wage: A Case of the Export Garment Sector in India – it was calculated that the then average minimum monthly expenditure per family was Rs 13,742 in Karnataka. The MW at that time was only around 60% of this expenditure. Using the food basket calculation of the Delhi Minimum Wage Advisory Committee estimated in December 2016 (for a family of five), and the rent estimate for a two-room house in
the areas where garment workers lived, the study suggested a need-based MW of around Rs 18,000-20,000 per month in 2018.

"In 2024, the Asia Floor Wage Alliance calculated the MW for the garment industry in India to be Rs. 34,170.46 (counting 45% and 55% respectively for food and non-food costs)."

These advisories have remained unheeded. The MW issue in the garments sector reflects successive governments’ capitulation to industry reasoning and demands. The RMG industry in Bengaluru has made systematic efforts to move to rural areas in search of lower wages. Factory owners have argued that the predominantly feminine workforce is the secondary earner in households, as wives or daughters. There can be no justification
for denying a worker a fair wage, whatever might be her earning status in the household. It is also worth highlighting that 49% women workers in our sample had sole or primary responsibility of running their households. There is an urgent need to address the issue of systematically low wages paid to the industry’s predominantly female workforce.

(Supriya is a visiting professor at NIAS, Bengaluru; Rekha is Director, Research and Advocacy, CIVIDEP India)

Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely those of the authors. They do not reflect the opinions or views of the organisation.