Delhi's minimum wage for workers highest among neighbouring states

The Delhi government last week raised the minimum wages of workers in all the categories, and the new regime came into effect retrospectively from April 1, 2025.

  While it bodes well for the workers, the move further widens the gap with its neighbouring states, which experts believe may increase the flow of migrants to the national capital. 

  Now, the monthly wage of unskilled workers in Delhi stands at ₹18,456, while skilled workers (graduate and above) will get ₹22,411. In terms of daily wage, this translates to ₹710 and ₹862 respectively.

  A Business Standard analysis shows that an unskilled worker earns ₹10,994 and ₹11,257 in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana respectively, while a skilled worker gets ₹13,546 and ₹14,367 respectively.

  Labour economist Santosh Mehrotra says that although these wages are applicable only in scheduled employment and the compliance regime is pretty weak to enforce them on ground, they do set a floor wage rate for employers to follow.

  “Such a wide difference in minimum wages with respect to Delhi and its neighbouring states does create an incentive for workers to migrate, though the vast parts of labour markets in the country which are informal in nature are rarely affected by such announcements. This is only implemented in the government's own establishments at best,” he added. 

  A former chief labour commissioner, requesting anonymity, said that the revision of minimum wages is mandated under the law, yet a number of states end up violating it.

  “The vast difference in the minimum wages between Delhi and its neighbouring states is because these states didn’t revise the statutory wages regularly in recent times, thus artificially depressing the wages. This is often done to keep the wages low which can result in fiscal savings,” he added.