Legal and Policies
Early gratuity, WFH provision, gender-neutral wages: Centre enacts new labour codes
NEW DELHI: The Government of India brought all four Labour Codes into effect from 21 November 2025, triggering the most comprehensive reform of the country’s labour legislation in decades.The Ministry of Labour and Employment issued official notifications confirming the enforcement of the Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Social Security Code, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.
The new regime consolidates 29 Central labour laws into four streamlined Codes, which the Centre described as a “historic modernisation” intended to simplify compliance, reduce fragmentation, and extend social protection to a wider workforce.
According to the Government, many of India’s earlier labour laws were framed before or soon after Independence and no longer reflected current economic realities. The unified Codes introduce universal minimum wages, mandatory timely payment of wages, and compulsory appointment letters for all categories of workers.
Workers across sectors, including gig, platform, contract, migrant, women and MSME workers, will now be covered under a harmonised framework of rights and protections. ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation) coverage has been expanded nationwide, including to establishments employing even one worker engaged in hazardous processes. Fixed-term employees will be eligible for gratuity after one year, instead of the earlier five-year threshold.
The new framework also mandates gender-neutral wages, permits women to work night shifts subject to prescribed safety measures, and provides free annual health check-ups for workers above 40. Gig and platform workers will, for the first time, receive social-security benefits financed partly through aggregator contributions.
Compliance has been made easier through a single registration, single licence, and single return, replacing the need for multiple filings. A new inspector-cum-facilitator system will focus on guidance instead of only enforcement, while faster industrial tribunals aim to speed up dispute resolution.
The Industrial Relations Code has also been overhauled to simplify how disputes are handled, how unions are recognised, and how companies manage workforce flexibility without compromising worker protection. It formalises work-from-home arrangements in the services sector, expands the definition of “worker,” and introduces two-member tribunals to speed up conflict resolution. Retrenched workers will additionally receive 15 days’ wages through a new reskilling fund to help support job transitions.
Sector-specific rules include double wages for overtime, stricter safety standards for mines and hazardous industries, and mandatory safety committees in larger workplaces. Additional protections extend to IT/ITES, plantations, ports, export units, beedi and cigar units, textiles, and audio-visual media.
The Government said these changes bring India’s labour system closer to global standards and support the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” goal by improving both worker welfare and industry productivity. During the transition, older laws will remain in force until the new rules under each Code are finalised after consultations.
The Centre noted that India’s social-security coverage has risen from 19 per cent of the workforce in 2015 to over 64 per cent in 2025, and said implementation of the labour codes represents the next major step in building a “protected, productive and future-ready workforce.”
Legal and Policies
‘The India deal is on…’: India tariffs cut to 10% from 18% after Trump’s SC defeat
In response, Trump rolls out blanket 10 per cent tariff, “effective almost immediately”
WASHINGTON: The White House said on Friday that US trading partners, including India, will face a flat 10 per cent tariff after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose sweeping import duties. Countries that reached tariff agreements with Washington, both before and after Trump’s original orders, will now be subject to the same 10 per cent levy, even if higher rates had previously been agreed.
The ruling invalidated Trump’s reliance on a 1977 law to levy sudden, country-specific tariffs, dealing a sharp blow to one of his signature economic policies. Within hours, the administration responded by certifying a new, across-the-board 10 per cent duty on imports into the United States.
In response, Trump announced an additional blanket 10 per cent tariff on all imports into the United States, signing a new order and saying on social media that it was “effective almost immediately”, after a year in which his administration had imposed varying duties to reward allies and punish rivals.
According to a White House factsheet, the new levy will take effect on 24 February and remain in force for 150 days. Exemptions will continue for sectors under separate investigations, including pharmaceuticals, and for goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
A White House official told AFP that the administration would seek ways to “implement more appropriate or pre-negotiated tariff rates” at a later stage, signalling that country-specific arrangements could return through alternative legal routes.
The move directly affects India, which earlier this month announced a framework for an interim trade agreement with the United States. That arrangement followed Trump’s decision to lift 25 per cent punitive tariffs linked to India’s purchases of Russian oil and cut reciprocal duties from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. Under the new regime, Indian exports to the US will instead face the flat 10 per cent rate.
Trump insisted the Supreme Court verdict would not disrupt the India-US trade deal. “Nothing changes,” he said, adding that India would continue to pay tariffs while the United States would not.
“They’ll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs. So the deal with India is they pay tariffs… It’s a fair deal now,” Trump said, describing the shift as a “flip” from past arrangements. “The India deal is on… all the deals are on—we’re just going to do it in a different way.”
Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled six to three that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorise a president to impose tariffs. Chief justice John Roberts said the law contained “no reference to tariffs or duties” and did not grant such “extraordinary power”.
Trump reacted angrily, accusing the court, without evidence, of foreign influence and claiming the ruling left him “more powerful”. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent later said the administration’s alternative approach would leave tariff revenues “virtually unchanged” in 2026.
The decision does not affect sector-specific duties on steel, aluminium and other goods, nor ongoing investigations that could lead to further levies. Still, it marks Trump’s most significant Supreme Court defeat since returning to the White House.
Markets reacted calmly, with Wall Street shares edging higher. Business groups welcomed the ruling, while uncertainty remains over whether companies will receive refunds for tariffs already paid. Analysts estimate potential refunds could reach $175 billion, though legal clarity is lacking.
