Employees who have worked continuously for at least 1 year with the same employer must be given at least 1 month's notice before retrenchment or the termination of a permanent employee. The duration of the notice period depends on the number of employees in the establishment and the reason for termination:
India issues Employment or E visa for 1 year or the term of the contract in India (up to 5 years). An Employment visa is granted to a foreign national who is a highly skilled and/or qualified professional and is engaged or appointed by a company, organization, or industry undertaking in India on a contract or employment basis. Foreigners traveling to India to do volunteer work with a Non-Governmental Organization will also need an E visa. E visa is also required for self-employed individuals, consultants, foreign artists conducting regular performances, specialists, etc.
The foreign national being sponsored for an E Visa in any sector must draw a salary above USD 25,000 (United States dollars) per year. However, this condition does not apply to ethnic cooks, language teachers, translators, and staff working for an embassy in India.
Employees are entitled to paid annual leave at the rate of one leave per 20 days of work if they have worked for at least 180 days in a year. For employees between 14 and 18 years, annual leave is calculated as 1 day of leave per 15 days of work.
Up to 30 days of annual leave may be carried over to the next year. If the employment contract expires before a worker can take annual leave, compensation for leave is made in proportion to the number of months and the number of hours worked in a week.
A normal working day is 8 hours for employees on a daily wage period. Employers may set the normal working day as they choose for employees on any other wage period, provided the total weekly hours do not exceed 48 hours.
Under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Act 2020 of India, no employee of a covered establishment can be required or allowed to work in any establishment for more than 8 hours a day or 6 days a week. Children aged 14 up to 18 years cannot be employed for more than 6 hours a day and no more than 3 hours without a break.
The periods of hours of work for all categories of workers must be exhibited on the notice board of the industrial establishment.
If an employer engages in a commercial activity, the regional shops and establishments statutes govern the applicable regulations.
As per the August 29, 2025, amendment to the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, the standard working hours are increased to 10 hours a day, with a maximum of 12 hours a day, limited to 48 hours per week, for establishments with at least 20 employees. Overtime hours have been increased to 144 per quarter. Employers with more than 20 employees must register with the Labour Inspector within 6 months of starting business, and also within 1 month of closing the business.
Effective October 1, 2025, the Maharashtra government has permitted all shops and commercial establishments to operate 7 days a week, except those servicing alcohol. All employees must be given at least a continuous 24-hour rest period a week.
On March 11, 2026, the Delhi government issued changes to the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act (1954) applicable to employers with 20 or more employees, which will go into effect upon the Minister issuing a Gazette Notification. Under the amendments, the maximum working time is 10 hours per day (including rest and lunch breaks) and 60 hours per week, with an overtime cap of 144 hours per quarter. The continuous working period increased to 6 hours before employees must be provided with a break. The maximum spread-over period, including rest breaks, will be limited to 12 hours.
Under the Social Security Code, eligible female employees with fewer than 2 surviving children are entitled to a maximum of 26 weeks of maternity leave, which can commence up to 8 weeks before the expected date of delivery. Female employees with 2 or more surviving children are entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave, which can commence up to 6 weeks before the expected date of delivery.
To be eligible, female employees must have actually worked at least 80 days in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of expected delivery. Days for which the employee has been laid off or was on statutory holidays with pay are taken into account when calculating the actual days worked.
Female employees are entitled to a maternity benefit at the rate of the average daily wage of the payments she received during the period of 3 calendar months immediately preceding the date from which she takes maternity leave. The maternity leave rate is subject to the minimum wage rate as specified in the Code on Wages.
Employers are prohibited from employing women during the 6 weeks following the day of delivery or miscarriage. Female employees are exempt from tasks that require strenuous effort or are physically demanding and exhausting, or that require standing for long periods or may in any way interfere with the pregnancy, the normal development of the fetus, or pose a risk of miscarriage or other harm to her health for the following periods:
A female employee who legally adopts a child under 3 months or a commissioning mother is eligible for maternity leave of 12 weeks from the date the child is handed over. A commissioning mother is defined as a "biological mother who uses her egg to create an embryo implanted in any other woman."
Under the Code on Wages, 2019, states and territories in India have the authority to establish their own minimum wage rates, provided they are not lower than the national floor-level minimum wage. Because of this structure, minimum wage rates across jurisdictions vary considerably.
Where the rate of wages for a day is fixed, the conversion formula for minimum wage is standardized as follows:
Where the leftover fraction is 1/2 or more, the number is rounded up to the next whole figure, and if it is less, the fraction is dropped. For calculations where the working week is less than 6 days, the hourly rate is calculated as above, and that figure is used to work back up to the daily minimum wage.
The Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) is revised twice each year on April 1 and October 1. The VDA revisions are determined considering the Average Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers.
Some states and territories update minimum wage rates twice a year, with the changes generally taking effect on April 1 and October 1; however, basic rates are not always updated on these dates, and the frequency with which jurisdictions update their minimum rates varies. Depending on the jurisdiction, rates are updated:
The updates to the minimum wage rates, sometimes called "dearness allowances," are typically calculated to account for inflation and cost-of-living increases.
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