FED finds 64% earn below minimum wage
- India’s Foundation for Economic Development said in an April 2026 report that minimum-wage laws are excluding workers, with large shares paid below legal floors across states. - The report says 64% of Indian workers earn less than the statutory minimum, while the wage floor stands at 1.7 times median casual pay. - The findings landed as left parties backed wage protests in Noida demanding Rs 26,000 a month and stronger labor protections. (peoplesdispatch.org)
A new report from the Foundation for Economic Development says India’s minimum-wage system leaves most workers outside the law instead of lifting their pay. (fedev.org) The April 2026 report says 64% of workers earn below the legal minimum wage. It argues the wage floor is set above what many firms and workers can sustain in practice. (fedev.org) (financialexpress.com) FED says India’s minimum wage is about 1.7 times the median wage for a casual worker and about 77% of per-capita gross domestic product. The report compares that with roughly 50% in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. (fedev.org) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The report’s argument is straightforward: when the legal floor sits above what low-productivity jobs can pay, employers do not formalize those jobs. FED links that to India’s large informal workforce and slower growth in labor-intensive manufacturing. (fedev.org) FED says about 88% of India’s workforce is informal. It says sectors such as footwear, leather and apparel have grown more slowly than capital-intensive industries, while manufacturing’s share of employment has fallen. (fedev.org) The report arrives as wage politics are intensifying on the ground. Left parties rallied in New Delhi on April 24 in support of workers protesting in Noida and other industrial areas of the National Capital Region. (peoplesdispatch.org) Those groups took the opposite view from FED. They backed trade-union demands to raise the minimum wage in the National Capital Region to Rs 26,000 a month, expand social security and curb contract work. (peoplesdispatch.org) India’s wage rules are also not a single national number in practice. The Chief Labour Commissioner’s website shows variable dearness allowance orders were updated again in April 2026, underscoring how rates change by sector and category. (clc.gov.in) That leaves the debate where it started: one side says higher legal floors protect workers from exploitation, and the other says floors set too high push jobs off the books. In April 2026, both arguments were on display at once. (fedev.org) (peoplesdispatch.org)
