The decision to determine the minimum wages for 84 planned industries is now based on the Karnataka government after employees and employers failed to reach consensus. The minimum wage is proposed to be grown and the proposal be announced in April 2025.
Second meeting
The meeting on Thursday at the State Advisory Board of Minimum wages in Karnataka was the second after the proposal announcement and the government will now consider the individual statements of both parties. The government is expected to take the final decision over the next few weeks.
After taking into account the cost of living, the Ministry of Labor, which applies the instructions set by the Supreme Court in Reptakos Brett, informed the minimum wages in the range of 19 319 GBP per month for an unskilled worker at 34 225 GBP for highly qualified workers. While the trade unions welcomed the hike, employers opposed it and stated that it was too steep and could lead to the escape of capital to neighboring states, in addition to influencing the financial viability of small industries. Both sides filed their objections before the work department.
The sources attended by the meeting said that the Ministry of Labor tried to mediate a consensus that failed after the representatives of the industry asked to eliminate the notification. However, representatives of trade unions asked to make a notice after repairs. They included increasing calorie intake to 2,700 per day per person out of 2,321 calories, which were taken into account and applied inflationary trends since 2025 because the proposed wages were calculated on the basis of the cost of 2023.
Impact on the MSME sector
While the industry representatives argued that the joint announcement across plans was incorrect and it was not compulsory to observe the instructions of Reptakos Brett, they also stated that the MSME sector did not have the financial power called it “steep”.
However, union representatives argued that US tariffs would affect exports and increase minimal wages would encourage demand on the domestic market. The refutation of the claim that the minimum wage was revised within five years, pointing out that the last revision occurred in 2017 and the current revision of the proposal looked higher due to delay. They argued differently against the capital flight argument and stated that working migration to higher wage destinations would encourage economic activities.
Sources have stated that it is quite common for employees and employers to achieve consensus, and in the past, government has announced wages after considering the opinions of both parties. By the way, four cases against the proposal of the announcement are already before the High Court in Karnataka.
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Published – August 28 2025 9:15
