- Maharashtra cabinet approved raising private sector daily work hours from nine to ten hours
- Factories Act and Shops and Establishments Act will be amended to reflect new work hour limits
- Overtime cap increased to 144 hours per quarter with mandatory worker consent for extra hours
The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to amend laws that will allow increasing the maximum daily working hours for private sector employees from the present nine to 10 hours.
The move is aimed at attracting investments, generating employment and safeguarding workers' rights, an official statement said.
The state cabinet, during its meeting presided over by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, cleared the changes recommended by a central task force, bringing Maharashtra in line with states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura, which have already implemented similar reforms.
The amendments will be done to the Factories Act, 1948 and the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, it said.
The amendments will allow industries to function without disruption during peak demand or labour shortages while ensuring that workers receive proper overtime compensation.
With this, the limit of daily working hours in industries will increase from nine to 12 hours, while rest breaks will be allowed after six hours instead of five. The legal overtime cap will rise from 115 to 144 hours per quarter, with mandatory written consent from workers. Weekly work hours will also be extended from 10.5 hours to 12 hours, it said.
Similarly, under the amended Shops and Establishments Act, daily working hours will be raised from nine to 10, overtime limits from 125 to 144 hours, and emergency duty hours will be extended to 12. The changes will apply to the establishments having 20 or more workers.
Establishments employing fewer than 20 workers will no longer need registration certificates but must notify authorities through a simple intimation process.
According to the government, the move is expected to facilitate ease of doing business, attract new investment, promote job creation, and simultaneously ensure wage protection and improved rights for workers, including double pay for overtime.
The state labour department presented the proposal to the cabinet last week. The department has argued that the proposed changes would provide a more comfortable working environment, particularly for women, and address the long-standing concerns of employees and employers alike.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
