Overview
- The state government issued Government Order No. 6 that took effect on Monday, making the central Code on Wages (2019) operative in Telangana and repealing the state’s Minimum Wages Act framework.
- Cash wage payments are now banned and employers must pay wages by electronic transfer (NEFT/RTGS/IMPS) or bank cheque so labour inspectors can verify payments from bank records.
- A unified wage grid divides the state into three zones and workers into four skill levels, raising Zone‑1 minimums (for example, unskilled from ₹12,750 to ₹16,000) and replacing hundreds of industry‑specific schedules.
- The GO explicitly brings eCommerce, courier and LPG distribution platform workers under minimum‑wage protections, guarantees paid weekly rest days, mandates double overtime rates, and requires equal pay for equivalent work regardless of gender.
- To cut informal subcontracting loopholes the order makes principal employers legally liable to immediately settle wages if a contractor fails to pay, a change that could increase employer payroll oversight and compliance costs while improving worker pay security.