Who pays lowest labour wages in the country?

According to *data released by the Reserve Bank of India, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Tripura pay the lowest daily wage to labourers across construction, agriculture, horticulture and non-agricultural sectors.

The wages are also lower than the national agricultural daily wage average of INR 323.2.

Male agricultural labourers in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat fare the poorest ( Rs 217.8 and Rs 220.3 per day) and are followed by Odisha, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar.

Kerala fares the best (Rs 726.8) followed by Jammu and Kashmir (Rs 524.6), Himachal Pradesh(Rs 457.6) and Tamil Nadu(Rs 445.6). Out of 20 states and Union Territories evaluated, only 10 pay above the national average (Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu).

Construction workers in Tripura (Rs 250), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 266.7) and Gujarat (Rs 295.9) are underpaid as well. These states also pay the lowest wages to non-agricultural labourers. But in Kerala the wages are almost thrice as much (Rs 837.7). Kerala is followed by Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu in paying fair wages to construction workers.

This is a blow to labourers when retail (6.77% in October 2022) and food inflation is high. The inflation currently is still above RBI’s tolerance band of 2-6%. The central government has mandated RBI to maintain retail inflation at 4% with a 2% margin on either side.

In spite of the government imposing restrictions on exports of wheat and rice, Cereal inflation reached 12.08% in October 2022 from 11.53% in September 2022.
Nov 19, 2022. Data pertains to 2021-22.