Public sentiment around the National Labour and Employment Policy in India showcases a blend of cautious optimism and significant skepticism. While many appreciate the informative nature of discussions around labor rights and potential benefits, concerns dominate regarding the implementation, effectiveness, and ongoing challenges within the employment landscape. A prevalent frustration with private companies, inadequate enforcement of existing laws, and doubts about the government's capability to manage these initiatives contribute to a generally negative outlook.

Government of India

Private Sector Employers

Lobbyists will not allow this bill to pass. Even with this act, it will still be cheaper to assign work to Indian teams.

GL4389

# HIRE Act 2025

A United States senator, Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), introduced the Halting International Relocation of Employment Act (HIRE Act) on September 5, 2025, proposing a 25% non-deductible tax on payments made by American companies to foreign workers for services consumed in the United States. This legislation, aimed at curbing outsourcing and protecting American jobs, has already triggered a decline in Indian IT stocks and raised concerns about the future of India's $250 billion IT sector, which relies heavily on US clients. While the bill is still in the early stages of the legislative process and faces significant hurdles to passage, it represents a major escalation in protectionist rhetoric and signals a potential shift in US trade policy towards the Indian tech industry.

* **Proposed Tax and Mechanism:** The HIRE Act proposes a 25% excise tax on payments made by US companies to foreign persons for services benefiting US consumers, with the tax being non-deductible for the paying company. The revenue generated would be directed into a "Domestic Workforce Fund" to support apprenticeships and workforce development programs in the US.
* **Targeted Impact:** The bill is widely seen as targeting the Indian IT services industry and Global Capability Centres (GCCs) of US firms, as Indian IT majors like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro derive over half their revenue from the US market. The 25% surcharge, combined with the loss of tax deductibility, would significantly increase the cost of offshoring for US clients.
* **Legislative Status and Feasibility:** **As of September 9, 2025, the HIRE Act is a proposed bill that must pass through the House of Representatives, gain Senate approval, and receive the President's signature to become law.** Experts and analysts are divided on its likelihood of passage, with some viewing it as political theatre or a bargaining chip in trade negotiations, while others acknowledge it as a serious policy signal that could prompt Indian IT firms to diversify their markets and invest in domestic growth.

masterjv81

What if India starts tariffing ad revenue? Next they can chuck net neutrality and add access fees for meta, google, etc. (foreign companies with revenue greater than 1 billion). another thing they can do is, enforce GDPR kind of compliance as well and force data to be stored in India only. The choice is endless if India starts to retaliate.

keyan16

Throwaway66103

comapnies would now here atleast think twice here before sending bad apples fr

tifa_cloud0

India actually does have minimum wage rules. They're just ludicrously below the standard of an ordinary middle class. And the people who do the work that should be getting a minimum wage and aren't are usually too poor to effectively challenge the system.

Besides with our ludicrously corrupt courts, and underfunded enforcement, how do you follow up on labor law violations? It would take you several years just to get any sort of resolution at the lower courts. How do you sustain yourself in the meantime? 

Which isn't to say people don't file cases. They do. Civil law is huge in India and employment law is a major chunk of it. The reason massive backlog exists is also because indians file suits. Lots of them. But because you literally need to litigate, and because it's not quick, and we don't really have things like labor law boards that more developed countries have, it's functionally a system where you get a lawyer and they fight for you. So it's not like massively changing the labor rules themselves will do much.

BTW things like notice are a function of contract. That's true in the US and here. And the law of notice is that it runs both ways. If you are required to give notice of three months then the company owes you pay for three months too. The problem is, as I mentioned, litigation. You get screwed so you need to sue. That's what happens in the US too. The only difference is that in the US you can reasonably expect your case to be heard and resolved before you're a grandparent.

boringhistoryfan

We do have minimum wage laws. But we also have a lack of implementation.

We also have lax labour protection and a lot of jobs that pay minimum wage don't draw up contracts. If they gave payslips to employees, that would be rare too. So there's nothing for an employee to show as evidence in case of illegal practices.

Batwoman_2017

Because we have a massive population, lesser jobs, and lax employment laws.  

No one in India (atleast indian cities) can survive on the actual minimum wage (which is 4.5k per month).

svmk1987

First let the employees go home at 5 then we will talk.

Uncertn_Laaife

Because everyone is trying to undercut everyone else in India.

[deleted]

Unskilled laborers charge Rs 500-600 per day and skilled (mason, carpenters, plumbers etc) 800-1000 per day.

SiriusLeeSam

muhmeinchut69

Because we have a large labor pool and companies can easily replace employees. USA has a labor shortage,  so employees enjoy more perks.

clickOKplease

As a former small business owner this is my observation.

1. Highly competitive market.
    Due to ridiculously competitive prices profits goes really low. To compensate/ deliver low prices lowered wages is the first thing owner do.

2. Skilled unskilled employees ratio.
  Due to lack of proper hr channels in highly unorganised sectors (as big as 85% or total economy as per GOI) highly skilled and unskilled people gets weighed equally hence lower salary overall. As per my observation skilled unskilled ratio stands at 1:10 atleast. To compensate this more people gets hired at lower rates to increase the efficiency.

3. Unorganised sector Business owners are treated as third class citizens. They are milked by authorities for money to allow them to operate. In absence of small business laws they dont grow much and keep operating as is which results in lower business income which is directly related to lower employee salary.

4. Employee/Owner loyalty.
 Similar to above as employees dont get much in return of their services they switch jobs instantly for amounts as low as 500/month which makes Owner not to increase the wages. Owner thinking their employees are gonna leave at any movement and employees fearing for their jobs doesn't help the situation either.

5. Governments lack of care.
  Unreasonable taxation and compliance  is also an factor because unorganised sector gets absolutely nothing in return for taxed paid. Which leads to we are not getting worth of our work why should others.

Big corporates also exploit this, when atleast 80% working class is overworked and underpaid big companies provides just a cut about basic salaries to highly skilled persons lowering thier value and increase their already fat profits.

i-onion

There area already labor laws in place, but nobody is there to enforce them and make sure they are followed.

indiandude007

Simply cos there's always someone willing to work for less.

salluks

unrelated, or maybe related but is it mandatory for your employee to increase your salary if you are working at un-normal shifts? Since WFH 2020 me and my few colleagues have been working from afternoon to night, sometimes till 11:30 -12:00am also. Is there any law related to work timings? working till midnight is frustrating no matter when you start, especially when you're alone.

lords_slope

1. ESIC is mandatory if you have more than 9 employees. PF is mandatory if you have more than 20. Non compliance is an offense and penalized aggressively by authorities.

2. Notice period can vary if you are in probation period. Post confirmation of employment the rules are pretty strict. You have to keep proper documentation for why any employee is let go. Evidence has to be maintained that proper performance improvement efforts were taken from the employer side and still employee wasn't able to catch up. Labour department will make employer's life miserable if they fail to do so and the ex-employee files a complaint.

3. Working hours in a week is capped at 48hrs by government (not sure about what recent amendment had). 1 weekly off is mandatory. Unless there are some extraordinary circumstances, in which weekly off can be given once in 10 days. So it is upto the employer how they want to utilise those 48 hrs in the entire week. 

4. We don't have hourly wages in regular employment because workers aren't fucking stupid to trust a shitty employer who bills like that without any commitment from their side. It is a market driven requirement. However, every logistics and on-demand delivery portal is giving hourly wages only. Their structure is deliberately complicated just to avoid these laws that mandate employers to have some basic responsibilities.

5. I read somewhere that until last year, there were 170+ compliance related filings/activities each company has to follow in 1 financial year cycle. 170+!! Can you imagine opening a government website 170+ times for whatever reason? Half of the time they don't work, especially when there's some due date or excessive load. Only with recent filing changes with gst, this number would have got reduced to somewhere in 150-165 range. You think this is less??

US has these flexible policies because hiring and firing both is easy. In India, firing from job is not easy if all laws are followed. India had a history of employee exploitation. And regulations have tried to do their best to curb that. I believe that the problem is in the implementation of the existing laws. I feel you should do some research first before suggesting for any further addition in the laws. 

The laws are so much, as an employer, I believe this statement resonates sometimes, "I can't breathe".

AltShrey

The maid coming to middle class households is hourly rate implicitly

throwawayfebind

My father owns a security guard company. Knows all about minimum wage in India.. Ask me anything.

jmanjibenjy

Because most corporation may more tax to BJP government of india and companies want to keep the wages low.

learnfromfailures

If you don't want it, someone else will work more hours for less salary.

Every day you get a 1-hour lunch break which brings the total down to 48 hours. Companies love this technicality

Labour laws are like every other laws. No one is aware of their rights.

Excellentswordskills

You really can't do much, apart from finding a better job, most of the places exploit the workforce. In india it's never about legal or illegal its about do what you want to do just don't get caught.

India has a massive population with no proper union and no one to listen to your voice, you can be replaced within a day, so employers don't need to worry about you. If you don't want to work 50-60 hours a week, 999 other will.

RegularNormalMf

Every single manufacturing company has same rule.

In my company they deduct half salary in you late for 1 sec. Your punch must be before 8:59:59 and if you miss the punch they deduct full day amount from your salary.

Labour law is just a joke in our country.

More_Recipe3869

In india there's no such a thing as labour laws. It's just for show lmao. People be doing 14-16 hours shifts in manufacturing industry everyday. Also asking for salary slips from previous job like that's not even legally required. Asking people to resign when you want to fire them so you don't have to pay any severance. There's too much worker exploitation in india that no one knows about because there aren't any powerful unions that look out for rights of workers like in US or other countries.

Ok-Neighborhood-8095

![gif](giphy|5nj55Wid4sYZANsUzB|downsized)

Bhavish Agarwal showing your post to Narayan Murthy

OceanFloor

Secret-Cartoonist515

I work 42 hours. If I don't include lunch break then its 36 hours. (Includes Saturday)

Perks of being a govt employee :)

Reasonable_MantiZ

You cannot complain to HR, they are sitting there to defend company not employees. 
Depending on your worth and ease of replacement they will take action.

Far lagged behind 70 hours work week, come on man - the nation wants our blood and life

BitKnightRises

I work on weekends, public holidays and national holidays too. India does not have strong rules for workplace exploitation

Khubbo_

Dude here working 70+ hours a week, still can’t say nothing

StonedMitochondria

Anything beyond 9-5 and 5 days should be illegal and management should be put into jail for this.

NewsGroundbreaking66

Leave the job, you chose the job, you cleared the interviews, you knew about this all from the beginning.

No point when most of the guys and girls are doing the same hours and Monday subah subah yrr demotivate na kr waise hi Mann nhi krta kahin jane ka.

Flashy_Baseball4586

You can do nothing other than changing your job. Labor laws are a joke in this country.

OtherDegree3593

Bojackartless2902

Bubbly-Fly-9867

9 hours a day including 1 hour break is legal.

jackbauerj

What’s your profile if it has manager in it, then it’s legal you can’t do anything. It’s a loophole some companies just add something related to managerial post and make their employees work ling hours.

gaunish1119

matchalatteonrocks

febsign

Dreadlight86

Apart from working the 6th day, that’s pretty standard stuff and isn’t even that bad sigh

Quarantime_Killer

if you are in SEZ normal laws dont apply.

LazyAd7772

get another offer for backup, then do whatever u want to do with this company

slimismad

yeah the government started taxing more hours after narayana murty legalized it

NitaSFW

I work 72 hrs a week with lunch break of 1hr each day

jivan48868

Kuch ni hona complain ka, job blki khatre mein aajayegi. Haven't you seen/read much more toxic culture and insane working hours.

gagapoopoo1010

Don’t work then who is forcing you to work??

I have worked 80 hours a week, I'm not even kidding.

Is this legal? On paper, no, in reality, yes. Why? Because of the private sector lobbying against us having a wlb and promoting long working hours like you're about to meet Jesus if you do so.

Okay wait! That's funny.

Hotelier, 78+ hours, one day off. Living it still

Purplesky19XX

Alert_Art8306

The labour law are not applicable to executives (as the designation says). Kaam bhale labour wale kara rhe ho.

Cptjacksparrow16

My shift timings are from 10:00am-5:30pm
Including 1 hr lunch break. 
Honestly i am satisfied with my work timings.

96shivam

Bhai tbh after seeing all these posts on how much ling people work i feel greatful 😭🙏🏼 i work 40 hrs a week and tbh not too much work stress i love my company

iamextinctor

HR may help you or harm you. talk to leaders of unions. They love to extract bribes from employers. you may not get anything but it is free and the employer will learn a costly lesson.

ajaydhar

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The effectiveness of laws depends on their enforcement, and many Indians are unaware of their rights, leading to infrequent exercise of them. 

Complaining often yields little, as the system is corrupt and competition is fierce. If you choose legal action, ensure you have a steady income and access to legal support, but be discreet; the job market lacks ethics, and any legal pursuit could harm future applications. 

Ideally, maintain your current job while searching for better opportunities.

FutureStick1194

Necromancer189

Slpsychophant or sycophant kindly tell me what you want to emphasize on ? And I'm just trying to show OP that there are more hard working people then him and he's even complaining for a 9 to 5 job

Baddy_King89

they will find a loophole. 

HR is a division within your own company.

Do you submit those hours in timesheet ? Otherwise it won’t count ,  You should add those hours when you submit timesheet.

MSB_the_great

New job dhundle, why do you want to get in a mess?

Main-Floor-7486

You're doing a 9 to 6 job and still ranting 🤦🏻‍♂️ go and ask hoteliers or restaurant staffs or hospital staff the CRPF Officers on duty there is soo much you aren't able to see consider yourself lucky to be in the normal 9 to 6 slot. The truth is quite harsh that many don't see soo be thankful that atleast you've got a job.

Start a business bro give it 2-3 hrs a day and make insane money.

Hidden_in_the_mist

Bro there's people who do 12hrs a day... 11 without lunch break....

AceRawat

You have pointed out the write problem. But sadly, the Indian society is overall a status driven one. We generally look down upon any work or job that requires physical effort. Forget about the middle class, even the people from lower middle class and below see white collar jobs as the only way to get ahead in life. One of the reasons that we are far behind in manufacturing and overall industrial capacity is lack of well-trained labor.

Haunting_Display2454

People are afraid that they might get fired in the private sector and look for job security in government sector.

Rightget

Well indians live either in past or future.
Past, to showcase how great the culture and glories were but doing nothing in present to replicate anything of that in today.
Future, by thinking of growth, power, money, status and wastes the present either by wasting years running behind few govt jobs or such limited jobs which can ensure status.

DEXTERTOYOU

According to my experience worst thing about India is that we had almost zero knowledge about any jobs, all we knew was either we do engineering or MBBS. So goal wasn't about what we will be working on instead we were focused on what has more scope and we will study mindlessly whatever is thrown at us, no one cared to explain what are the options available even if you choose a field. Now we have faster internet so atleast we can google and research about it, sadly it wasn't available at my time.

Difficult-South7497

In the eyes of Indian society, a desk job in an office is seen as more "respectable" than being a delivery driver or a retail worker, even in cases where the latter pays more than the desk job. I can't break out of this conditioning either, despite working an extremely low-paid, dead-end office job. I don't know what I'm gonna do with my life.

Good-For-Nothing-21

This is perfectly true and I'm glad I'm not the only one who complains about this in multiple forums.

By and large, we don't want to get our hands dirty. We like intellectual work from AC offices.  
I mentor start-ups. A lot of people want to build B2C businesses, or start by interning in a  
start-up doing \`strategy', but no one will work in a retail store - where you learn more about sales, working with people, systems and processes etc than a MBA. Their excuse is \`our caste, or class does not serve customers', or \`what will my friends say'.  
Similarly people do not want to work in restaurants.  
The retail and food businesses are the biggest employers world-wide.  
I ran a retail chain and then a restaurant chain across India. We could never get enough  
people, neither could our competitors.

We lack civil engineers, but the civil engineers we have want to do IT work, even if it means remaining unemployed till they get a job, or getting a job at the same salary that a 10th pass person working in a retail store or restaurant will get and where AI will probably replace you in two years.

We also lack factory workers for the same reason.

Dean_46

The problem is population and also the mindset of prestige. Almost every middle class person goes to college in India. Most study only to get marks in college. Rarely few think what skills make them employable.

We have a lot of reasons for unemployment but one very strong reason is that most people don't have any valuable skills in the field they are trying to pursue.

Unhinged_Ice_4201

You are correct but the social stigma prevents almost everyone from going into these jobs even if they pay well

CulturalAccountant55

HI, can i dm you... unless u charge for that as a 'career counsellor' :(

UniqueExplorer2125

They'd prefer being unemployed for 6-7 months than working in some contact center or even a start-up with 18K/Month.

Butt_Eater1

People don't do these jobs because they are extremely low paying jobs and have no guarantee of work. 

A tailor gets Rs 300 for a single blouse that requires hours of work. And most tailors have other (even lower paid) employees that they have to pay as well. A plumber gets like 500- 700 for a day's job which might seem a lot. But they don't have work everyday. Some days they find work, most days they don't. 

There is no dearth of tailors, electricians, plumbers etc in India. If one of them charges a higher price, people would just hire someone else who's willing to work for less. And there are plenty!

There's also no certificate or other official document for these people that can show they are more capable than any other plumber/electrician.

The only thing that might work is if they had a union of their own, that could set higher prices for all of them. And we all know that's not happening.

shi11v

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AutoModerator

In country where corruption and fake documents are rampant, I would imaging 90% of the population suddenly turning unemployed if the scheme goes through.

GoodIntelligent2867

Then if you see Europe's employee benefits you will go bonkers

For that we will have to be employed first

obitachihasuminaruto

How can you have it when not even 3% of the population pays tax? I know there are some schemes for unemployed people, but they pay barely anything. We’re an overpopulated and poor country where a large chunk of the expenses go into military budget and subsidies for poor people, so expecting things like realistic unemployment is wishful thinking.

TribalSoul899

Cause then people would leave their jobs and be unemployed.

MathematicianNo1198

Witty_Attention2208

Because we dont have funds to spare, by doing so much for the poor, by giving away fee to corrupt people, by just doing other projects. Most state governments are left with negative balance. So they cant have it.

Personal-Promotion-3

Because India doesn’t print free money . It’s impossible to sustain economy when you already provide subsidies and free bees

Molexstormbreaker

I believe that once AI is implemented widely, all countries - including India - will need to move to Universal Basic Income. AI systems will take over most jobs and many of us will depend on UBI.

Hour_Appearance_9754

Its simple

Its your punishment for staying in India

DarkMistasd

killwish1991

We have unemployed people, and they are called politicians . Benefits go to them.

Plastic_Occasion_388

OP do you realise India's population is 3x the USA's !!

Also, Indian mentality would be like *lets be unemployed and enjoy free money!*

mostintrovertgirl

You're missing the point here, we are supposed to be born, pay tax for everything multiple folds (buying selling earning and saving) pay bribe for everything, make politicians and businesses richer, procreate and have our children do the same. We can't expect it to be other way around. Workforces are meant to be working only, can't expect unemployment benefits,even for a month.

Far_Republic4380

Here are some facts which can probably help you understand : 


🇮🇳 India
🇩🇪 Germany / 🇫🇷 France (example EU countries)

1. Tax-to-GDP Ratio

~11–12%
~40–45%

2. Who Pays Taxes?

&lt;5% of population pays income tax
Majority of workforce pays direct + indirect taxes

3. Informal Sector Share
~80–90% (not taxed directly)
&lt;20%

4. Social Security Systems
Fragmented and targeted (e.g. MGNREGA, PDS, Ujjwala)
Universal systems (e.g. unemployment insurance, health, child allowance)

5. Spending Priorities
Food, fuel, employment guarantees
Cash transfers + social protection

6. Bureaucratic Capacity
Low coverage and leakages common
Strong digital and institutional capacity

7. Fiscal Deficit Space
High (limited room to expand welfare)
More stable budgets with higher room for social spending

Even we Indians pay many taxes, the per capita revenue collected is low, and only a small part of the population pays direct income tax. Combined with high population and informal jobs, India lacks the financial + administrative power to provide universal unemployment benefits like Europe.

NewZookeepergame1048

How else would all the corrupt babus make their income if the government starts giving handouts to people who lost their job or are disabled.

Defiant_Sea4398

The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has unveiled the draft National Labour and Employment Policy aiming to create an inclusive job market, integrating social security schemes and promoting green jobs.

National Employment Policy in India

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want