CLC Minimum Wages from 1 October 2026: Central Sphere Rates for Every Category

The central sphere minimum wages went up on 1 October 2026. An unskilled worker in construction, sweeping and cleaning, or loading and unloading in an Area A city must now be paid at least ₹840 a day, up from ₹827. A security guard without arms in Area A must be paid at least ₹1,024 a day. The new rates apply from 1 October 2026 until the next revision on 1 April 2027.

This article gives the full rate table for every category, read from the order itself, explains who these rates actually apply to, and shows how to turn a daily rate into a month's pay without getting it wrong.

Who issued it, and why people still call it "CLC minimum wages"

Most people search for these as CLC minimum wages, because the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) is the office that publishes and enforces minimum wages in the central sphere. The October 2026 orders themselves are signed by the Director General of the Labour Bureau, Chandigarh, under powers given by Notification S.O. 2451(E) dated 12 May 2026, and they carry File No. 6/1/2026-VDA, dated 30 September 2026.

The orders revise only the variable dearness allowance (VDA). The basic rates do not change. The VDA moved because the average Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers reached 431.42 on 30 June 2026, up from 424.80, an increase of 6.62 points. The orders also say the VDA has been rounded off to the next higher rupee, as decided by the Minimum Wages Advisory Board.

You can read the Labour Bureau's VDA orders for October 2026 yourself. It is a scanned PDF of 30 pages; every figure below was read from it.

Do these rates apply to you?

Only if the central government is your "appropriate Government". In practice that means railways, mines, oilfields, banking companies, and establishments carried on by or under the authority of the central government. A shop, restaurant, clinic or private factory in a state follows its state's minimum wages, on its state's own revision dates.

The case that catches most small businesses is the contractor. A security agency supplying guards to a bank branch, a facility company supplying cleaners to a central government office, or a loading contractor working a railway goods shed is paying for work in the central sphere, and the central rates are the floor for those workers. If you are not sure which side you are on, our article on why 1 October is probably not your date walks through it.

Central minimum wages from 1 October 2026: the rate per day

Every figure is basic rate plus VDA, per day. Area A, B and C are city classes, explained after the tables.

Construction

Construction or maintenance of roads, runways and buildings, including laying underground cables, electric lines, water supply lines and sewerage pipe lines.

The unskilled Area A figure is made up of a basic rate of ₹523 and a VDA of ₹317.

Sweeping and cleaning, and loading and unloading

Sweeping and cleaning (excluding activities prohibited under the Manual Scavengers Act, 1993), and loading and unloading in railway goods sheds and parcel offices, other goods sheds, godowns and warehouses, docks and ports, and at airports, carry the same rates as unskilled construction:

Watch and ward (security guards)

Without arms, the Area A rate is a basic of ₹637 plus a VDA of ₹387. With arms, it is ₹693 plus ₹418.

Agriculture

Mines

For the minerals named in the order's mines schedule, 32 of them, the rate depends on whether the work is above or below ground, not on the city:

Stone mines are revised by item of work instead (excavation, removal of rejected stones, stone breaking by size); read that table in the order itself.

Which city is Area A, B or C

The orders print the list of cities in each class as an annexure.

• Area A: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Faridabad complex, Ghaziabad, Greater Mumbai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Noida, Pune and Secunderabad.
• Area B: a long list of other cities, including Agra, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Patna, Surat, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam.
• Area C: everywhere not in either list.

The class follows where the work is done, not where the contractor's office is. A guard posted at a bank branch in Noida is paid the Area A rate even if the agency is registered in an Area C town.

From a daily rate to a month's pay

Central sphere minimum wages are fixed per day. The rules convert them two ways: divide the daily rate by eight for the hourly rate, and multiply it by twenty six for the monthly rate. So the monthly minimum from 1 October 2026 is:

• Unskilled, Area A (construction, sweeping, loading): ₹840 × 26 = ₹21,840
• Unskilled, Area B: ₹704 × 26 = ₹18,304
• Watch and ward without arms, Area A: ₹1,024 × 26 = ₹26,624
• Watch and ward with arms, Area A: ₹1,111 × 26 = ₹28,886

The hourly rate for unskilled Area A work is ₹840 ÷ 8 = ₹105.

Two mistakes are common in the first month after a revision. The first is paying September's rate for October because the rate on the payroll sheet was never changed. The second is applying the new rate from the date the order was noticed instead of from 1 October, the date it takes effect. Each one leaves a balance owed to every worker for every day short.

Where the attendance comes in

A daily rate is only as right as the count of days it is multiplied by. For a contractor with guards and cleaners spread across client sites, the number of days each person actually worked is the number that is most often guessed, and it is the one an inspector or a client will ask you to prove.

In Shiftelio, a shift paid by the day is set to Per shift: one calendar day worked pays one daily wage, however many times the person checked in and out that day. Set the shift's rate to the central rate for the post, ₹1,024 for an unarmed guard in Area A, and the pay run multiplies it by the days the attendance actually shows, from check-ins made on the guard's phone or marked by a supervisor for staff with no smartphone.

When the next revision lands on 1 April 2027, the job is to change the rate on each affected shift before that month's pay run, and to check the first pay run after it.

If your workers are on construction or contract sites, the labour attendance app page shows how site attendance works for crews without smartphones.

Frequently asked questions

What is the CLC minimum wage for unskilled workers from 1 October 2026?

₹840 a day in Area A, ₹704 in Area B and ₹565 in Area C, for construction, sweeping and cleaning, and loading and unloading in the central sphere.

What is the minimum wage for a security guard in the central sphere?

From 1 October 2026, ₹1,024 a day without arms and ₹1,111 a day with arms in Area A. In Area B it is ₹933 and ₹1,024; in Area C, ₹794 and ₹933.

How long do the October 2026 rates last?

Until the next VDA revision, which takes effect on 1 April 2027. The VDA is revised twice a year, from 1 April and 1 October, on the average CPI-IW.

What is the monthly central minimum wage?

The daily rate multiplied by 26. For unskilled Area A work that is ₹21,840 a month from 1 October 2026.

I run a shop in Pune. Is ₹840 my minimum wage?

Not unless your work is in the central sphere. A private shop follows Maharashtra's minimum wages; the latest notified rates for Maharashtra and other states are in state minimum wages in October 2026. Pune is in Area A only for central sphere work.