Attendance and shifts · verified August 2026

What is Muster roll?

Also called form of muster roll.

Definition

A muster roll is the statutory attendance record prescribed under Indian labour rules, showing each worker name and their attendance for each day of the wage period in a prescribed form.

How it works

The muster roll and the attendance register overlap heavily in practice, but the muster roll refers specifically to the prescribed form under the applicable rules rather than to any internal record an employer chooses to keep.

What it means in India

Prescribed forms are set out in rules under the Factories Act 1948, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970 for contractors it covers, the Minimum Wages Act 1948 rules, and state Shops and Establishments Act rules. Which form applies depends on which of those reaches your establishment, so start from that question rather than from a template.

What people get wrong

Using a generic template found online without checking which rules apply to the establishment.
Maintaining a digital record but being unable to produce it in the prescribed form when asked.

Terms this one depends on

Attendance register. The attendance register is the record of who worked, on which days, and for how long. It is a statutory record for most Indian employers and the source of every figure in payroll.Minimum wages. Minimum wages are the floor rates of pay fixed by government for scheduled employments, varying by state, by occupation, by skill level and often by geographic zone within a state.

More on attendance and shifts

Biometric attendance Geofencing Proxy attendance Shift roster Weekly off Overtime Night shift allowance

Where this shows up in practice

Almost everything on this page ends up as a line on a payslip or a figure in a register. Shiftelio keeps attendance, leave, salary structure and the statutory deductions in one place, so the number in the letter and the number in the payslip come from the same record.

See what Shiftelio does Pricing Free compliance calculators HR letter formats The full glossary

This entry was written and checked in August 2026 for Indian employers. It is general information, not legal or tax advice. Statutory thresholds, contribution rates and slab tables are revised from time to time, and several of the rules described here come from state legislation that genuinely differs between states, so check the position that applies to your own establishment before acting. If you believe anything here is inaccurate, write to support@shiftelio.com and we will correct it.