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Informist, Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2026

 

By Shakshi Jain and Sagar Sen

 

NEW DELHI – The Centre of Indian Trade Unions, in a meeting with the Noida district administration Wednesday, demanded that minimum wages of workers in Uttar Pradesh be revised within the next month, A.R. Sindhu, national secretary of the union, told Informist. The national trade union is unhappy with the interim hike of up to 21% in minimum wages announced by the state government Tuesday following widespread industrial unrest in Noida Monday, she said.

 

According to the revised monthly wages for workers in Noida and Ghaziabad, unskilled workers will receive a monthly pay of INR 13,690, up from INR 11,313, effective retrospectively from Apr. 1. Semi-skilled workers will be paid a minimum of INR 15,059, up from INR 12,445. Skilled workers will receive at least INR 16,868, up from INR 13,940 per month.

 

"If the workers are not convinced (with the revision in a month) they will stop work and come out on the streets," Sindhu said. "It is the only way to force the management and the government to come to their senses... if they are not learning any lesson."

 

Neighbouring Haryana revised its minimum wages last week, implementing an increase of roughly 35?ross categories. The new monthly minimum wage for unskilled workers in the state is INR 15,220.71 while skilled workers will earn a minimum of INR 19,425.85 per month, effective Apr. 1.

 

Minimum wages in several states have not been revised for 10-12 years, CITU National President Sudip Dutta said. Inflation triggered by the military conflict in West Asia has only added to the workers' woes, he said.

 

A senior Uttar Pradesh Police officer told Informist that over 300 protesters were arrested under preventive provisions of the law for arson and vandalism Monday evening in Noida and more than 100 were detained for questioning. However, CITU estimates the actual numbers are higher and hopes to get clarity on the figures in the coming days. The police officer said miscreants from Monday's protests are being identified through videos and more arrests are likely.

 

Noida has over 1.5 million workers, of whom more than 50,000 joined the protest over wages Monday, Sindhu said. In the guise of protection, the trade union's Gautam Buddh Nagar district leader has been placed under house arrest and its office in the district is not being allowed to function, she added.

 

Demonstrations on Tuesday were not as widespread and were contained before they could escalate. Wednesday, District Magistrate Medha Roopam took stock of the situation across Gautam Buddh Nagar while Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner Deepak Kumar held a high-level meeting, a senior state government official told Informist.

 

GROUND ZERO

After Monday's chaos, business appears to be returning to normal. Amid heavy police deployment across major sites of protest, operations in most plants in Noida's industrial hubs resumed Wednesday. A majority of companies located in the district have displayed the new wage rates outside their premises to reflect implementation of the state government's directive.

 

Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd.'s plant in Sector 59 has implemented the new minimum wages, though workers are demanding at least INR 15,000 in the lowest bracket, an employee told Informist. The plant, which employs over 1,000 workers, kept its shutters down Wednesday.

 

In a filing with the stock exchanges Monday, Samvardhana Motherson had said the labour protests in Noida and other cities demanding higher wages had not had any material impact on its operations. "This is a broader labour issue affecting multiple industries in Noida and some other cities, driven by misinformation being spread about wage revisions," the company had said. "Our operations remain compliant with all applicable laws, with no material impact on the company."

 

At Dixon Technologies (India) Ltd.'s 15 plants in Noida, which employ over 10,000 workers, full operations resumed Wednesday. Monday, workers from the nearby Hosiery Complex had engaged in stone-pelting and vandalism at one of its units in Sector 90, a company personnel told Informist.

 

Among others, business at the premises of Ekkaa Electronics (India) Pvt. Ltd. and Haldiram Snacks Food Pvt. Ltd. appeared to be running as usual with a host of vehicles parked in queues and distribution trucks exiting periodically.

 

Meanwhile, at LG Electronics India Ltd.'s plant in Greater Noida, only one of the multiple production lines functioned Tuesday as the company did not receive supplies from smaller vendors due to the protest, a company official told Informist. "Business is as usual. Our workers did not partake in the protests as the company pays better wages than others," the official added.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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