Minimum Wages in Telangana (2026): G.O.Ms.No.6 Rates by Zone and Skill, with Worked Payroll

If you employ a salesman in a Hyderabad showroom, a helper in a Warangal kirana store, machine operators in a factory outside a town or guards through a security agency, the rules on what you must pay changed on 1 June 2026. Telangana dropped its decades-old system of separate rate sheets for each scheduled employment and replaced it with one table of minimum wages by zone and skill, notified under the Code on Wages, 2019. This page sets out that table from the government order itself, explains the zones, the skill lists, the new cost of living allowance and the court-case caveat, and works through payroll and arrears in rupees.

Quick answer

From 1 June 2026, under G.O.Ms.No.6 dated 30 May 2026, the Telangana minimum wage for an unskilled worker is ₹16,000 a month in Zone I (municipal corporations), ₹15,000 in Zone II (municipalities) and ₹14,000 in Zone III (rural and other areas). Skilled and highly skilled workers in Zone I get ₹18,500 and ₹20,000.

• One table for all establishments — it supersedes every old Minimum Wages Act notification

• Daily rate = monthly ÷ 26; overtime and rest-day work at double rate

• Cost of living allowance: ₹33.86 a point a month for each CPI point above 443, notified 1 April and 1 October — none notified yet

• Subject to the outcome of writ petitions and contempt cases pending in the High Court

Telangana minimum wage rates from 1 June 2026

The Labour, Employment, Training and Factories (Lab-I) Department issued G.O.Ms.No.6 on 30 May 2026, for publication in the Extraordinary Telangana Gazette of 1 June 2026. Using its powers under sections 6 to 8 of the Code on Wages, the government fixed basic minimum rates of wages per month "in respect of employees in all the establishments defined under the Code", in supersession of all earlier notifications under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, with effect from 1 June 2026.

Table 1 of the notification is the whole rate card:

The order says the daily wage is the monthly figure divided by 26 days, which includes the rest-day wage, and that final pay is rounded to the nearest 50 paise. On that basis the daily minimums are:

These are basic wages. A cost of living allowance is added on top once the Commissioner of Labour notifies one (see below). The gap between zones is a flat ₹1,000 a month at every skill level, and each step up in skill adds ₹1,000 to ₹1,500.

Telangana minimum wage calculator

Zone / employment

Zone I — Municipal CorporationsZone II — MunicipalitiesZone III — rural and other areas

Skill level / category

UnskilledSemi-skilledSkilledHighly skilled

Days worked in the month

Overtime hours

Actual wage paid (₹/month, optional)

Months underpaid

A full month is 26 working days; the daily rate is the monthly rate ÷ 26 where the order fixes only a monthly figure.

Monthly minimum (26 days)₹16,000

Daily rate₹615.50

Pay for 26 days₹16,000

Overtime at 2× (₹153.88/hour)₹0

Minimum gross pay this month₹16,000

Overtime is paid at twice the ordinary rate (daily rate ÷ 8 hours). Arrears assume the same shortfall in every month since the rates took effect on 1 June 2026; a claim under the Code on Wages must generally be filed within 3 years. Estimates only — check the order for your employment.

Which zone applies?

The notification defines the three zones in one line each: Zone I is municipal corporations, Zone II is municipalities, and Zone III is rural and other areas. That is simpler than some old schedules — hotels, for example — which put selection-grade and special-grade municipalities into Zone I. Now only a municipal corporation counts as Zone I — Greater Hyderabad, Greater Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam and Nizamabad, for example — and an ordinary municipality is Zone II wherever it is.

The zone follows the place of work, not the employer's head office. A Hyderabad company with a warehouse in a gram panchayat area pays its warehouse staff the Zone III rate, and its city office staff the Zone I rate. If a site straddles a boundary, or a village has recently been merged into a corporation, check the current municipal limits with the Assistant Commissioner of Labour for your circle. When in doubt, paying the higher zone is a small cost — ₹1,000 a month — compared with an underpayment claim.

Which employments and workers are covered

The order covers employees in every establishment defined under the Code on Wages. To remove doubt it lists, in Schedule II, 67 employments that used to have their own Minimum Wages Act notifications — among them shops and commercial establishments, hotels and restaurants, security services, any manufacturing process in a factory, construction of roads and buildings, hospitals and clinics, printing presses, petrol bunks, automobile engineering, private educational institutions, domestic workers, agriculture and dairy farming. Schedule I adds ten employments that were never scheduled before: e-commerce and courier services, offices of religious and social institutions, amusement and water parks, mobile tower maintenance and cable networks, handicrafts, cane and bamboo, borewell drilling, ready-mix concrete plants, aluminium and tin products, and LPG storage and distribution agencies.

The one exception is piece-rated, labour-intensive work. Under section 8(1)(a) of the Code, wages for power looms, garments, spinning mills, brick kilns, tobacco including beedi making, and the three handloom weaving employments are to be fixed separately by a committee. Even there, the order says a piece-rated worker's earnings for eight hours must not fall below the minimum for the relevant skill category.

Skill categories and Schedule III

Table 2 of the order defines the four categories. Unskilled work relies mainly on physical effort and needs no prior experience or independent decision-making. Semi-skilled work applies skill gained on the job under the supervision of a skilled employee, and includes supervising unskilled workers. Skilled work needs competence gained through experience or apprenticeship training and calls for initiative and judgement. Highly skilled work needs intensive technical or professional training or long experience, and full responsibility for decisions.

Schedule III then lists hundreds of designations under each heading. A few that matter for small businesses:

• Unskilled — helpers, peons, office boys, attenders, sweepers, packers, hamalis, waiters and bearers, housekeeping staff, maids, washermen and agricultural labourers.
• Semi-skilled — clerk-cum-typists (other clerks, such as accounts and store clerks, are in the skilled list), accounts assistants, delivery boys, Xerox operators, lift operators, assistant cooks, compounders, assistant welders and fitters.
• Skilled — cashiers, accountants, receptionists, computer operators and data entry operators, cooks, drivers, electricians, plumbers, welders, tailors, sales representatives, pharmacists, lab technicians and staff nurses.
• Highly skilled — security guards with arms (who also appear in the skilled list — pay the highly skilled rate to be safe), heavy vehicle drivers, teachers, software and hardware engineers, all engineers with a B.E. or higher, computer programmers, managers and sales executives in the pharmaceutical industry.

Each list ends with "any other categories by whatever name called" of that nature, so a job title not named is placed by what the person actually does. Note one inconsistency: "Security Guard" appears among unskilled designations, while "Security Guard (without arms)" appears among skilled ones. Until the department clarifies, paying an unarmed guard the skilled rate avoids a dispute.

Monthly minimum-wage check for a Telangana worker

Step 1

Zone

corporation, municipality or rural

Step 2

Skill

Schedule III designation

Step 3

Table 1 basic

÷ 26 for a day

Step 4

Add COLA

once notified

Step 5

Overtime 2×

and rest-day work 2×

Step 6

Pay by bank by the 7th

Telangana VDA points: what applies from October 2026

Many searches for "VDA points Telangana 2026" are looking for the old per-employment VDA sheets, which listed a CPI point figure and a rate per point for each scheduled employment and were reissued every 1 April and 1 October. Those sheets ended with the April–September 2026 period. Under G.O.Ms.No.6 there is a single base of 443 points and a single rate of ₹33.86 a point a month, the same for every employment, zone and skill category.

So the October 2026 revision is not a new sheet of points per industry. It is one number: how far the average state CPI for the half-year ending June has moved above 443. The allowance for a worker is then points above 443 × ₹33.86, whatever the skill or zone. For illustration only, if the notified average were 453, the allowance would be 10 × ₹33.86 = ₹338.60 a month; at 468 it would be 25 × ₹33.86 = ₹846.50. These are examples of the arithmetic, not notified figures. Our Code on Wages guide and the Andhra Pradesh minimum wages guide show how the neighbouring state handles the same mechanism.

How the cost of living allowance works now

The new basic wages are linked to a consumer price index of 443 points on the 2001=100 series. The Commissioner of Labour is to notify the cost of living allowance every six months, on 1 April and 1 October, using the average rise in the state consumer price index numbers for industrial workers and agricultural workers over the half-year ending December or June (the G.O. names both indices without saying which applies to which employments). For every point above 443, workers get ₹33.86 a point a month — the same amount at every skill level and in every zone.

That replaces the old system, under which each employment's G.O. had its own base index and its own rate per point, and the department published a separate VDA sheet for each one. The old VDA figures — for example ₹9,408 a month for shops in April 2026 — do not carry over: the new basic wages absorb them.

The first allowance under the new order would be due from 1 October 2026. No such notification had been published on the Labour Department's website when we last checked on 16 October 2026. Until one is notified, pay at least the basic rates in the table. When it appears, apply it from the date it states and pay the difference for the months already run as arrears.

How Telangana moved to the new wage table

29 Jan 2024

73 preliminary notifications propose revised basic wages

30 May 2025

Commissioner of Labour sends the Minimum Wages Advisory Board's recommendations

11 May 2026

Cabinet Sub-Committee finalises revised recommendations

30 May 2026

G.O.Ms.No.6 issued under the Code on Wages

1 Jun 2026

New table in force; all old Minimum Wages Act notifications superseded

1 Oct 2026

First cost of living allowance date under the new order — not yet notified

What changed for common jobs

The jump is large for the lowest-paid workers. Compare the old April 2026 rates (basic plus VDA, which applied for April and May) with the new Zone I basic rate:

Some old rates were higher than the new table — the old factory schedule paid ₹19,572 to a skilled worker and ₹24,270 to a highly skilled one. The order deals with this in condition 4: "in all categories of employments where the existing notified wages are higher than the above recommended wages, an additional enhancement of 10% over the existing wages shall be provided". Read literally, a skilled factory worker who was entitled to ₹19,572 must now get 10% more, ₹21,529.20, rather than the ₹18,500 table rate. The department has not published worked figures for this rule, so if your workforce was on an old schedule that paid more than the new table, take advice or ask the Labour Department how it applies. Separately, condition 10 says anyone actually paid more than the notified rate must keep the higher pay.

Other conditions in the order

The notification attaches twelve conditions. The ones payroll teams most often need are these:

• Daily wage — monthly wage ÷ 26 days, including the rest-day wage.
• Trainees — 75% of the rate for their category, but never less than the unskilled rate for the zone.
• Overtime — work beyond eight hours a day is paid at double the normal rate.
• Rest days and public holidays — work on them is paid at double the normal rate.
• Rounding — fractions in final pay are rounded to the nearest 50 paise.
• Bank payment — employers must deposit wages directly into the employee's designated bank account, by cheque or by NEFT, RTGS or IMPS.
• Equal pay — the same rates for men, women, transgender and physically challenged employees doing the same or equivalent work.
• Contractors — where workers are supplied by a contractor or service provider, the occupier or principal employer must ensure they get the minimum.

The G.O. itself does not list which payments count towards the minimum. Under the definition of wages in the Code on Wages, 2019, items such as conveyance allowance, house rent allowance, overtime pay and the employer's own EPF contribution are excluded, so they cannot be used to make up the minimum. Domestic workers are now listed in Schedule II and so are on the common table; the order does not set a separate hourly scale for part-time domestic work, so ask the Labour Department how it expects part-time arrangements to be paid.

Worked payroll examples in ₹ (rates from 1 June 2026)

Example 1 — a helper in a Hyderabad shop (Zone I). Imran is a shop boy — unskilled — on the minimum of ₹16,000 and works 4 hours of overtime in the month.

• Hourly rate: ₹16,000 ÷ 26 ÷ 8 = ₹76.92; overtime at twice the normal rate of wages: ₹153.85 × 4 = ₹615.38
• Gross: ₹16,615.38
• ESI (wages below ₹21,000/month): employee 0.75% ≈ ₹124.62; employer 3.25% ≈ ₹540.00
• EPF at 12% of wages on ₹16,000 (overtime excluded): ₹1,920 each from him and you
• Professional tax: ₹150 a month, because his salary is now above ₹15,000
• Net pay ≈ ₹14,420.76, which the 50-paise rounding rule makes ₹14,421

Example 2 — a skilled machine operator in a factory inside a municipality (Zone II). The table minimum is ₹17,500. EPF at 12% is ₹2,100; ESI at 0.75% is ₹131.25; professional tax is ₹150 a month; net is ₹15,118.75. If the worker was already on the old factory schedule at ₹19,572, the 10% protection in condition 4 may put the worker at ₹21,529.20 instead — see the section above. See our Telangana professional tax guide for slabs and returns.

Example 3 — an unarmed guard from an agency in Zone II. On the safe skilled reading the minimum is ₹17,500; even on the unskilled reading it is ₹15,000. If your agency contract is ₹15,000 a guard all-in, that cannot cover the wage plus employer EPF, ESI, bonus and the agency's margin. Because the order makes the principal employer responsible for contractors' compliance, ask for wage registers and bank-transfer proof.

Example 4 — a daily-rated worker in a village (Zone III). An unskilled worker paid by the day gets at least ₹538.50 (₹14,000 ÷ 26, rounded to 50 paise). For 22 days in a month that is ₹11,847.

Example 5 — June to September arrears. A Warangal shop — inside the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation, so Zone I — kept paying its helper the old ₹13,108 after 1 June. The shortfall is ₹16,000 − ₹13,108 = ₹2,892 a month, or ₹11,568 for June to September. Pay it as a separate arrears line, move the helper to ₹16,000 from October, and add the cost of living allowance from its notified date once it is published.

Telangana under the Code on Wages

The Code on Wages, 2019 came into force on 21 November 2025 and replaced the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. Section 69 kept the old Telangana G.O.s alive until they were replaced, and G.O.Ms.No.6 has now replaced them all with a single notification made under the Code itself. It also extends the minimum to every employee in a defined establishment, not only those in a listed employment.

Telangana vs neighbouring states — lowest monthly minimum in the main city zone

State	Rate	In force from	Structure
Telangana — unskilled, Zone I	₹16,000	1 June 2026	One table for all employments; COLA at ₹33.86 a point above 443
Tamil Nadu — shop helper, Zone A	₹14,044	1 April 2026	Basic + DA revised every April
Karnataka — unskilled, Zone 1	₹23,376.43	22 May 2026	Common table; VDA revised every April

Telangana — unskilled, Zone I

Rate

₹16,000

In force from

1 June 2026

Structure

One table for all employments; COLA at ₹33.86 a point above 443

Tamil Nadu — shop helper, Zone A

Rate

₹14,044

In force from

1 April 2026

Structure

Basic + DA revised every April

Karnataka — unskilled, Zone 1

Rate

₹23,376.43

In force from

22 May 2026

Structure

Common table; VDA revised every April

Telangana published draft Code on Wages rules in 2021, and the department's home page still lists them as drafts. Until final state rules are notified, expect inspectors to apply the Code's core duties, with the central rules notified on 8 May 2026 (G.S.R. 343(E)) as a reference for method. The national floor wage under section 9 had not been notified when we checked; Telangana's lowest rate, ₹538.50 a day, is far above the old advisory National Floor Level Minimum Wage of ₹176 a day (advisory, 2017).

Key Code duties for payroll:

• Pay on time — monthly wages before the end of the 7th day of the next month; full and final settlement within 2 working days.
• Overtime at twice the normal rate of wages.
• Deductions capped at 50% of wages.
• Equal pay regardless of gender for the same or similar work.
• Contract workers — the principal employer answers for a contractor's unpaid wages.
• Records — wage registers and a wage slip for every wage period.

Telangana minimum wage checklist

0/7

• Move every worker to the G.O.Ms.No.6 table from 1 June 2026
• Place each workplace in Zone I, II or III — only municipal corporations are Zone I
• Map each job to a Schedule III skill category
• Check whether any old schedule paid more — if so, apply the 10% protection
• Pay June–September arrears if you stayed on the old sheets
• Watch for the cost of living allowance notification and pay it from its date
• Deduct professional tax on salaries above ₹15,000 — now including Zone I unskilled

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Common mistakes Telangana employers make

Still using the old rate sheets. The per-employment Excel sheets on the Labour Department's site, and many search snippets, show April 2026 basic-plus-VDA figures that stopped applying on 31 May 2026.

Carrying the old VDA on top of the new basic. The new table replaces both the old basic and the old VDA. Only a cost of living allowance notified under G.O.Ms.No.6 is added.

Treating a big municipality as Zone I. Under the new definitions, only municipal corporations are Zone I. A selection-grade or special-grade municipality that counted as Zone I under some old schedules, such as hotels, is now Zone II.

Cutting pay to the new table. Where an old schedule or your own pay scale was higher, you cannot reduce wages — and the order adds a 10% enhancement for categories whose old notified wages beat the new table.

Ignoring professional tax. Payroll set up for old rates often skipped PT because salaries were below ₹15,000. Every Zone I rate is now above it.

Paying in cash. The order requires bank transfer or cheque into the employee's account.

What happens if you underpay

Workers or unions can claim unpaid minimum wages under the Code on Wages within 3 years, and the authority can award the shortfall plus compensation of up to 10 times the claim. Underpayment is also an offence: a fine of up to ₹50,000 for a first offence and up to ₹1 lakh fine and/or 3 months' imprisonment for a repeat. If you find a shortfall, pay the difference from 1 June 2026 as a separate arrears line, and keep the working.

Official links

• G.O.Ms.No.6 dated 30.05.2026 — Telangana GO Issue RegisterSearch: Labour Employment Training and Factories · MS · GO No. 6 · 2026
• Telangana Labour Department — Minimum Rates of WagesOld per-employment sheets (to May 2026); watch for COLA notifications
• Telangana Labour Department — home
• The Code on Wages, 2019 (India Code)

Related tools and guides

Check any worker's pay with our minimum wage calculator, and issue wage slips with basic, allowance, overtime, ESI, EPF and PT on separate lines using the salary slip generator. For registration see the Telangana labour licence guide; for the national rules see the Code on Wages guide.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum wage in Telangana in 2026?

From 1 June 2026, G.O.Ms.No.6 dated 30 May 2026 fixes one table for every employment: an unskilled worker gets at least ₹16,000 a month in Zone I (municipal corporations), ₹15,000 in Zone II (municipalities) and ₹14,000 in Zone III (rural and other areas). Highly skilled workers get ₹20,000 in Zone I. The order is subject to the outcome of cases pending in the High Court.

Does G.O.Ms.No.6 replace the old shop, factory and security rate sheets?

Yes. It fixes basic minimum wages for employees in all establishments defined under the Code on Wages, 2019, in supersession of all earlier notifications under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. The old per-employment sheets — such as G.O.Ms.No.116 for shops — stopped applying on 31 May 2026. Only piece-rated trades such as power looms, garments, spinning, brick kilns, beedi and handlooms are to be fixed separately by committee.

How does the cost of living allowance work under the new Telangana minimum wages?

The new basic wages are linked to a consumer price index of 443 points (2001=100 series). The Commissioner of Labour notifies the allowance every 1 April and 1 October, using the average state CPI for the half-year ending December or June. For every point above 443, workers get ₹33.86 a point a month extra.

Has Telangana notified the October 2026 cost of living allowance?

Not yet. No cost of living allowance under G.O.Ms.No.6 was published on the Labour Department's website when we last checked on 16 October 2026. Until it is notified, the basic rates in the table are the floor. When it is notified, pay the allowance from 1 October 2026 and clear the difference as arrears.

Is professional tax deducted from minimum-wage workers in Telangana?

Now, often yes. Professional tax starts above ₹15,000 a month, and every Zone I rate — even unskilled at ₹16,000 — is above that, so ₹150 a month is deducted in the ₹15,001–₹20,000 slab. An unskilled worker in Zone III on ₹14,000 stays below the threshold.

What is the minimum wage for a security guard in Telangana?

Schedule III of G.O.Ms.No.6 lists 'Security Guard' among unskilled designations but 'Security Guard (without arms)' among skilled ones, and lists guards with arms under both the skilled ('Head Guard / Security Guards with Arms') and highly skilled designations. The safe course is the higher rate in each case: the skilled rate — ₹18,500 in Zone I — for an unarmed agency guard, and ₹20,000 for an armed guard.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 14 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.G.O.Ms.No.6, Labour, Employment, Training & Factories (Lab-I) Department, dated 30.05.2026 — The Code on Wages, 2019: revision of minimum wages payable to the employees in the State of Telangana (notification for the Telangana Gazette Extraordinary of 01.06.2026) — Government of Telangana — Government Order Issue Register (GOIR) · accessed 14 October 2026
2. 2.Minimum Rates of Wages — rate sheets by employment and half-year (latest: 1.4.2026 to 30.9.2026) — Labour Department, Government of Telangana · accessed 14 October 2026
3. 3.Shops and Commercial Establishments — Minimum Wages and VDA payable from 01.04.2026 (G.O.Ms.No.116 of 2007) — Labour Department, Government of Telangana · accessed 9 October 2026
4. 4.Any manufacturing process; Security Services; Construction — rate sheets from 01.04.2026 — Labour Department, Government of Telangana · accessed 9 October 2026
5. 5.Labour Department home — Labour Codes and draft state rules — Labour Department, Government of Telangana · accessed 14 October 2026
6. 6.The Code on Wages, 2019 (No. 29 of 2019) — India Code, Legislative Department · accessed 9 October 2026