Abstract: Despite India’s outstanding growth in the last two decades, low pay and wage inequality remain serious obstacles towards achieving inclusive growth. An effective minimum wage policy that targets the vulnerable bottom rung of wage earners can help in driving up aggregate demand and building and strengthening the middle class, and thus spur a phase of sustainable and inclusive growth. However, the present minimum wage system in India is extremely complex with 1,915 minimum wages defined for various scheduled job categories for unskilled workers across various states. Despite its complex structure and proliferation of scheduled employment over time, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 does not cover all wage workers. One in every three wage workers in India has fallen through the crack and is not protected by the minimum wage law. Given this situation, this chapter reviews the situation pertaining to minimum wages in India and suggests the way forward for rationalizing and streamlining the policy for minimum wages.
Keywords- Inclusive growth,Rationalizing And Streamlining,Proliferation, Obstacles.