CITI hails unified labour codes as key reform to boost industry growth

The association also hopes that the rules would address the heterogeneity in the state laws which, so far, have made it difficult for companies with divisions in multiple states to comply with different state laws.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) welcomed the long awaited reforms and implementation of the New Labour Codes. Ashwin Chandran, Chairman, CITI, thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this bold step of replacing 29 archaic labour laws with 4 unified labour codes.

CITI hopes that this will reduce the redundancies in the earlier labour laws and help in reducing informality in employment that was present due to the inflexibilities in the earlier labour laws. The association also hopes that the rules would address the heterogeneity in the state laws which, so far, have made it difficult for companies with divisions in multiple states to comply with different state laws. The scale of growth visualised through PM Mitra parks and some of the other policy reforms need liberal employment rules. States with more industry friendly provisions will attract more investment and jobs.

CITI expects that the new Labour Codes will align well with India’s initiatives towards becoming a responsible business hub and adherence to the various reporting frameworks. The industry looks forward to the addresal of overtime rates, which have been significantly higher than the ILO norms so far.

Further simplification, reduction in compliance costs and more alignment with international labour norms and wage costs will augur well for the overall growth of both industry and organised employment and would result in reduced informalisation of the sector.