Minimum wage for restaurant staff in India — state-by-state 2026 rates
Minimum wage for restaurant staff in India — state-by-state 2026 rates for unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled categories, with the legal frame and operator implications.
Last updated 12 May 2026
About this piece. Minimum wage in India is set by state notifications, not by central law alone. For restaurants, the relevant scheduled employment is usually "shops and commercial establishments" or "hotels, restaurants and eating houses" — the exact name varies by state. Rates revise twice a year (April and October) in most states, indexed to a Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA). This is the operator's view: who sets it, where to find current rates, and what to do when the half-yearly notification lands on your WhatsApp.
The legal frame in 90 seconds
The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 lets each state notify minimum wages for scheduled employments. The Code on Wages, 2019 — when fully operationalised — replaces it with a three-component structure (basic, VDA, allowances) and a national floor. Until states migrate fully, the 1948 Act remains the live instrument for most restaurants.
What this means for an Indian restaurant operator:
- Your rate is set by your state, by employment category (skilled / semi-skilled / unskilled), by zone (Zone A/B/C — typically Zone A is the metro, C is the rural fringe), and by occupation if your state separates "hotels" from "shops".
- It revises twice a year. April and October are typical. The revision is published in the state gazette and on the Labour Commissioner's website.
- You cannot pay below it. Penalties under the Act go up to ₹50,000 plus possible imprisonment for repeated default. More practically, you trigger contingent liability that will surface during any inspection or labour dispute.
- You can pay above it without limit. Most metro restaurants do, because the talent market for cooks and managers prices well above minimum.
State-by-state rates — illustrative 2026 ranges
Numbers below are illustrative ranges drawn from state Labour Commissioner notifications cycle April 2024–April 2026 for shops/commercial establishments, applied to the categories most relevant to a restaurant. Always confirm against the current notification for your state and zone before payroll. Direct links: Chief Labour Commissioner for central, your state Labour Department site for state-notified rates.
| State | Unskilled (₹/mo, Zone A) | Semi-skilled | Skilled | Notification cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maharashtra | ~13,000–14,500 | ~14,000–15,500 | ~15,500–17,500 | April / October (VDA) |
| Karnataka | ~14,500–16,000 | ~15,500–17,500 | ~17,500–19,500 | April (annual revise) |
| Tamil Nadu | ~10,500–12,500 | ~11,500–13,500 | ~12,500–15,000 | April / October |
| Delhi NCT | ~17,500–18,500 | ~19,000–20,500 | ~21,000–23,000 | April / October |
| Haryana (Gurugram) | ~10,500–11,500 | ~11,000–12,000 | ~12,000–13,500 | January / July |
| Uttar Pradesh | ~8,500–10,500 | ~9,500–11,500 | ~10,500–12,500 | April / October |
| Telangana | ~10,000–12,000 | ~11,000–13,000 | ~12,000–14,500 | April |
| West Bengal | ~9,500–11,500 | ~10,500–12,500 | ~11,500–13,500 | January / July |
| Gujarat | ~10,000–11,500 | ~10,500–12,500 | ~11,500–13,500 | April / October |
| Kerala | ~12,500–14,500 | ~13,500–15,500 | ~14,500–16,500 | April |
Treat the table as a sanity-check, not a payroll input. Two reasons: states notify at different cadences, and the "shops" schedule and "hotels" schedule diverge in some states (Maharashtra notifies them separately; Karnataka folds restaurants into shops). The notification you actually run payroll against will name the schedule.
Mapping restaurant roles to wage categories
The Act's categories are unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, and (in some states) highly-skilled. State notifications usually leave the mapping to good faith. Below is the working map most operators run with — confirm against your state's own definition where one exists.
| Restaurant role | Typical category |
|---|---|
| Cleaner, dishwasher, helper | Unskilled |
| Steward, runner, junior waiter | Semi-skilled |
| Waiter, cashier, billing operator | Semi-skilled to skilled |
| Cook, tandoor cook, baker | Skilled |
| Head cook, sous chef, manager | Skilled to highly-skilled |
| Pastry chef, mixologist, sommelier | Skilled to highly-skilled |
Two practical notes:
- The minimum is for basic + VDA combined. Allowances (HRA, conveyance) sit on top. Some states are now requiring that "cost-to-company" cannot be a way to absorb the basic into allowances and pay below the notified basic — read your current notification carefully.
- Apprentices and trainees are a separate schedule under the Apprentices Act, 1961 — typically with a stipend rate notified by the state apprenticeship council, not the minimum wage.
What changes on the half-yearly revise
A typical April or October notification adjusts the VDA to reflect the latest Consumer Price Index for industrial workers. The basic is held; VDA moves. For a restaurant on the threshold, the practical effect is a ₹150–₹600/month bump per staff member.
The operator's response should be a 4-step rhythm, not a panic:
- Read the notification within 7 days of publication. The state Labour Commissioner's site posts it; most state labour-law update WhatsApp groups distribute the PDF.
- Run the comparison. For each role, compare current gross to the new minimum (basic+VDA). Anyone below moves up.
- Update the salary template. The number on the offer letter and the salary slip changes from the next pay cycle.
- Recompute statutory contributions. EPF and ESI bases change with the gross. Your CA needs to know.
The three patterns of non-compliance we see
"We pay above minimum, our cooks are at ₹22,000. So we are fine." — common operator answer that is half-right. Cooks above minimum, sure. The dishwasher you hired last month at ₹9,500 in Bangalore is not.
- Compliance by salary average, not by line item. The owner pays well above minimum on the four senior roles, then drifts below on the helpers. The notified minimum is per-person.
- Stale notification. The April revise comes in. Nobody updates the template until October because "the cooks are still well above". Then a labour inspection happens in August. The helpers are below and the answer is "we missed the notification".
- Allowance loading. The ₹14,000/month gross is split as ₹8,000 basic + ₹6,000 allowances to keep the EPF base low. The notified minimum is on basic+VDA, and ₹8,000 of basic in Delhi is below the floor. The split is illegal even if the gross is fine.
Multi-state operators — three things to standardise
If you run outlets in two or more states, do not standardise the salary number — standardise the process. Three things to lock down:
- One notification tracker. A shared sheet that lists each state's notification cycle, the last revision date, and the next expected. Owner or area manager checks weekly during revision months.
- One role-to-category map. Each role gets a category; the category determines the minimum. The map is shared across outlets so you do not have a "cook" in Pune mapped differently from a "cook" in Hyderabad.
- One review cadence. Within 14 days of any state's notification, payroll reviews every staff member in that state against the new minimum.
Where this fits in the payroll loop
- Minimum wage — sets the floor for the gross
- Salary calculation — gross to net, with statutory deductions (see hub)
- Salary slip — the document that proves you paid what you owe
- PF / ESI — the statutory layer that sits on top of the gross
Get the floor right first; then the rest of the loop is arithmetic.
Related on Restaurant Daily
One operator playbook a week, in your inbox.
Cash close, petty cash, payroll, compliance, unit economics — sent every Monday morning. No spam, no upsell drip. Unsubscribe in one click.
Sent from noreply@restaurantdaily.ai. We never share your address.
Related reading
Month-end payroll input checklist for restaurants — what owners must close
Month-end payroll input checklist for Indian restaurants — every input owners must close before salary day, with a 22-item printable list and the three-day rhythm.
Salary slip format for restaurant staff — free Excel + PDF (India 2026)
Salary slip format for restaurant staff in India — what every slip must show, free Excel + PDF templates, and the small-print that makes it audit-proof.
Overtime calculation for restaurant staff in India — rules + free calculator
Overtime calculation for restaurant staff in India — Factories Act vs Shops & Establishments Acts, double-rate rule, worked examples, and a free calculator.
How to calculate restaurant staff salary in India — gross to net guide
How to calculate restaurant staff salary in India — gross to net, PF, ESI, advances, deductions, with a worked example for a 12-person outlet.
Shift roster planning for Indian restaurants — 7-day grid + 6 staffing patterns
Shift roster planning for Indian restaurants — a 7-day grid template, 6 staffing patterns by format, and the rules that keep cost in line without breaking service.