Question 1

What is the difference between Zone A and Zone B?

Accepted Answer

Zone A covers areas under Municipal Corporations, Municipalities, Notified Areas, Development Authorities, and Thermal Power Plant areas including township areas. Zone B is the rest of West Bengal.
The gap is meaningful. An unskilled worker in Zone A is on ₹10,558 a month against ₹9,760 in Zone B, so a single employer running sites on both sides of a municipal boundary is running two wage floors.

Question 2

Do I divide the monthly wage by 26 days or 30?

Accepted Answer

By 26. The circular directs that the monthly rate be divided by 26 to arrive at the daily rate, rounded off to the nearest rupee, and that the daily rate be multiplied by six to arrive at the weekly rate.
Both figures are printed in the circular, so you do not need to derive either one. A normal working day is eight hours of actual work plus not less than half an hour of recess, subject to 48 hours of actual work in a week.

Question 3

Why do some employments show a slightly different figure?

Accepted Answer

Because the circular is a restatement, not a fresh fixation. It reproduces the rate under each employment's own referral fixation or revision notification, and most of those are dated 29 December 2016 while five are dated 20 December 2019.
The result is a two-rupee difference in the monthly figure for those five employments, which mostly disappears once divided by 26. Only the highly skilled Zone A rate diverges at the daily level, at ₹540 against ₹541.

Question 4

Are contractor workers covered, and who is liable?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The circular states plainly that the minimum rates of wages are applicable to employees employed by contractors also.
It also protects existing higher rates: where the wages of any employee based on contract, agreement or otherwise are higher than the rates notified, the higher rates are protected. Notifying a revision is not an occasion to reduce anyone.

Question 5

What do we pay for weekly rest days and overtime?

Accepted Answer

One day in any period of seven days, as suits local convenience, is the day of weekly rest, and the minimum rates already include the wages for that day. You do not pay it on top.
Payment for work done on the weekly rest day, and for work beyond normal working hours, is at double the ordinary rates of wages.

Question 6

Do disabled workers and women workers get the same rates?

Accepted Answer

Yes to both. The minimum rates of wages for disabled persons are the same as those payable to workers of the appropriate category, and men and women employees get the same rates for the same work or work of a similar nature.
The circular also confirms that the minimum rates of wages and variable dearness allowance, if any, together constitute the minimum rates of wages enforceable under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

Category of worker	★ Zone A / month	Zone A / day	Zone B / month	Zone B / day
Unskilled	10,558	406	9,760	375
Semi-skilled	11,615	447	10,733	413
Skilled	12,777	491	11,807	454
Highly skilled	14,054	541	12,990	500
Unskilled	10,556	406	9,758	375
Semi-skilled	11,611	447	10,732	413
Skilled	12,773	491	11,806	454
Highly skilled	14,050	540	12,988	500

Minimum Wages in West Bengal 2026

Two things to check first

31 Scheduled Employments: Wage Rates by Zone and Skill Grade

Download official notification

Frequently Asked Questions

Every state revises wages on its own calendar. Payroll has to keep up with all of them.