29 Acts Into 4 Codes: The Complete Mapping Table

India's 4 Labour Codes consolidate 29 separate central labour laws into a single, more consistent framework covering wages, industrial relations, social security, and workplace safety.

Key facts at a glance

• The 4 Labour Codes consolidate 29 central labour laws that were previously administered separately.
• Code on Wages, 2019 merges 4 laws, including the Minimum Wages Act and Payment of Bonus Act.
• Industrial Relations Code, 2020 merges 3 laws, including the Industrial Disputes Act and Trade Unions Act.
• Code on Social Security, 2020 merges 9 laws, including the EPF Act, ESI Act, Maternity Benefit Act, and Gratuity Act.
• Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 merges 13 laws, including the Factories Act and Contract Labour Act.
• All four Codes came into force nationally on 21 November 2025, though state-level rule notification is still in progress through 2026.

Why 29 laws became 4

Before the Codes, India's labour law framework had grown into a patchwork of Acts passed across nearly a century, each with its own definitions, registers, forms, and enforcement machinery. An employer with a moderately complex workforce could be simultaneously subject to a dozen or more separate Acts, each demanding its own compliance process. The consolidation into 4 Codes was designed to simplify this into one coherent framework per subject area - wages, industrial relations, social security, and occupational safety - with consistent definitions used throughout.

The full mapping table

Code on Wages, 2019 (4 Acts)

Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (3 Acts)

Code on Social Security, 2020 (9 Acts)

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (13 Acts)

What does not change

The consolidation is primarily structural - it brings existing protections and obligations under one roof and standardizes definitions like "wages" and "employee." It does not, by itself, remove the underlying protections these 29 Acts were built to provide; things like minimum wage payment, industrial dispute resolution, safety standards, and social security contributions remain core obligations, just organized differently.

What changes in practice

The biggest practical shifts are a single wages definition applied consistently (with the 50% allowance cap), simplified registration and licensing processes designed to replace multiple overlapping registrations, expanded social security coverage for gig and platform workers, and consolidated inspection and dispute-resolution mechanisms. Employers that previously managed compliance Act-by-Act will need to shift to thinking Code-by-Code, which also changes which government department or portal they interact with for a given process.

How to use this table if you are checking compliance

Use this mapping to identify which Code now governs an obligation you used to track under an old Act name. If you are still referencing an old Act in an internal policy or register, this table can help you map it forward to the correct Code, and from there to your state's specific notification status, so you know which framework currently applies to you.

If you are not sure how the Labour Codes consolidation affects your specific compliance obligations, ComplianceCheck's labour code assessment gives you a clear picture in a few minutes.

Sources

• Ministry of Labour and Employment - labour.gov.in
• Press Information Bureau - pib.gov.in
• Respective state labour department official portal

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Requirements vary by state, sector and headcount - confirm specifics with a compliance professional or the relevant authority.