Global Capability Centers in India typically operate from more than one city, which means each office sits under a different state's Shops and Establishments Act, minimum wage schedule and professional tax regime. A centre with offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Gurugram is, in effect, managing four separate sets of employment rules alongside the central framework.
India's four Labour Codes covering wages, industrial relations, social security, and occupational safety came into force on 21 November 2025, consolidating 29 earlier laws. But the central rules alone do not resolve multi-state complexity. Each state must notify its own implementing rules, and those notifications are arriving at different times across the country.
Under the Code on Wages, basic pay must now constitute at least 50 percent of gross wages, a change that affects Provident Fund calculations across every employee band simultaneously. GCCs still running payroll on older compensation structures risk retrospective exposure now that the central rules have been finalised.
State-level Shops and Establishments Acts continue to govern working hours, overtime and leave entitlements. In Maharashtra, for example, employees cannot work more than nine hours a day or 48 hours a week. GCCs coordinating with global time zones cannot assume that flexible working arrangements override these statutory protections.
POSH compliance adds another state-specific dimension. Every establishment with ten or more workers must maintain an Internal Committee. Annual reports under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act are filed with district officers, and inspection frameworks vary by state.
For contract workers, the threshold for obligations under the occupational safety code has moved from 20 to 50 workers per establishment but principal employers remain responsible for monitoring contractors' compliance with wages and social security contributions.
Compliance advisers recommend that multi-state GCCs move away from a single company-wide headcount for determining statutory obligations and instead map each location separately, with state-specific calendars for filing deadlines that do not align nationally.
