Responding to the IT companies' proposal to the Karnataka government to increase the working hours of employees to more than 14 hours from the existing 10 hours, Nasscom – the trade association of the IT and BPM industry – has declared its objection. The association while extending its support for the existing 48-hour workweek standard across India advocated for flexibility within the framework.
In a statement issued on Monday, July 22, Ashish Aggarwal, Vice President and Head of Public Policy at Nasscom, said, “We have not seen the copy of the Bill in Karnataka so cannot comment on it. We fully support the 48-hour workweek, which is the standard across the country. All we have asked of the states and the Union government is to consider some flexibility within this 48-hour limit. This would help companies with a pan-India presence to standardise their operations.”
He added, “In Karnataka, we had a similar discussion with the IT department a few months ago. We did not, however, have a meeting with the labour department on this topic.”
The proposed amendment aims to increase the working hours of IT employees to over 14 hours a day. According to the proposed amendment, “an employee working in the IT/ ITeS/BPO sector may be required or allowed to work for more than 12 hours in a day and not exceeding 125 [extra] hours in three continuous months.”
Currently, the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act permits a maximum of 10 hours of work per day, inclusive of overtime.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Minister for Labour, Santhosh Lad on July 22 said that the government is under pressure from the IT industry to bring forth new legislation proposing extra hours of work for techies, but is still considering the demand. He said that the government is still evaluating the Bill that would allow software professionals to work for over 14 hours a day.
