Anupam Manur quoted in Rest of World on Labour Laws Reforms

Anupam Manur, Professor at Takshashila was quoted in Rest of World on Indian states’ attempts to reform labour laws. He was quoted as saying:

“The philosophy of the Indian labor laws is all about protecting existing labor and making sure they get some sort of wage or income stability, but nothing to do with how you increase labor [participation],” said Manur.

He estimated that a manufacturer entering an Indian state typically deals with as many as 40 national labor regulations, and an equal number of state-level rules. “And many times, these are contradictory,” he said. “So if you’re following laws at the state level, you might be going against the law at the [national] level.” Doing away with at least some of these complexities was what made the Karnataka labor reforms consequential, Manur said. He added that it was disappointing that Tamil Nadu, home to four Apple contract manufacturers — Foxconn, Pegatron, Salcomp, and Luxshare — couldn’t follow through on its labor reform bill. “Given the nature of unemployment in India, I think we should not be worried about protecting the small labor [groups with vested interests],” Manur said.

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