India HR Compliance Update — August 2026
Last updated 28 August 2026
Summary
The main development in August is a proposal to raise the provident fund wage ceiling from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000. Press reports in the first week of the month said the Finance Ministry has cleared it. The proposal now sits with the Union Cabinet. Neither EPFO nor the Labour Ministry has issued a statement, and no effective date has been notified.
Maharashtra’s rules under the four Labour Codes are still draft. The state received 819 objections and suggestions during the consultation and is working through them. Final notification is expected by the end of August.
Statutory deadline calendar — August and September 2026
| Due | Obligation | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Aug / 7 Sep | TDS and TCS deposit for the previous month | All deductors |
| 15 Aug / 15 Sep | PF contribution and ECR filing for the previous month | Establishments covered under EPF |
| 15 Aug / 15 Sep | ESI contribution for the previous month | Establishments covered under ESI |
| 15 Sep | Second instalment of advance tax, FY 2026-27 | Companies and individuals liable |
| 20–31 Aug / Sep | Professional tax, varies by state | Maharashtra, Karnataka, WB, Gujarat, others |
| 21 Sep | Maharashtra PT for the previous month, where liability exceeds ₹50,000 | Maharashtra employers |
| 31 Aug | Labour Welfare Fund, states on a half-yearly cycle | State-specific |
| 30 Sep | Annual return under the Payment of Bonus Act (Form D), FY 2025-26 | Establishments covered |
Dates that fall on a Sunday or a bank holiday move to the next working day. State PT calendars differ; confirm yours rather than assuming the Maharashtra date.
Rate and threshold changes
Provident fund wage ceiling: still ₹15,000. Nothing has changed. The statutory ceiling has been ₹15,000 since 1 September 2014 and remains so today. Contribution rates are unchanged at 12% employee and 12% employer.
ESI: unchanged. 0.75% employee, 3.25% employer, on wages up to ₹21,000, or ₹25,000 for an employee with a disability.
Central VDA. The 1 April 2026 revision added 11.28 points on the CPI-IW (base 2016=100) series, lifting the daily floor across all skill grades for centrally covered employment. The next central revision is due 1 October 2026.
State minimum wages move on their own state cycles. Check the notification for your state and scheduled employment; do not read a central figure as a state figure.
New notifications and what they actually mean
The Rs 25,000 PF ceiling: where the proposal actually stands
This is the item most likely to be repeated back to you inaccurately, so it is worth setting out precisely what is confirmed and what is not.
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| Supreme Court asked the Centre and EPFO to decide on revising the ceiling within four months | Confirmed. Direction issued January 2026 |
| The Finance Ministry has approved a Rs 25,000 ceiling | Press report. Originating with Moneycontrol, early August 2026. No EPFO or Labour Ministry statement |
| EPFO had asked for Rs 30,000 | Reported, not officially confirmed |
| It takes effect on 1 April 2027 | Not notified. This date appears in several reports as an expectation |
| It has Cabinet approval | No. The proposal is pending with the Union Cabinet |
If the ceiling does rise, employees earning between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000 in PF wages come into mandatory coverage, employer cost rises for that band, and gratuity and pension calculations follow. Until a notification is issued, the statutory ceiling remains Rs 15,000.
Four questions worth putting to anyone advising you on this:
- Is there a gazette notification or an EPFO circular?
- What is the notified effective date?
- Has the Union Cabinet approved it?
- What would a salary restructuring cost if the change does not happen on the expected date?
For our own clients we are modelling the Rs 25,000 scenario so the numbers are ready when a notification comes.
Maharashtra rules: still draft, verified 27 August 2026
The draft rules under all four codes were gazetted on 28 April 2026 with a 45-day objection window that closed on 12 June 2026. The state received 819 objections and suggestions and is examining them. Final notification is expected by the end of August 2026.
This is worth stating clearly because several commercial compliance trackers list Maharashtra as having notified final rules. They have not. The Maharashtra Labour Department’s own publication page lists all four as draft, and titles them so: “State draft rules for code on wages, 2026″, “State draft rules for Code on IR, 2026”, “State draft rules for Code on Social Security, 2026”, and the draft Maharashtra Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Labour) Rules, 2026.
The draft Code on Wages rules would repeal the Maharashtra Minimum Wages Rules, 1963 and the Maharashtra Payment of Wages Rules, 1963, and move minimum wage calculation onto a consumption basis for a standard working-class family of three consumption units, with half-yearly CPI-linked VDA and a defined weekly rest day.
Until the final gazette is published, the draft is not the law. Plan against it; do not comply with it.
Central rules are final; state rules are the gap
The Government of India notified the final central rules under all four codes on 8 May 2026 — Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, Social Security (Central) Rules 2026, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules 2026 and Industrial Relations (Central) Rules 2026. Labour is a concurrent subject, so each state must notify its own. That state-by-state gap is where most multi-state employers are exposed right now.
The EPF scheme replacement continues
The EPF Scheme 2026, Pension Scheme 2026 and EDLI Scheme 2026 were gazetted on 29 June 2026, replacing the 1952-era framework under the Code on Social Security. Transition work continues through August. If your payroll provider has not told you what changed in their filing process, ask.
What to watch this month
The PF ceiling proposal is the item generating the most questions, and it is also the one where the gap between what has been reported and what has been notified is widest. A finance team that restructures salary bands now is doing so ahead of a Cabinet decision, a notified effective date and any EPFO circular.
Nothing else in August changes an existing obligation. The filing calendar above is unchanged from July.
Looking ahead to September
- Maharashtra’s final rules under the four codes, if the end-August timeline holds.
- Central VDA revision due 1 October, usually notified in the second half of September.
- Any Cabinet decision on the PF wage ceiling.
- Form D annual return under the Payment of Bonus Act, due 30 September.
Sources
- Supreme Court direction on the EPF wage ceiling (January 2026) — LiveLaw, News on Air
- ₹25,000 ceiling reports (August 2026) — Moneycontrol, as summarised by SGCMS regulatory updates
- Maharashtra draft rules, gazette dated 28 April 2026 — SCC Online, Simpliance e-Library
- Maharashtra consultation response (819 objections, end-August timeline, Principal Secretary I.A. Kundan) — Deccan Chronicle
- Final central rules notified 8 May 2026 — KPMG flash alert, Simpliance
- EPF / Pension / EDLI Schemes 2026, gazetted 29 June 2026 — carried from the July 2026 update
- Contribution rates and ceilings — EPFO, ESIC
- Maharashtra draft status re-verified 27 Aug 2026 against labour.maharashtra.gov.in (“Labour Code” publication page) — all four sets listed as draft