The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Friday stated that they would not be able to implement the revised minimum wage for the workers.

The government on Thursday raised the minimum wage of the workers to Rs17,300, up from Rs15,000 per month, excluding the tea state workers.

The minimum wage for tea estate workers has been fixed at Rs13,893, which includes Rs8,934 basic salary and a dearness allowance of Rs4,959.

The new wage structure came into effect on Friday.

Issuing a notice, the private sector body said they would not be able to pay the new wage given the current economic condition.

The CNI cited the economic slowdown, increase in interest rates and production costs which resulted in low business activities for their hesitance to implement the new wage structure.

“With the economic slowdown, the industries will have to bear the brunt of decreasing domestic production, decreasing demand, and increasing production costs,” reads the statement issued by the CNI.

According to the organisation, depending on the nature of the business, production has decreased by as much as 70 percent.

This has led many businesses to drop their business investment plans.

Furthermore, the confederation in their notice also requested all those concerned to help improve the current situation and make the economy viable.

“We request all stakeholders to help overcome the current challenging situation and make the economy viable, adopt a policy to increase the overall market demand, reduce the cost of production and uplift the morale of the private sector.”

As per the revised wage structure, the monthly basic salary has been fixed at Rs10,820 and dearness allowance at Rs6,480. The daily wage has been fixed at Rs668 per day and Rs89 per hour. Similarly, the hourly wage for part-time workers has been fixed at Rs95 per hour.

The minimum monthly wage for workers is currently Rs15,000 which includes Rs9,385 basic salary and Rs5,615 dearness allowance.

The notice of the increment has been published in Nepal Gazette on Thursday.

The minimum wage was reviewed for the last time in the fiscal year 2021-22.

Prior to that, the minimum monthly salary was Rs13,450. As per the existing provisions, the minimum wage is reviewed every two years.

Published on: 22 August 2023 | The Kathmandu Post