Nepal Minimum Wage 2082: Rates, History & How It Is Fixed

The minimum wage in Nepal from 1 Shrawan 2082 BS (17 July 2025 AD), the first day of fiscal year 2082/83, is NPR 19,550 per month for a full-time worker. This figure is a statutory floor: no employer covered by the Labour Act may pay less, and any employment contract or collective agreement setting a lower figure is void to that extent. The rate applies uniformly to all sectors and to Nepali and migrant workers alike, with the single carve-out of the tea-estate sector, which is fixed separately (see below).

The monthly minimum is built from two legally distinct components. The first is the basic remuneration (adhaar parishramik) of NPR 12,170, which is the reference figure for calculating provident fund, gratuity and other basic-linked entitlements. The second is the dearness allowance (mahangi bhatta) of NPR 7,380, a cost-of-living top-up that cushions workers against inflation. Together they make up the NPR 19,550 gross minimum. Splitting the floor this way matters because several benefits under the Labour Act and the Bonus Act are computed on the basic figure rather than the total.

For workers not paid by the calendar month, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS) also fixed proportional rates. The minimum daily wage is NPR 754, and the minimum hourly wage for regular work is NPR 101. Part-time and casual work carries a slightly higher hourly rate of NPR 107, reflecting that part-timers do not receive the same paid leave, festival and benefit entitlements as full-time staff. These per-day and per-hour figures are the enforceable minimums that most affect construction, hospitality, retail and gig-style labour.

The published floor is a monthly gross figure assuming standard full-time hours. Under the Labour Act 2074 (2017), regular working time is capped at 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week, so the daily and hourly minimums are derived from a full month of such work. Employers may not dodge the monthly minimum by reclassifying a full-time role as daily or hourly; a worker who works full standard hours is entitled to at least the NPR 19,550 equivalent regardless of how the wage is labelled.

The minimum is the floor for basic wage plus dearness allowance only. It does not include overtime, which the Labour Act requires to be paid at 1.5 times the ordinary hourly rate, nor does it include the annual festival expense (Dashain-type bonus), leave encashment, provident fund and gratuity contributions, or any productivity or attendance incentives an employer chooses to add. In practice a compliant employer's total monthly cost per worker is meaningfully higher than NPR 19,550 once mandatory contributions and the festival allowance are counted.

Deductions are tightly limited. An employer may withhold statutory amounts such as the worker's provident fund share, Social Security Fund (SSF) contribution and income tax where applicable, but cannot reduce take-home pay below the legal minimum through arbitrary fines or charges for tools, uniforms or accommodation. Where food or lodging is provided, its value cannot be set off against the cash minimum unless expressly permitted by rule or agreement.

Nepal revises its minimum wage on a roughly two-yearly cycle, and each new rate typically takes effect on 1 Shrawan, the first day of the Nepali fiscal year. The table below traces the general (non-agricultural) minimum wage across recent revisions, showing how the total has moved from NPR 8,100 in 2070 BS to NPR 19,550 in 2082 BS. Over that span the nominal floor has more than doubled, driven mainly by growth in the dearness-allowance component as the committee tries to keep pace with inflation.

The 2075 BS (2018) revision to NPR 13,450 was the single largest jump in percentage terms, coming after the promulgation of the new Labour Act 2074 and a period without adjustment. Subsequent revisions have been more incremental: NPR 15,000 in 2078 BS (2021), NPR 17,300 in 2080 BS (2023), and NPR 19,550 in 2082 BS (2025), the last representing an increase of about 13 percent over the previous floor. Because revisions are periodic rather than automatically indexed, real (inflation-adjusted) wages can erode between cycles and then partially recover at each revision.

Tea-estate labour in the eastern districts of Jhapa and Ilam sits outside the general minimum wage and is fixed through its own sector-specific bargaining. The current tea-garden minimum, applied from 1 Shrawan 2082, is NPR 565 per day and NPR 15,699 per month, up from NPR 500 per day and NPR 13,893 previously. This settlement was reached in negotiations between the Nepal Tea Producers' Association and the tea workers' trade unions and is then recommended to the Minimum Wage Fixation Committee under MoLESS for formalisation.

The tea-estate rate is set lower than the general floor partly because plantation employment historically bundles in-kind benefits such as housing, rations, medical support and firewood alongside the cash wage, and partly because it is negotiated as a distinct sector. Trade unions have long argued that tea-garden workers should be brought up to the national minimum, and the gap between the two floors has been a recurring point of dispute, protest and factory closures during bargaining rounds.

Employers and workers dealing with tea-estate pay should treat the plantation figure, not the NPR 19,550 general rate, as the applicable minimum, while remembering that the cash wage is only part of the total legally required package. Because this rate is renegotiated each cycle and depends on the producer-union agreement, anyone relying on it for contracts or payroll should confirm the figure gazetted for the specific fiscal year.

The legal engine for wage-setting is Section 106 of the Labour Act 2074 (2017), titled 'Fixation of minimum remuneration.' It requires the Ministry to fix the minimum remuneration of workers at least once every two years, acting on the recommendation of the Minimum Remuneration Fixation Committee constituted under Section 107. The fixed rate must be published in the Nepal Gazette, and unless the employer and worker sides agree otherwise it comes into force on the first day of the new fiscal year, which is why revisions land on 1 Shrawan.

The committee is tripartite, meaning it brings together government, employers and workers. It is chaired by a senior official of MoLESS and includes representatives of employer organisations such as the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and the Federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI), alongside representatives of the major trade-union federations acting through the Joint Trade Union Coordination Centre (JTUCC). This structure is designed so that the wage floor reflects a negotiated balance rather than a unilateral government decision.

The committee weighs factors such as inflation and the cost of living, workers' basic needs, and the capacity of industry to pay. Section 106 also contains a deadlock provision: if the committee cannot agree by consensus, the Ministry may fix the minimum remuneration on its own so that the two-year cycle is not blocked by an impasse. The underlying entitlement is grounded in the Constitution of Nepal 2072 (2015), which recognises labour rights and fair remuneration among fundamental rights.

Paying below the statutory minimum is a violation of the Labour Act, and the floor cannot be waived even with a worker's written consent, because it is a matter of public policy. Employers must reflect the current rate in appointment letters and payroll from the effective date, and must also update linked figures such as overtime (calculated from the minimum hourly rate) and benefit contributions tied to the basic component.

Enforcement runs through the Department of Labour and Occupational Safety and its labour offices, which can inspect workplaces, receive worker complaints and order back-payment of shortfalls. The Labour Act provides for fines against employers who underpay, and unresolved disputes can proceed to the Labour Court. Workers registered under the Social Security Fund also gain contribution-based protections, which are calculated with reference to their remuneration.

For payroll planning, employers should budget beyond the headline NPR 19,550. Standard additional costs include the employer's SSF or provident-fund and gratuity contributions, the annual festival expense equal to one month's basic-plus-allowance for eligible workers, paid public holidays and leave, and overtime at 1.5x. Treating the minimum wage as the total cost of employment is a common and expensive compliance mistake.