Which Law Governs Your Working Hours

India has no single working-hours statute for all employers. Factories (broadly, premises with 10 or more workers using power, or 20 without) are governed by the Factories Act 1948, with rules and exemptions made by each state. Shops, offices, hotels, restaurants, security agencies, hospitals and most other establishments fall under the Shops and Establishments Act of the state where the establishment is located. Mines, plantations, motor transport and some other sectors have their own Acts.

The four Labour Codes, brought into effect on 21 November 2025, consolidate this. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 and the Code on Wages 2019 set the framework: a 48-hour week, daily hours to be notified by the appropriate government (within a band of 8 to 12 hours depending on spread), overtime at not less than twice the normal wage rate, and consent-based overtime. Final central and many state rules are still being notified, and for matters not yet covered the older Acts continue to operate. The practical position in 2026 is that you comply with the Factories Act or your state S&E Act as amended, and watch for your state's Code rules.

The first step in any working-hours review is therefore to identify which Act your establishment is registered under and which state. A security agency headquartered in Gurugram with guards posted in Noida has two S&E regimes to consider, and its guards inside a factory compound may additionally be counted as workers of that factory for hours purposes. See how the Labour Codes affect attendance and payroll for the transition detail.

• Factories: Factories Act 1948 plus state rules and exemptions
• Shops, offices, agencies, hospitals: the state Shops and Establishments Act
• Labour Codes in force since 21 Nov 2025; rules still rolling out state by state
• Identify your Act and state before setting any shift length

Factories Act Limits: 9 Hours, 48 Hours, Rest and Spread-Over

For adult workers in a factory the core rules are: not more than 48 hours in any week (section 51); not more than 9 hours in any day (section 54); at least half an hour of rest after no more than 5 hours of continuous work (section 55); and a spread-over, meaning the period from first arrival to final departure including rest intervals, of not more than 10.5 hours (section 56), which the Chief Inspector may extend to 12 hours for specified reasons. One whole day of rest each week is required by section 52.

These limits mean a lawful factory shift is typically 8 hours of work plus a 30-minute break in an 8.5-hour spread, or 9 hours of work with a break inside a 10-hour spread. A 12-hour duty does not fit unless the state has notified an exemption or amendment. Several states have amended their Factories Rules to permit up to 12 hours a day within the 48-hour week, with overtime beyond that and conditions on consent and rest; the specific terms differ and change, so obtain the current notification from your state's labour or factories department rather than relying on a summary.

Section 59 sets overtime: where a worker works more than 9 hours in a day or more than 48 in a week, wages for the extra hours are at twice the ordinary rate. Section 64 and 65 allow exemptions for specified categories (urgent repairs, continuous processes, seasonal pressure) subject to caps on total weekly hours and quarterly overtime that states have adjusted over time. The concept of spread-over trips up many rosters; the glossary entry on spread-over shows how to measure it.

• Max 9 hours a day and 48 a week for adult factory workers
• At least 30 minutes rest after 5 hours; spread-over 10.5 hours (extendable to 12)
• Overtime at twice the ordinary rate beyond 9 a day or 48 a week
• 12-hour shifts need a state exemption or amendment; keep a copy

Shops and Establishments Acts: State by State

Each state's Shops and Establishments Act sets hours for non-factory establishments, and they are not identical. Most cap daily work at 9 hours and weekly work at 48, with a spread-over of 10.5 to 12 hours and one weekly close day or off day. Some states have recently amended their Acts to allow up to 10 hours a day within a 48-hour week, while others retain a strict 9. Overtime is generally at twice the ordinary rate for hours beyond the daily or weekly limit, with a cap on overtime hours per quarter that varies.

Employers in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh regularly ask for the exact number for their state. The honest answer is that the number can change by notification and that exemptions for IT/ITeS, hospitals, hotels and 24/7 services alter it further. Check the current text of your state's Act and its latest amendment or notification on the state labour department's website, and confirm whether your establishment has been granted or falls under any exemption. Write the applicable limits into your attendance policy with the source cited.

Many states exempt IT and IT-enabled services establishments from certain S&E provisions (opening and closing hours, women working at night) subject to conditions such as employee consent, transport with security for night work, and record-keeping; these exemptions are typically time-limited and renewed by notification. BPOs and call centres relying on them should keep the notification on file and comply with its conditions in the roster, which is addressed in the call center shift schedule planning guide.

• Typical S&E limits: 9 hours a day, 48 a week, spread-over 10.5–12 hours
• Some states now permit 10-hour days within 48 hours; verify your state's text
• IT/ITeS exemptions come with consent, transport and record conditions
• Cite the specific Act section or notification in your attendance policy

Does Lunch Count? Working Hours Versus Spread-Over

The common question 'is it 8 hours or 9 hours including lunch?' has a precise answer. Statutory working-hour limits (9 a day, 48 a week) count hours of work; rest intervals such as the lunch break are excluded from working hours but included in spread-over. So a 09:00–18:00 office day with a 1-hour lunch is 8 hours of work in a 9-hour spread-over: within the 9-hour daily limit, within the 10.5-hour spread-over, and 48 hours over a 6-day week.

A 09:00–18:30 day with a 30-minute lunch is 9 hours of work in a 9.5-hour spread: still within limits, but at the ceiling, so any late finish is overtime. A 08:00–20:00 duty with a 1-hour break is 11 hours of work in a 12-hour spread: over both the daily limit and the standard spread-over without exemption. Short tea breaks that the employer requires people to remain on the premises for are usually treated as working time in practice; write your rule down.

For payroll, this distinction determines what 'hours worked' means in the attendance system. If your policy says breaks are unpaid and excluded, the system must subtract them; if breaks are paid, hours worked equals shift length. Attend Mitra's shift templates carry break rules per shift so that the hours feeding overtime are computed the same way for every employee. Use the working hours calculator to check a proposed shift against the daily limit and spread-over before you roll it out.

• Lunch and rest intervals are excluded from working hours
• They are included in spread-over, which has its own cap
• 09:00–18:00 with 1-hour lunch = 8 hours work, 9-hour spread
• State in policy whether breaks are paid and how hours are computed

Overtime, Women on Night Shift and Young Workers

Overtime is payable at not less than twice the ordinary rate of wages for hours beyond the daily or weekly limit under the Factories Act, most S&E Acts and the Code on Wages. 'Ordinary rate' includes basic wages and allowances such as DA but excludes bonus and overtime itself. The usual computation for monthly-rated workers is monthly wage ÷ 26 ÷ 8 for the hourly rate, then × 2 for overtime; the worked example is in overtime calculation formula under Indian labour law and in the overtime glossary entry. Under the Labour Codes overtime requires the worker's consent, so a roster that assumes overtime without asking is exposed.

The Factories Act historically restricted women from working between 19:00 and 06:00 (section 66). States have progressively relaxed this by notification subject to conditions, and the OSH Code permits women to work before 06:00 and after 19:00 with their consent and with safety measures prescribed by the government. Typical conditions include written consent, transport from doorstep to workplace with security, adequate lighting and CCTV, a minimum number of women per shift, and a complaints committee. Hospitals and BPOs have operated under these frameworks for years; manufacturers adopting night shifts for women should read their state's notification carefully.

Adolescents (14 to 18) may work only within the limits set by the Factories Act and the Child and Adolescent Labour Act: shorter daily hours, no night work and no hazardous processes. Most shift-based employers simply set a minimum hiring age of 18 for shift roles; if you do employ adolescents, the roster must treat them as a separate category with their own limits.

• OT at 2× ordinary rate beyond daily or weekly limits; consent required under the Codes
• Hourly rate practice: monthly wage ÷ 26 ÷ 8
• Women on night shift: consent, transport with security, safety conditions per state notification
• Adolescents have separate, shorter limits and no night work

Records, Display and How Attendance Systems Help

Working-hours compliance is proved by records. The Factories Act requires a displayed notice of periods of work for adults showing the shifts and rest intervals, a register of adult workers, and an overtime register; S&E Acts require equivalent registers, and the Labour Codes move toward electronic registers and a single return. Inspectors compare the displayed periods of work with the muster roll and the wage register. If the notice says 08:00–17:00 and the punches say 08:00–20:00 with no overtime in the wage register, the gap is the finding.

Design your attendance record so that the comparison is easy: actual in and out times per worker per day, the assigned shift, computed hours of work with breaks deducted per policy, daily and weekly overtime hours shown separately, and the weekly off marked. The weekly off rules article covers the rest-day side of the record. Keep the state notification for any 12-hour or exemption regime with the registers.

Attend Mitra produces this record from face, GPS or biometric punches compared with the assigned shift: hours worked with break rules applied, late marks and early exits, overtime derived from actual time against daily and weekly thresholds, weekly-off codes from the roster, and exports to Excel or PDF for the inspector or the auditor. It does not decide what your state's limit is; it applies the limits you configure consistently, with an audit trail on every correction.

• Display the notice of periods of work; keep adult and overtime registers
• Record actual in/out, assigned shift, hours net of breaks, OT split by day and week
• Keep exemption notifications with the registers
• Configure limits in the attendance system and let it apply them uniformly