THE PARADOX OF FORMALISATION IN INDIA’S LABOUR CODES

AUTHOR – YOGALAKSHMI M, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE IN LAW, THE TAMIL NADU DR AMBEDKAR LAW UNIVERSITY

BEST CITATION – YOGALAKSHMI M, THE PARADOX OF FORMALISATION IN INDIA’S LABOUR CODES, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (5) OF 2026, PG. 685-691, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

India’s sweeping labor law overhaul is a big deal. By rolling twenty-nine separate laws into just four codes, the country has completely changed the way it handles work and workers. The headline goal is pretty clear: shift more jobs from the messy informal market into the formal economy. Now, gig workers, people who pick up shifts through apps, and inter-state migrants finally get legal recognition. Sounds like progress, right? But there’s a catch—while the new laws expand who counts as a “formal” worker, they’re also rolling back serious protections. Say goodbye to some of the old guarantees stuff like job security, real bargaining power, and tough government oversight.

This paper gets into that mess. Bottom line, the new codes pull off a strange trick: they list more people as “formal,” but strip away the kinds of rights that actually matter to workers. In the end, workers get paperwork, not real security. Using legal analysis and data, this study digs into whether these codes will actually fix informality or just dress it up in new clothes. Turns out, without stronger enforcement and better protections, these reforms risk making informality the new normal just with a stamp of approval instead of any real change.