TL;DR
- Delhi collects the Labour Welfare Fund twice a year under Section 6BB of the Bombay Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953, as extended to Delhi. The employee pays 75 paise and the employer ₹2.25 per employee per half-year, so the employer remits ₹3. Payment falls due before 15 July and 15 January, and the Form A statement follows by 31 July and 31 January under Rule 3(4).
Last updated: 16 October 2026
Quick Answer: Delhi's Labour Welfare Fund costs ₹3 per employee every half-year and falls due before 15 July and 15 January. The employee contributes 75 paise and the employer ₹2.25, under Section 6BB of the Bombay Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953, as extended to Delhi. The Form A statement is a separate obligation, due by 31 July and 31 January.
Delhi runs a payment deadline and a separate return deadline. The money reaches the Delhi Labour Welfare Board before 15 July and 15 January, while the Form A statement of contributions reaches the Welfare Commissioner a fortnight later. The two are easily collapsed into one date, which is why a payroll team that files on 31 July can still be sixteen days late on the payment.
The table below sets out the whole Delhi obligation, row by row, with the provision behind each one.
| What Delhi requires | Position in 2026 | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Employee contribution | 75 paise per employee per half-year | Section 6BB(2) |
| Employer contribution | ₹2.25 per employee per half-year | Section 6BB(2) |
| Total the employer remits | ₹3 per employee per half-year | Section 6BB(3) |
| Government share added to the Fund | twice the employees' contribution | Section 6BB |
| Dates that fix liability | names on the establishment register on 30 June and 31 December | Section 6BB(2) |
| Payment due | before 15 July and before 15 January | Section 6BB(3) |
| Return due | Form A, on or before 31 July and 31 January | Rule 3(4) |
| Interest on default | 1% per completed month for three months, then 1.5% | Section 6B |
| Recovery route | as an arrear of land revenue | recovery provision |
| Applicability floor | five or more persons | Section 2 |
Who Must Pay the Labour Welfare Fund in Delhi?
Every employer of a covered establishment in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The employer also carries the employee's share to the Board, deducting it and remitting it together with its own. The Union territory received the obligation through Ministry of Home Affairs notification G.S.R. 1286(E) dated 15 December 1986, issued under Section 2 of the Union Territories (Laws) Act, 1950.
Which Establishments Are Covered?
Three limbs, and an establishment caught by any one of them is covered.
| Limb | Test |
|---|---|
| Factory | a factory, which section 2(5) defines to include any place wherein five or more persons are employed |
| Transport | a tramway, a motor omnibus service, or a motor transport undertaking to which the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 applies |
| Shops and establishments | an establishment within the meaning of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954 that employs five or more persons, or employed five or more persons on any working day during the preceding twelve months |
The twelve-month look-back is the limb that catches employers by surprise. An establishment that is down to three people today remains covered if it touched five on a single working day in the past year. The Delhi definitions of establishment and employee sit in Section 2 of the Act as extended.
Does Coverage Ever End, and Must the Employer Say So?
It does end, and the employer has to report it. The provisos to section 2(4) continue an establishment in coverage despite a later fall below five, but once the number employed has stayed below five for a continuous period of not less than three months, coverage ceases from the beginning of the month following that period. The employer must then intimate the cessation by registered post within one month of that date.
That intimation is the duty most often missed, because nothing prompts it. An establishment that quietly drops below the threshold and says nothing stays on the Board's rolls and keeps accruing a liability it no longer owes.
Which Employees Are Excluded?
Two exclusions, and they do not work the same way. A person employed mainly in a managerial capacity is outside the definition of employee whatever the wages. A person employed in a supervisory capacity is outside it only where wages exceed ₹1,600 per month.
Do not treat that figure as settled. ₹1,600 is the figure in the extended definition, but Delhi Gazette Notification No. F.9(1)/89/DLC(W)/100 dated 13 July 2004 applies ₹2,500 at paragraph 6, and it is a Delhi instrument too. Both figures therefore have a Delhi provenance, and excluding a supervisor on the wrong one understates the contribution. Establish which governs before applying either.
What Are the Delhi Labour Welfare Fund Contribution Rates in 2026?
Delhi charges 75 paise from the employee and ₹2.25 from the employer, for every employee, every six months. The employer therefore remits ₹3 per employee per half-year. The Administrator then pays the Board a further amount equal to twice the employees' contribution, so the Fund receives ₹4.50 per employee while the employer carries ₹3.
The figures are stated in paise in the Act itself, and the Delhi contribution provision has not been revised in rupee terms.
Why Is the Delhi Rate Still Quoted in Paise?
Because the extension froze the text. G.S.R. 1286(E) carried the Bombay Act across to Delhi as it stood in December 1986, and later amendments passed in its parent state did not travel with it. Delhi has kept the 1986 numbers while other jurisdictions moved to rupee figures.
When Are the Delhi Payment and Return Due?
Payment is due before the 15th day of July and the 15th day of January. The Form A statement is due on or before the 31st day of July and the 31st day of January. Read both prepositions, because only the return date includes the day it names.
| Half-year | Register date | Payment to the Board | Form A to the Welfare Commissioner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January to 30 June | 30 June | before 15 July | on or before 31 July |
| 1 July to 31 December | 31 December | before 15 January | on or before 31 January |
Liability is fixed by the register, not by the payroll month. The contribution is payable for an employee whose name stands on the establishment's register on 30 June or on 31 December, whether or not that person is still employed when the money falls due.
Why Do Two Different Dates Apply?
They come from two different instruments. The payment date sits in Section 6BB(3) of the Act, and the return date sits in Rule 3(4) of the Delhi Labour Welfare Fund Rules, 1997. Nothing in the Rules postpones the payment to match the return.
Which Dates Apply to Fines and Unpaid Accumulations?
A different cycle, and a quarterly one. Rule 3(3) requires fines realised from employees, and unpaid accumulations, to reach the Welfare Commissioner by the 15th of the month following each quarter: 15 April, 15 July, 15 October and 15 January. Only two of those four coincide with a contribution date, so an establishment that collects fines has four payment events in a year rather than two.
How Is the Delhi Labour Welfare Fund Return Filed?
In Form A, addressed to the Welfare Commissioner, covering the six months ending 30 June or 31 December.
Rule 3(1) prescribes payment by cheque, money order or cash to the Welfare Commissioner. The Board also operates its own online facility for registering an employer's establishment and uploading employee details on a downloadable template, which is where most Delhi employers now transact. Registering the establishment is a one-time step, and it sits alongside the other statutory registrations an Indian establishment carries.
Which Registers Must the Employer Keep?
Two, unless an existing register already does the job.
| Record | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Wage register, Form D | required unless the employer maintains a muster roll-cum-wage register under the Delhi Minimum Wages Rules, 1950 and the Delhi Shops and Establishments Rules, 1954 |
| Register of unclaimed wages and fines, Form E | a consolidated register, required in all cases |
| Retention | ten years, or until a case pending before the Appellate Authority is finally disposed of |
| Annual extract | a copy of the Form D extract for the previous year to the Welfare Commissioner by 31 January |
The Form D extract deadline is a third obligation falling on 31 January, alongside the Form A statement and the fines payment. An employer tracking only the contribution will miss it.
What Does a Late Delhi Payment Cost?
Interest, but not automatically. The Welfare Commissioner first serves a notice of demand allowing not less than thirty days, and interest becomes payable only where the employer then fails to pay. Interest runs from the statutory due date, not from the notice.
| Stage of default | Rate under Section 6B |
|---|---|
| First three months after the due date | 1% of the amount for each completed month |
| Thereafter, while the default continues | 1.5% of the amount for each completed month |
How Else Can the Board Recover It?
Sums payable to the Board are recoverable as an arrear of land revenue.
Does Section 17A Punish a Late Payment?
No. Section 17A does not reach late payment at all. It punishes wilful obstruction of an Inspector, or failure to produce registers, records or true copies on demand.
| Offence under Section 17A | Maximum |
|---|---|
| First offence | three months imprisonment or a fine of ₹500 or both |
| Second or subsequent offence | six months imprisonment or a fine of ₹1,000 or both |
| Where only a fine is imposed | not less than ₹50, unless the court records special and adequate reasons |
How Is a Delhi Obligation Tracked Alongside Other States?
By holding the enactment, the rate, the register date, the payment date and the return date as five separate fields per jurisdiction, rather than one due date per state. Delhi alone needs four calendar entries a year for the contribution and the fines cycle, plus the Form D extract.
What Makes a Tracker Defensible?
Attribution of every field to the provision behind it. LexComply assigns each obligation an owner and a date, and holds state obligations in one register rather than in separate payroll sheets. It then keeps the evidence of each payment against the provision that required it.
The same discipline applies to tracking statutory due dates across jurisdictions and to the wider set of payroll-linked statutory obligations. Where a limb's reading is unsettled, a labour-law query assistant is a starting point rather than a substitute for the Board's position.
Where Does the Software Stop?
At the filing itself. LexComply is a software platform, so it does not file, approve or issue anything.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Treating 31 July and 31 January as the payment deadline. Those are the Form A dates under Rule 3(4). Section 6BB(3) requires the money before 15 July and 15 January, so filing on time does not cure a late payment.
- Reading "before the 15th day" as "on the 15th". Section 6BB(3) says before. Only the Form A return says "on or before", so only the return date includes the day it names.
- Treating the supervisory wage ceiling as settled at one figure. The extended definition of employee carries ₹1,600 per month, but Delhi Gazette Notification No. F.9(1)/89/DLC(W)/100 dated 13 July 2004 applies ₹2,500 at paragraph 6. Both are Delhi instruments, so establish which governs your establishment before excluding a supervisor on either figure.
- Dropping coverage the month headcount falls below five, or assuming it never ends. The provisos to section 2(4) keep the establishment covered until the number has been below five for a continuous period of not less than three months, and then end it from the following month, subject to a registered-post intimation within one month.
- Assuming the four labour codes ended the obligation. The codes commenced on 21 November 2025 and repealed Central enactments. The Bombay Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953, as extended to Delhi, is a Union territory enactment and is not among them, so the contribution continues. Confirm with the Board how the limbs naming repealed Central Acts are now read.
- Charging only employees on the payroll when payment falls due. Section 6BB(2) fixes liability by the names on the establishment register on 30 June and 31 December, so a leaver still attracts that half-year's contribution.
Legal Disclaimer
This article is general information on the Delhi Labour Welfare Fund as at 16 October 2026 and is not legal advice. Statutory figures, dates and forms may change, and the position of a particular establishment depends on its own facts, so confirm the current requirement with the Delhi Labour Welfare Board or a qualified adviser before acting.
