The present wage limit for applicability of the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 is Rs. 18,000/- per month. The Act has been amended by Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act, 2017 (effective from 28.12.2016) to enable the employers to pay wages to their employees by (a) cash or (b) cheque or (c) crediting to their bank account. The amendment in the Act also enables the appropriate Government to specify the industrial or other establishment, by notification in the Official Gazette, which shall pay to every person employed in such industrial or other establishment, the wages only by cheque or by crediting in his bank account.
This information was given by Shri BandaruDattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment,in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.