The short version
Under the 2022 security agency schedule an unarmed guard in Zone 1 is Rs 18,996.66. Under the 22 May 2026 notification the same guard is Rs 26,744.87.
Both notifications classify an unarmed guard as Semi-Skilled. The classifications agree. The rates and zone maps do not.
The newer notification was issued under the Minimum Wages Act 1948, repealed in November 2025. It reproduces the savings provisions in anticipation of the objection.
No stay has been granted. But the Finance Department has advised departments to wait, and a Cabinet sub-committee was constituted on 18 August 2026.
Underpaying is not only a wage arrears risk. PSARA section 13(1)(j) makes breach of the Minimum Wages Act a ground for licence cancellation.
For an unarmed security guard in Bengaluru, the Karnataka minimum wage is either Rs 18,996.66 a month or Rs 26,744.87, depending on which notification you apply. That is a gap of about 41 per cent.
The newer notification takes effect immediately on its own terms. It is also under challenge in the High Court, it was issued under a statute repealed in November 2025, and the State's own Finance Department has advised government departments to wait for a Cabinet decision before applying it.
Here is what each notification says and where the position actually stands.
The security agency schedule
Notification KAE 18 LWA 2022, dated 28 July 2022 and gazetted 29 August 2022, covers "Employment in Security Agency" at serial number 65 of the scheduled employments. The current rate sheet runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
It uses four zones. Zone 1 is notified BBMP areas, Zone 2 is all other Corporations in the State, Zone 3 is district headquarters outside Zones 1 and 2, and Zone 4 is everywhere else.
Monthly, in rupees. Basic plus VDA of Rs 3,254.40, which is the same in every zone.
The row headings do the classification for you. A security guard without arms sits in Semi-Skilled, with the security searcher and lift operator. A supervisor, inspector or assistant security officer with arms is Skilled, along with fire fighting and intelligence roles. A security officer or field officer is Highly Skilled. Peons, attenders, helpers, sweepers and cleaners are Un-Skilled.
Daily rates in Zone 1 are Rs 793.85, Rs 742.80, Rs 730.64 and Rs 696.23 descending by grade, with a daily VDA of Rs 125.17.
The single notification of 22 May 2026
Notification LD 411 LWA 2023, dated 22 May 2026 and published in Karnataka Gazette Part IVA No. 389, covers 81 scheduled employments in one document. Security agencies appear at Annexure 1, serial number 50.
It uses three zones rather than four. Zone 1 is the Greater Bengaluru Authority area. Zone 2 is all other Municipal Corporations and all district headquarters. Zone 3 is everywhere else.
Basic rates, monthly, in rupees. Add VDA of Rs 1,030.80 per month.
The VDA figure of Rs 1,030.80 does not appear in the gazette itself. It comes from the Labour Department's own English summary of the notification, which sets out the calculation.
Where a guard sits under the new notification
Annexure 5 of the 22 May notification lists designations by skill grade. Item 274, in the Semi-Skilled column, reads "Security Guard without arms". Item 275 is Head Guard, male or female, and item 276 is Security Searcher.
So both notifications classify an unarmed security guard as Semi-Skilled. The classifications agree. What differs is the rate and the zone map.
For completeness, the Highly Skilled column carries Security Officer at item 65 and Field Officer at item 66, matching the 2022 schedule. Watch and Ward appears at item 142 and Chowkidar at item 154, both in the Un-Skilled column, which is where roles that are not guarding duties proper have been placed.
If a job title in your establishment does not appear anywhere in Annexure 5, condition 3 on page 10 provides that an unlisted class gets the wage paid to other classes doing the same kind of work. That is a residual rule for genuine gaps, not a route to choosing a cheaper grade for a role that is listed.
Two dearness allowance regimes
The two instruments use different frozen base points, which is where most of the gap comes from.
Both use four paise per point per day. The 22 May notification spells out the arithmetic in its conditions: points multiplied by the rate, multiplied by 30 for the monthly figure, and divided by 26 for the daily one. So 2,712 points at four paise gives Rs 108.48, and the 30 over 26 conversion takes that to Rs 125.17.
If a wage sheet shows Rs 108.48 as the daily VDA
That is the intermediate figure before the 30 over 26 conversion. It has stopped one step early. The correct daily figure on the security agency schedule is Rs 125.17.
Karnataka revises VDA once a year, on 1 April, based on the average consumer price index of the previous twelve months. The notification says so directly in condition 1. You will see advice claiming Karnataka revises twice a year. That is wrong. On the current cycle the next revision falls due on 1 April 2027.
Why the newer notification is contested
It was issued under sections 3(1)(b) and 5(1)(b) of the Minimum Wages Act 1948, which was repealed on 21 November 2025 by section 69 of the Code on Wages. The notification anticipates the objection: pages 2 and 3 reproduce the whole of section 69, including its savings provisions, together with section 6 of the General Clauses Act 1897. Whether that is sufficient is one of the questions before the Court, and we express no view on it.
There is an earlier thread too. In writ petitions 22771 and 22776 of 2025, the High Court directed in late July 2025 that the order to be passed by the Advisory Board meeting of 29 July 2025, or subsequently, should not be implemented until the next date of hearing. Sources differ on whether the order is dated 28 or 29 July. The State issued the final notification in May 2026 regardless, and the petitioners have alleged contempt. No contempt proceedings have been initiated.
A further petition, WP 16145 of 2026, was registered on 1 June 2026 with the Karnataka Employers' Association as first petitioner and Ethereal Machines as second. Justice Jyoti Mulimani has heard the matters together. On 2 June 2026 the Court permitted the petitioners' application to implead the Union, and on 9 June 2026 allowed applications by various workers' associations to implead. A separate petition by an automobile dealers' body was heard on 30 June 2026.
No stay had been reported as at 21 August 2026.
The State has told its own departments to wait
This is the part that changes the practical answer, and most coverage has not caught up with it.
The Cabinet was reported on 2 July 2026 to be reviewing the revision. The Finance Department has since advised government departments to wait for the Cabinet's final decision before applying it. We have seen this described variously as advice, as withholding and as a proposal to keep the notification in abeyance, and we could not obtain a circular number, so treat the
characterisation with some caution.
On 13 August 2026 the Cabinet decided to constitute a sub-committee to examine the question, and the formal order issued on 18 August 2026. It has eight members under Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara. Its remit is to examine whether the notification of 22 May 2026 aligns with the Code on Wages 2019.
So the notification is operative on its own terms, unstayed, and being held back by the government that issued it while a sub-committee decides whether it should have been issued at all.
A point about supersession
The 22 May notification states that the revised rates apply with immediate effect. It does not contain an express clause superseding or rescinding the 2022 security agency schedule.
The natural reading is that the later notification governs from 22 May 2026. We think that is right. But it is a reading rather than something the document says, and it is worth knowing that the older schedule has not been formally withdrawn.
What to actually do
Nobody can give you a clean answer here, and anyone offering one has not read the file.
The conservative position is to pay the higher applicable rate and document the decision. Underpaying against a notification later upheld creates arrears across your whole deployed workforce, plus penalties, and those arrears are not negotiable. Overpaying costs money but does not create a liability.
If cash flow makes that impossible, the alternative is to pay the older schedule, provision for the difference, and be ready to pay arrears. What you should not do is pay the lower rate and treat the matter as closed.
Write down which notification you are applying, when you decided, and on what basis. A contemporaneous note is worth considerably more than a later explanation.
Re-check before every wage revision. There is no stay today and a Cabinet sub-committee is sitting, so the position can move either way within weeks.
Do not rely on aggregator wage tables. Go to the Labour Department PDFs, which are public.
One reason this is not just a payroll question
If you hold a licence under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act 2005, minimum wages are a licence issue as well as a wage issue.
PSARA does not fix pay. It has no wage-fixing power anywhere in it. But section 13(1)(j) makes violation of the Acts listed in the Schedule a ground for cancellation of a licence, and item 3 of that Schedule is the Minimum Wages Act 1948. The Schedule also lists the Payment of Wages Act, the EPF Act, the Bonus Act, the Contract Labour Act, the Gratuity Act, the Equal Remuneration Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act.
Underpaying is not only a wage arrears exposure. It is a fact that can be put in front of the Controlling Authority when your licence comes up.
One structural difference worth knowing if you operate across states. Karnataka has no
equivalent of Maharashtra's Security Guards Boards, which are constituted under section 6 of the Maharashtra Private Security Guards (Regulation of Employment and Welfare) Act 1981 and which do fix and revise wages under the associated Scheme. In Karnataka, guard wages come only from Labour Department minimum wage notifications. So far as we could confirm, the Karnataka Labour Commissioner's own list of Acts and Rules contains no security guards statute or board.
Currency of this article
Rates and classifications verified against the government notifications on 21 August 2026. The litigation and Cabinet positions move without notice and should be re-checked before you rely on them. No stay had been reported as at that date, and the Cabinet sub-committee constituted on 18 August was still sitting.
Disclaimer
This article is general information about Indian labour law, not legal or tax advice, and no professional relationship arises from reading it. Applicability depends on your entity, workforce, states of operation and the terms of your contracts. Confirm your position with qualified payroll, tax and legal advisers before acting.
Sources
Notifications
Karnataka KAE 18 LWA 2022 dated 28 July 2022, security agency minimum wages, serial 65
Karnataka LD 411 LWA 2023 dated 22 May 2026, Gazette Part IVA No. 389, serial 50
Karnataka Labour Department English summary of the 22 May 2026 notification
Statutes
Minimum Wages Act 1948, sections 3(1)(b) and 5(1)(b)
Code on Wages 2019, section 69
Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act 2005, section 13(1)(j) and Schedule
Maharashtra Private Security Guards (Regulation of Employment and Welfare) Act 1981, section 6
Litigation
W.P. Nos. 22771 and 22776 of 2025, Karnataka High Court
W.P. No. 16145 of 2026, Karnataka Employers' Association and Anr. v. State of Karnataka