Retirement age in private sector to be 60 in Karnataka

Thousands of employees in the private sector who will be retiring this month-end will benefit from the State government’s decision to amend the Karnataka Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) (Amendment) Rules, 2009 to increase the retirement age from 58 to 60. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had proposed in the State Budget for 2017–18 increasing the retirement age of private sector employees from 58 to 60. Following this, a decision to amend the rules was taken at the Cabinet meeting presided by the Chief Minister here on Friday. A notification for amending the rules would be issued soon. Services of 21 lakh labourers are hired by 6,950 shops and establishments and 432 factories in Karnataka. Factories alone hire services of 14 lakh labourers. However, the rules do not apply to the clerical workforce, sources in the government said. A senior Minister said the amendment to the rules would be introduced in a few days to benefit labourers who are retiring this month-end. There was a lot of pressure from private managements not to increase the retirement age since they have to pay high salary and other benefits. The move has been hailed by labour unions, but criticised by owners of shops and establishments. Some industrialists also argued that the decision would defer hiring of young blood in factories for the next two years. Reacting to the government’s decision, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association general secretary Praveen B. said, “This is not a welcome move from the government. At a time when unemployment level is growing in the State, increasing the retirement age to 60 will deny jobs to many young professionals. This can only help in widening the gap between the employed and the unemployed in the State. In many sectors such as manufacturing, as the age of the employee increases, productivity decreases.”

CITU State secretary Umesh K.N. said it was a long-pending demand which had been finally met. He said that even though a draft proposal on this was made when B.S. Yeddyurappa was the Chief Minister, it had not been approved. “So far private industries’ lobby had stopped the government from meeting the demand,” he said.