With the growth of industries in India, problems relating to the payment of wages to persons employed in the industry took an ugly turn. The industrial units were not making payments of wages to their workers at regular intervals and wages were not uniform. The industrial workers were forced to raise their heads against their exploitation.
In 1926, the Government of India wrote to local governments to ascertain the position with regard to the delays which occurred in the payment of wages to the persons employed in the industry. Material so collected was placed before the Royal Commission on Labour which was appointed in 1929.
On the report of the Commission, the Government of India reexamined the subject and in February 1933 the Payment of Wages Bill, 1933, was introduced in the Legislative Assembly and circulated for the purpose of eliciting opinions. A motion for the reference of the Bill to a Select Committee was tabled but the motion could not be passed and the Bill lapsed.
In 1935 the Payment of Wages Bill, based upon the same principles as the earlier Bill of 1933 but thoroughly revised was introduced in the Legislative Assembly on 15th February 1935. The Bill was referred to the Select Committee. The Select Committee presented its report on 2nd September 1935.
Incorporating the recommendations of the Select Committee, the Payment of Wages Bill, 1935 was again introduced in the Legislative Assembly. The Payment of Wages Bill, 1935 having been passed by the legislative assembly received its assets on 23 April 1936. It came in the statute book as The Payment of Wages Act, 1936.