BOCW Registration

Until November 2025, construction employers followed the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and the BOCW Welfare Cess Act, 1996. On 21 November 2025, the four labour codes came into force and replaced both:

• Registration of the establishment, safety and working conditions moved to the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (OSH Code).
• The cess, the welfare boards and the registration of workers as beneficiaries moved to the Code on Social Security, 2020.

Registrations already granted under the old Act continue, and states are moving their portals and rules to the codes. People still search for and refer to this as “BOCW registration”.

An employer carrying out building or other construction work, such as buildings, roads, bridges, pipelines, towers and electrical lines, with 10 or more workers on any day must register the establishment, normally before work starts. Contractors and principal employers are both responsible for compliance on site. The construction of a small house for one’s own residence below the notified cost limit is generally excluded.

The term is used for two different documents:

• Establishment registration certificate: issued by the state labour department’s registering officer to the employer for a construction project. It records the site, the nature of work, the expected number of workers and the duration.
• Worker’s registration (labour card): issued by the State Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board to a worker aged 18 to 60 who has done at least 90 days of construction work in the previous 12 months. It gives access to welfare schemes such as accident cover, education support and pensions.

Both are issued online on the state’s labour portal, and the employer’s certificate can be downloaded from the portal once approved.

1. Collect the project details: site address, nature of work, start and end dates, estimated cost and the maximum number of workers.
2. Keep ready the PAN and registration of the employer, the work order or contract, the approved building plan or project approval, and the ID of the authorised signatory.
3. Apply on your state’s labour portal and pay the registration fee.
4. Answer any query from the registering officer; the certificate is issued online.
5. Assess and pay the 1% cess, and file returns and notices as the state requires, including notice when the work is completed.

A cess of 1% of the cost of construction is payable by the employer. Since 8 May 2026, it is levied under section 100 of the Code on Social Security (notification S.O. 2322(E)), at the same rate as before. Employers now assess the cess themselves, with a final assessment after the project is completed; on government and public sector projects it is usually deducted from the contractor’s bills. Land cost and the compensation paid to workers are not part of the cost of construction. The money goes to the state welfare board.

The establishment registration fee is set by each state’s rules and depends on the number of workers to be employed. It is paid online on the state labour portal along with the application. The 1% cess is separate from the registration fee.