India to renew drive to overhaul labour laws

New Delhi

INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is to make a renewed drive to overhaul labour laws, hoping to create millions of new jobs by making it easier to hire and fire, the labour ministry's top bureaucrat said on Thursday.

Mr Modi made a shake-up of India's labour market a part of his reform agenda after coming into office in 2014, but opposition from unions and a bruising battle to pass other crucial pieces of economic legislation have stalled those efforts.

Shankar Aggarwal, the ministry secretary, told Reuters that the government felt the time was right to prioritise labour reform again after Parliament in August passed India's biggest overhaul of indirect taxes - the Goods and Services Tax (GST) - a victory for Mr Modi's bid to boost the economy. "We have to tweak the law. Employers want flexibility in hiring…