How many workers before a factory must provide a canteen?

One hundred, under section 24(1)(v) of the OSH Code 2020 and rule 53 of the OSH (Central) Rules 2026. The count is workers ordinarily employed, and the Code says expressly that contract labourers are included. Under the repealed Factories Act 1948 the factory threshold was more than 250 workers, so many contract-heavy sites crossed the line when the Codes came into force on 21 November 2025.

Do contract workers get to use the factory canteen?

Yes. Section 53 of the OSH Code 2020 requires the principal employer to provide the welfare facilities in sections 23 and 24, including the canteen, to the contract labour employed in the establishment. A contract worker is entitled to the same canteen at the same prices as direct staff. The site and the contractor can agree who bears the cost, but not whether the contract crew gets access.

Can a factory canteen make a profit on food?

No. Rule 53 of the OSH (Central) Rules 2026 requires food, drink and other items to be sold on a no-profit, no-loss basis. Rates are fixed by a canteen management committee with equal worker and employer representatives, and the price per portion has to be displayed in the canteen. A canteen run by a registered multi-state co-operative society does not need the committee.

Can a contractor run the site canteen?

Yes. The OSH Code 2020 lists canteen and catering services among the activities that are not core activity unless the establishment was set up for them, so a caterer can run the canteen with contract labour. The catering staff count toward the 100-worker threshold. The site remains responsible for the rule 53 standards, the pricing and the committee, whoever runs the kitchen.

When must a site run a canteen?

A site needs a canteen once 100 or more workers are ordinarily employed there, contract labour included. Section 24(1)(v) of the OSH Code 2020 sets the threshold and names contract labourers expressly. Section 53 makes the principal employer provide the site's welfare facilities to the contract crew. Rule 53 of the OSH (Central) Rules 2026 sets the standard: a dining hall, a kitchen, food at no profit and no loss, and a joint management committee.

The threshold: 100 workers, contract crew counted

The trigger is 100 workers ordinarily employed, and the contract crew is part of the 100. Section 24(1)(v) of the Code requires "facilities of canteen in an establishment for employees thereof, wherein one hundred or more workers including contract labourers are ordinarily employed". Rule 53(i) repeats the words. The canteen and the plantation crèche are the only two OSH Code thresholds that name contract labour in their own text. Our article on thresholds covers how the other counts work.

This is a real change for contract-heavy sites, because the old law split the duty two ways. Under section 46 of the Factories Act 1948, a factory canteen was due at more than 250 workers. Under section 16 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970, a contractor with 100 or more contract labour could be required to run its own canteen for them, and section 20 put the principal employer in as the fallback if it did not [VERIFY: both repealed sections from secondary summaries; the India Code text was not opened this run]. The Code replaces both with one canteen, one count and one duty-holder.

	Before the Codes	OSH Code 2020 and the Central Rules 2026
Trigger	More than 250 workers in a factory (Factories Act s.46); 100 contract labour for a contractor's canteen (CLRA s.16)	100 or more workers including contract labourers (s.24(1)(v); r.53(i))
Who provides it	The factory occupier; the contractor for its own crew, with the principal employer as fallback (CLRA s.20)	The employer, and for contract labour the principal employer (s.53)
Who sets the standard	State factory rules and the CLRA rules	The Central Government, which prescribes s.24(1) welfare facilities (r.53)
Shared option	Varied by State	A common canteen in or adjacent to the premises (r.53(ii))

Two details decide whether a given site has crossed the line. Neither the Code nor the rules define "ordinarily employed". The common reading counts the workforce normally on the rolls across all shifts, not the largest single shift [VERIFY: whether the Central Rules or a Ministry FAQ settle the shift question]. And rule 53 lists the establishments it applies to: factories, mines, building and construction work, beedi and cigar premises, motor transport undertakings, dock work and plantations. A warehouse or logistics hub that is not a factory is not on that list, even though section 24(1)(v) itself speaks of "an establishment". Whether a non-factory warehouse with 100 workers owes a canteen is not settled, and that is a question for the site's own counsel.

Who provides it for the contract crew

The site does. Section 53 of the Code says the welfare facilities in sections 23 and 24 "shall be provided by the principal employer of the establishment to the contract labour who are employed in such establishment". The canteen is a section 24 facility. A contractor's packer on the 3 p.m. shift is entitled to the same canteen, at the same prices, as the site's own operator on that shift.

The contract can settle cost and logistics, not access. It can say whether the contractor's rate carries a share of the canteen subsidy, or how meal breaks are staggered between crews. It cannot set up a second, lesser canteen for the contract crew. Two shared arrangements are recognised:

A common canteen. Rule 53(ii) lets an employer meet the duty through a common canteen in or adjacent to its premises, which suits a site in an industrial estate with neighbours of a similar size.
Shared premises. Section 80 of the Code makes the owner and the occupiers jointly and severally responsible for common facilities, canteens among them, where one building is leased to several factories.

What the canteen must have

It needs a proper dining hall and kitchen, kept apart from the process area, with hygiene rules for the food handlers. Rule 53 sets the list:

Location. In or adjacent to the precincts, at an appropriate distance from latrines, urinals and the process area, away from dust, smoke and fumes (r.53(i), (iii)).
Layout. At least a dining hall, kitchen, store room, pantry and separate washing places for people and utensils, with separate entry and exit doors (r.53(iv), (v)).
Dining hall. Separated from anywhere a hazardous substance could contaminate food; seating for the number who normally eat at one time; a portion of the hall and the counter reserved for women employees and employees with disabilities (r.53(vi)–(viii)).
Washing places. Separate and screened for men, women, transgender employees and employees with disabilities (r.53(ix)).
Hygiene. Equipment and utensils kept clean; every food handler trained in safe handling; no one with a communicable disease working as a food handler; waste kept in covered containers and removed regularly (r.53(x)–(xiii)).

100workers ordinarily employed, contract labourers included, at which a canteen is due (OSH Code s.24(1)(v); r.53(i))

250+workers at which a factory canteen was due under the repealed Factories Act 1948, s.46 [VERIFY]

50+workers at which a lunchroom is due; a rule 53 canteen counts as compliance (OSH Central Rules r.56(i))

1/3of each side of the canteen committee rotated every two years (r.53, committee clause (e))

Rule 56 fills the gap below 100. A factory with more than fifty workers needs a lunchroom with drinking water and washing facilities, where employees can eat food they bring. The proviso to rule 56(ii) treats a rule 53 canteen as compliance, so a site that runs a canteen does not need a separate lunchroom.

It may charge cost and no more. Rule 53(xiv) requires food, drink and other items to be sold "on a no profit no loss basis", at rates fixed by the canteen management committee, and rule 53(xv) requires the price per portion to be displayed in the canteen. The committee is set up under the same rule:

Equal sides. An equal number of worker and employer representatives. The employer nominates its side. The negotiating union or council nominates the workers' side, and where there is none the workers choose among themselves.
What it decides. The quality and quantity of food, the menu, meal timings and any other relevant matter, and it runs the canteen in consultation with the canteen manager.
Rotation. Tenure is agreed mutually, and one-third of each side rotates every two years.
Co-operatives. A canteen run by a co-operative registered under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act 2002 does not need a committee.

Rule 53 does not say whether contract workers sit on the committee. On a site where the contract crew is a large share of the 100, a workers' side drawn only from direct staff will set prices and meal times for people it does not represent. Inviting a contract-crew representative costs nothing and avoids that.

Running it through a caterer

Allowed, and common. Section 2(1)(p) of the Code lists "canteen and catering services" among the activities that are not core activity unless the establishment was set up for them. A manufacturing site can therefore have a contractor run the canteen with contract labour. Those catering staff are themselves contract labour in the establishment, so they count toward the 100 and are owed the site's other welfare facilities.

How Velura Services helps

We include our crew in your headcount for the canteen threshold and plan shift breaks so the whole floor can use it. If a ramp-up would cross 100 workers, we flag it at the Requirement stage so the canteen is ready before the crew arrives.

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Sources

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI. Sections cited: s.2(1)(p) (core activity; canteen and catering services excluded); s.24(1) (welfare facilities prescribed by the Central Government), including s.24(1)(v) (canteen at one hundred or more workers including contract labourers) and s.24(2)(iii) (lunchroom at more than fifty workers); s.53 (principal employer provides welfare facilities to contract labour); s.80 (joint liability for common canteens in shared premises). Opened and read.
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E) dated 8 May 2026, mirrored copy of the Gazette. Rules cited: r.53 (provision of canteen, standards, no-profit pricing, canteen managing committee); r.56 (shelter, rest room and lunchroom; canteen as compliance). Opened and read [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Tamil Nadu) Rules, 2022 (draft), G.O. Ms. No. 38, Labour Welfare and Skill Development (H2), 11 April 2022, Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 216. Searched for canteen provisions. The draft has no general canteen rule of its own, which is consistent with s.24(1) leaving the facility to the Central Government. Opened and read [VERIFY: whether Tamil Nadu has since notified final rules].
Factories Act, 1948, s.46 (canteen at more than 250 workers, under State rules), and Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, ss.16 and 20 (contractor's canteen at 100 contract labour; principal employer to provide on the contractor's default), both repealed by the OSH Code 2020 [VERIFY: section text from secondary summaries; India Code not opened this run].
Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd v Shramik Sena, Supreme Court, 1999; Haldia Refinery Canteen Employees' Union v Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Supreme Court, 2005 [VERIFY: citations and holdings; judgments not opened this run].