Understanding Bonus Criteria: Is There a Rs. 6000 Limit According to the Bonus Rules?

Can anyone inform me what the Bonus Criteria means in terms of the Bonus limit as per the Bonus Rules? I think it is Rs. 6000. Am I correct? If there is any other limit, please inform me.

Thanks & Regards,
Viral Gajjar
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Dear Vijay,

Statutory Bonus Eligibility

Statutory Bonus shall be applicable to employees drawing Basic + DA up to Rs. 10,000 per month, provided they have worked for a minimum of 30 days in the previous financial year.

Bonus Rate

The rate of the bonus shall vary between 8.33% to 20% of Basic + DA.

Bonus Calculation

Note, for the calculation of bonus, Rs. 3500 or the actual Basic + DA, whichever is less, should be considered.

The bonus has to be rolled out by the latest by 30th November.

Regards

Thank you, Sir. Is 10,000 the maximum limit? If an employee's Basic + DA is 11,000, then he/she is eligible for a bonus. Can we offer more than 20%? If we wish to provide one month's CTC as a bonus to every employee, is that possible?

Regards, Viral Gajjar

Dear Sir, Please confirm which salary components are to be considered for Bonus Computation. Also, confirm that to be eligible for a statutory bonus, the sum of one's basic salary and dearness allowance cannot exceed ₹21,000 per month. We have these components in our salary breakup: Basic, DA, HRA, Special Allowance. Kindly confirm the components to be considered for bonus computation. This information is needed to make provisions in the books of accounts for year-end closing.

Regards, Venkatesh Pai.

This post was started in 2012.

Statutory Salary Ceiling for Bonus Eligibility

Now the statutory salary ceiling for eligibility for a bonus is Rs 21,000 per month. However, for employees whose salary exceeds Rs 7,000, the bonus may be calculated on Rs 7,000 or the statutory minimum wages as fixed by the government for the scheduled industry and the category of employment. Hence, if the salary is Rs 18,000 while the minimum wages fixed for the particular category are Rs 12,000, then the bonus may be calculated based on Rs 12,000.

Components of Salary for Bonus Calculation

The salary that qualifies for a bonus is total earnings. However, the practice is to include only the Basic salary and the Dearness Allowance (DA) for this purpose. If you consider only basic and DA for the calculation of the bonus, the same criteria should be used to determine whether the employee is eligible to receive a bonus or not. It should not be that to determine an employee's eligibility for a bonus, total wages exceeding Rs 21,000 are considered, while only basic pay and DA are used for calculating the bonus.