How to define ‘industry’ under labour law: Inside SC’s split verdict

The Supreme Court's nine-judge Constitution Bench delivered a fractured verdict on the definition of 'industry' under Indian labour law. While opinions differed, the court agreed that pending cases under the repealed Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, will continue to be decided by the 1978 'triple test' from the Bangalore Water Supply case. The new Industrial Relations Code, 2020, which explicitly excludes certain entities like charitable institutions and sovereign functions, must be interpreted independently. The judgment also clarified that 'sovereign functions' for exclusion are confined to core, inalienable governmental activities, not merely state-performed or welfare-oriented ones.