New Delhi, April 15 -- Protests by factory workers in Noida have laid bare the economic precarity of India's manufacturing workforce. That some of the protesting workers are asking for as little as Rs.20,000 per month in salary must be a reality check for many Indians in white-collar jobs. How much does an average factory worker earn in India? HT has used data from India's latest official labour market database, the 2025 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) to answer this question. Twenty-five per cent of India's workers are salaried. Manufacturing salaried workers account for 5.8% of India's workers. Average monthly income for a salaried manufacturing worker is Rs.18,735, which is less than the Rs.22,699 earned by the average salaried worke...