The Cabinet approved a policy framework for central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) on Wednesday to negotiate the next round of wage revision with their workers, said official sources.

The decision on the wage policy for the eighth round of negotiations for the workers was taken at the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

According to the decision, the sources said, management of the CPSEs would be “free” to negotiate wage revision for workers where the periodicity of wage settlement of 5 years or 10 years “expired generally” on December 31, 2016.

However, the government would not provide any budgetary support for any such wage increase, and the respective CPSEs would have to bear the entire financial implications from their own resources, they added.

Further, the management of CPSEs would have to ensure the negotiated scales of pay do not exceed the existing scales of executives and non-unionised supervisors of the respective companies.

According to the sources, CPSEs would also have to make sure any increase in wages does not result in administered prices of their goods and services.