China’s 996 culture — 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week — produced burnout, public anger, and even deaths. There is also an uncomfortable truth about productivity that rarely enters these glamorous speeches about hard work and sacrifice. Research repeatedly shows that productivity drops sharply once people work more than about 50 hours a week. This is why India’s new labour codes matter. It undermines the spirit of the new labour codes before they have even taken root.

Source: The Telegraph January 17, 2026 02:43 UTC