Parental and family leave in India
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Parental and family leave in India is governed by a mix of central legislation, state rules, and employer policy — and the rules differ significantly depending on whether you are the birth mother, a father, an adoptive parent, or a family member needing time off for care.
Maternity leave
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 is the primary law here. It entitles women employees to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave for the first two children. For a third child onwards, the entitlement reduces to 12 weeks. Leave can begin up to eight weeks before the expected delivery date.
A few other points employers must know:
- Adoption and surrogacy: A woman who adopts a child below three months of age, or a commissioning mother in a surrogacy arrangement, is entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave from the date the child is handed over.
- Eligibility: The employee must have worked for at least 80 days with that employer in the 12 months before the expected delivery date.
- Wages during leave: Payment must be at the woman's average daily wage for the full leave period. This is not optional — deducting pay during maternity leave is a statutory violation.
- Work from home: The Act allows employers to offer a work-from-home option after the leave period ends, where the nature of work permits. The terms are to be mutually agreed.
- Creche facility: Establishments with 50 or more employees are required to provide a creche, either on-premises or nearby, and allow the mother four visits to the creche during the working day, including during rest intervals.
Paternity leave
There is no standalone central legislation mandating paid paternity leave for private-sector employees. This is a genuine gap in Indian employment law. Central government employees (covered under the CCS Leave Rules) are entitled to 15 days of paid paternity leave, but this does not extend to the private sector.
Most private employers offer paternity leave as a matter of policy — typically between five and fifteen days — but it remains discretionary. The four Labour Codes that came into force in 2025 do not introduce a statutory paternity leave entitlement for private employees either.
If your organisation employs working fathers, a written paternity leave policy is worth having. It reduces ambiguity, supports retention, and sets consistent expectations across the team.
Adoption leave
As noted above, the Maternity Benefit Act covers adoptive mothers for 12 weeks, provided the child is below three months old at the time of adoption. There is no equivalent statutory provision for adoptive fathers in the private sector.
Central government employees follow separate, more detailed rules under the CCS framework, but those rules do not bind private employers.
Leave for family care and medical emergencies
India does not have a dedicated "family care leave" or "carer's leave" statute for private-sector workers. Employers typically handle these situations through earned leave, casual leave, or sick leave balances — the exact entitlements depending on the applicable state Shops and Establishments Act, standing orders, or the employer's own leave policy.
Under the Labour Codes, leave provisions are being standardised, but the implementing rules vary by state and category of worker. In practice, most employers are still operating under the older state-level frameworks while the transition completes.
A few things that help in practice:
- Define clearly in your leave policy what qualifies for "emergency leave" or "special leave" and whether it is paid.
- Consider whether your policy allows employees to encash or carry forward leave they cannot take due to a family emergency.
- For long-term care needs (a seriously ill parent, for example), some employers use leave-without-pay arrangements combined with job protection commitments — none of this is legally mandated, but it is increasingly common in mid-sized and large organisations.
What employers should do
Document your leave policies in writing. A leave policy that only exists in a manager's head creates inconsistency and legal exposure.
Comply with the Maternity Benefit Act without exception. The penalties for non-compliance include prosecution of the employer. This is not a policy area where discretion is appropriate.
Review your state-level obligations. State Shops and Establishments Acts impose additional requirements in many states — casual leave days, sick leave entitlements, and notice periods for leave approval can vary considerably between Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and others.
Revisit your policies as the Labour Codes roll out. The consolidation of 29 central labour laws into four Codes will eventually change how leave is calculated and administered. Keeping track of state-level notification of the Code on Social Security and the Code on Occupational Safety will matter for HR compliance planning through 2026/27 and beyond.
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