Maternity Leave in India 2026: Rules & Benefits

How much maternity leave does a woman get in India, and who actually pays for it? Twenty-six weeks of fully paid leave for the first two children, funded by the employer, at any establishment with 10 or more people.

We have helped over 300 global companies hire, pay and manage more than 2,000 employees in India without a local entity. Maternity is the entitlement that catches new employers out, because the cost sits with you, not the state.

The 26 weeks have not moved since 2017, but the law behind them has. Below are the rules, pay, paperwork and penalties, plus the two changes that landed in 2026. For the wider picture, start with our guide to labor laws in India.

What are the maternity leave rules in India in 2026?

Maternity leave runs on Chapter VI of the Code on Social Security, 2020, which absorbed the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and its 2017 amendment on 21 November 2025. Six rules do the work:

• Leave duration: 26 weeks for the first two children, 12 from the third. Adoptive and commissioning mothers get 12 weeks from handover.
• Who pays: the employer pays 100% of average daily wage. Where the employee is covered by Employee State Insurance, the ESI Corporation pays instead.
• Timing: up to 8 weeks before the expected delivery date for the first or second child, 6 weeks from the third. She may also take the whole period after delivery.
• Nursing breaks: two a day after she returns, until the child turns 15 months, on top of normal rest breaks.
• Work from home: Section 60(5) allows it once the leave ends, where the role permits and both sides agree. It is optional, not an entitlement.
• Creche: mandatory at 50 or more employees, within a prescribed distance, with up to four visits a working day.

Those six are your compliance floor. Read them beside the rest of your employee benefits in India, and reconcile them with earned leave and public holidays under leave policy laws and holidays in India.

What changed in India's maternity leave law in 2026?

Two changes landed in 2026 and a third in August. Most templates miss all three.

The Supreme Court ruling on adoptive mothers

On 17 March 2026, Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan decided Hamsaanandini Nanduri v. Union of India, striking down Section 60(4) of the Code, the clause limiting adoption leave to mothers of children under three months.

The bench held it violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution: the object of maternity benefit is not childbirth but motherhood. Adoption rarely completes before three months, so the cap denied leave to nearly every mother it was written for.

Twelve weeks now runs from handover, whatever the child's age, and any clause still carrying the three-month cap is unenforceable. The judgment also urged the government to recognise paternity leave in India as a social security benefit.

Tamil Nadu's 365-day leave for a third child

On 18 August 2026, Tamil Nadu announced 365 days of fully paid maternity leave for a third child, effective 25 August 2026, reversing a March 2026 order that had capped it at 12 weeks.

Read the scope before copying it. The order covers women employed by the Tamil Nadu state government and does not bind private employers, who still work to the central figures. Our guide to the leave policy in Tamil Nadu covers the wider state rules.

What to change in your policy now

Three edits bring a pre-2026 template current:

1. Name Chapter VI of the Code on Social Security, 2020 as the governing law, not the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
2. Delete the three-month age cap on adoption leave.
3. Refresh penalties to the Section 133 ceilings of 50,000 and 3,00,000 rupees.

Ship all three this month, with a refresher for line managers. The maternity change did not arrive alone, and the rest of the shift is in our explainer on the four new labour codes.

Who is eligible for maternity leave in India?

A woman qualifies if she has worked at least 80 days for the employer she is claiming from, during the 12 months before her expected delivery date, at an establishment with 10 or more employees. The days need not be continuous.

Check one thing before applying Chapter VI. Women covered by Employee State Insurance draw the benefit under the ESI provisions instead, which apply where gross wages are 21,000 rupees a month or less, and 25,000 or less with a disability.

ESI status decides who writes the cheque, so settle it first. The contribution mechanics sit beside provident fund and gratuity in our guide to PF, ESI and gratuity compliance.

Do contract, temporary and gig workers qualify?

In most cases, yes. Eligibility follows days worked, not job title, and Indian courts have repeatedly held that contract, temporary and daily-wage women qualify past 80 days.

The Code also brings gig and platform workers into social security for the first time, under Sections 113 and 114. The usual categories:

• Permanent and fixed-term employees: fully covered, on identical terms.
• Contract, temporary and daily-wage workers: covered at 80 days. Your contract should say whether you or the staffing agency carries the liability.
• Gig and platform workers: covered through aggregator-funded schemes rather than direct employer liability, with rollout still in progress.
• Genuine independent contractors: outside Chapter VI, though misclassification risk applies the moment they start working like employees.

The test is blunt: 80 days plus your direction means budget for the benefit.

If that line feels blurry, the tests are in our comparison of contractor versus employee in India and our explainer on who is an independent contractor under Indian law. Either way, put the entitlement in the India employment agreement.

What comes with maternity leave besides the 26 weeks?

The headline number is only part of it. Five further entitlements sit inside Chapter VI, and these are the ones teams miss:

• Up to one month of extra paid leave under Section 65 for illness arising from pregnancy, delivery, premature birth, miscarriage, medical termination or tubectomy.
• A medical bonus of 3,500 rupees under Section 64, where the employer does not provide free pre-natal and post-natal care.
• Job protection from the day she notifies pregnancy. She cannot be dismissed, demoted or have wages cut on account of maternity, and returns to the same or an equivalent role.
• Lighter duties from 10 weeks before the due date. No long standing, no strenuous work, nothing likely to cause harm.
• Transfer of the benefit to a nominee if the employee dies during the leave period.

Write all five into the policy, because these are the clauses that surface in disputes. Provident fund and gratuity run in parallel for any statutory employee in India, and maternity care is standard in health insurance for employees in India.

How is maternity leave salary calculated, and who pays it?

Maternity pay is the average daily wage: gross earnings over the three calendar months before the leave, divided by the days actually worked. Basic pay and regular allowances count. Bonus and overtime do not.

Take an employee on 60,000 rupees a month, made up of 30,000 basic, 18,000 HRA and 12,000 in allowances. Across 26 paid days that is about 2,307 rupees a day.

Over 182 days that is roughly 4.2 lakh rupees, close to $5,000 at 83.33 to the dollar, before provident fund. Model it against the full cost of employment in India.

The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana tops up rather than replaces what you owe, and targets the unorganised sector.

Keeping the payroll run unbroken through the leave is the part teams get wrong, and the mechanics are in our guide to the India payroll process. Paid maternity leave is never treated as loss of pay.

Budget the full 182 days at gross rather than basic, and the line item stops being a surprise.

What notice and documents does a maternity leave request need?

She must give written notice claiming the benefit and the dates she will be absent, which cannot start earlier than 8 weeks before the expected delivery date. Three documents close the file:

• A written notice stating the claim, the amount due, the absence dates, and the nominee to receive payment if she dies.
• A medical certificate from a registered practitioner confirming the pregnancy and the expected date of delivery.
• A handover or adoption document in place of the certificate, for adoptive and commissioning mothers.

Anything beyond that is your own policy, and earlier notice buys time to arrange cover. Set the expectation at hire, in the India employee onboarding checklist.

How should employers handle a maternity leave request?

Section 62 starts a clock the moment she notifies. Six steps keep the file clean:

1. Acknowledge the notice in writing within two working days and confirm whether she gets 26 or 12 weeks.
2. Verify the 80 days and collect the medical certificate or handover document.
3. Agree the pre-delivery and post-delivery split, then lock the dates in the leave calendar.
4. Fix the average daily wage and tell finance to keep payroll running. If she is ESI-covered you still process the record.
5. Open the return-to-work conversation four weeks before the leave ends, covering work from home, a phased return and nursing breaks, in writing.
6. Keep the register, notice, certificate, payment records and return confirmation on file for three years, ready for the Inspector-cum-Facilitator.

Follow all six and an inspection becomes a document check rather than an argument.

How do state rules change maternity compliance?

The central Code sets the floor. State Shops and Establishments Acts add nursing-break detail, working-hour caps, night-shift safeguards and sometimes stronger creche rules. Compliance follows where the employee physically works, not where your headquarters sits.

Working-hour limits sit beside leave entitlement in every one of those Acts, which is why overtime rules in India belong in the same review. For a team across three or four states, build the local layer in from day one.

What are the penalties for getting maternity leave wrong?

Section 133 of the Code on Social Security, 2020 raised the stakes sharply. Under the 1961 Act the maximum fine was 5,000 rupees. Officers can now be personally liable, and repeat offences carry prison time.

Enforcement runs through the Inspector-cum-Facilitator under Section 14, who can enter the establishment and examine records. Only the aggrieved woman or the Inspector can go to court, under Section 136.

This is general guidance, not legal advice, so take a view on your own facts. The registers behind it are covered in statutory compliance in HR, and HR compliance in India lists the filing deadlines.

Why does a strong maternity policy pay for itself?

The 26 weeks are a legal floor, but the business case runs past compliance:

• Retention: Replacing a mid-level hire means recruitment fees, notice cover and months of ramp-up. Funding a return-to-work plan is usually cheaper.
• A widening talent pool: Female labour force participation for ages 15 and above reached 41.7% in 2023-24, up from 23.3% in 2017-18, on Periodic Labour Force Survey data.
• Health outcomes: The 26 weeks line up with World Health Organization guidance on six months of exclusive breastfeeding, which is why nursing breaks and creche access sit beside the leave.
• Fewer disputes: Most claims start as a misunderstanding about pay dates or the role she returns to, not deliberate denial.

The return is the weak point, not the leave. Survey work reported by Business Standard found three in four women describe a career setback of one to two years after coming back.

If you are eager to see what turnover costs by sector, the figures are in our note on the attrition rate in India. Treat the leave as a retention cost, and the arithmetic changes.

How does India compare with other countries?

India's 26 fully paid weeks put it well ahead of the United States and level with the stronger schemes elsewhere on the paid portion.

A US parent used to unpaid FMLA leave will underestimate the India line item. Twenty-six weeks of full salary is a real number in the headcount plan.

How Wisemonk keeps your maternity compliance clean

Wisemonk is an India-native Employer of Record. We hire, pay and manage your team in India without you setting up an entity, and maternity compliance is part of the service. Five things sit inside that:

• Hiring and employment: We become the legal employer, issue compliant offer letters and contracts, run background checks and hold the statutory registrations in our own name. You direct the work, we carry the employment risk. Read more in our guide to hiring employees in India through an EOR.
• Payroll: We run the monthly cycle end to end: gross-to-net calculation, TDS deposit, provident fund and ESI filings, payslips, Form 16, and uninterrupted salary across all 182 days of leave. See this guide on employee onboarding in India through an EOR.
• Benefits administration: We set up group health insurance with maternity cover, life and accident cover, the National Pension System where wanted, and the flexible allowances Indian employees expect, then handle enrolment, claims and renewals. If you are interested to know what good looks like, refer to this guide on HR policies in India.
• Statutory compliance: We keep the maternity register, notices, certificates and payment records for the full three-year period, file state returns under the Shops and Establishments Act, and front the Inspector-cum-Facilitator at inspection. Read more on how we handle POSH and Shops and Establishments Act compliance.
• Contractor management: We draft compliant contractor agreements, run the misclassification test before you sign, collect GST invoices, handle cross-border payouts, and convert a contractor to an employee when the relationship outgrows the contract.

Refer to our blogs for the detail behind each. If you are comparing providers, our review of EOR companies in India sets out how we stack up.

India is where we are strongest. We handle employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance for your India team in-house, with our own people on the ground. We are planning to extend into further markets, including the US and the UK, in future.

What our clients say

What changes once the statutory load moves off an internal HR team.

"We've been using WiseMonk to support our India team for the past six months, and the experience has been excellent. They've handled everything from payroll and statutory compliance to equipment procurement and benefits enrollment." Monika Russell, CFO, Minehub, Canada

"They worked directly with my employees to enroll them in the health care program and explain any coverage-related issues. The best part is that we get to work with a dedicated person assigned to our company. I would highly recommend Wisemonk and think of them as our Indian HR department." Frank Menes, Founder & CEO, Senem RFP