Paternity leave in India: what the law says
No law in India gives paternity leave to private sector employees. The 15 days people usually mention is the rule for central government servants, under the CCS Leave Rules. For a private company, paternity leave is a policy decision: how many days, within what window, and whether adoption counts. This page covers the government rule and the choices for your own policy.
Last updated 31 August 2026.
How much paternity leave do government employees get?
Rule 43 A of the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972 gives a male central government servant with fewer than two surviving children 15 days of paternity leave, during his wife's confinement, from 15 days before the delivery up to six months after it. Leave salary equals the pay last drawn, and the leave can be combined with other kinds of leave.
Rule 43 AA gives the same 15 days on adoption: within six months of validly adopting a child below one year, without the days being debited to the leave account. Many state governments have similar rules for their own employees.
None of this binds a private company. The maternity framework covers mothers; Parliament has not passed an equivalent for fathers. When an employee cites the 15 days, they are citing the government service rule. It works as the common benchmark for private policies because there is nothing else to cite.
How should a private company set its paternity policy?
Four decisions cover it. Days: the government's 15 is the common anchor. Policies in practice run from one to four weeks, and these figures are convention, not law. Window: a use it within six months rule matches the CCS design and stops indefinite deferral. Adoption and surrogacy: the government rules cover adoption, and matching that keeps the clause consistent. Splitting: allow the days in two blocks, one around the delivery and one when the mother returns to work, because those are the two periods of highest need.
Then settle the boundary cases in writing. Say whether paternity days count as continuous service for other accruals, whether unused days lapse, and whether the leave can be clubbed with casual leave or earned leave for a longer stretch. The clause is small, so the only real risk in it is ambiguity.
Should a small company offer paternity leave?
The cost is bounded: 15 working days for the few new fathers in a small company each year. Because no law requires it, employees read the clause as a choice the company made. Larger employers competing for the same candidates mostly publish paternity policies now, so staying silent is a visible gap.
Whatever you decide, put it in the written leave policy next to the statutory types, so the mother's 26 weeks under the maternity rules and the father's policy days sit in one document. The HR policy generator builds that document from a questionnaire. The full list of leave types is on the types of leave index.
How does paternity leave work in payroll and attendance?
Paternity days under a policy are paid leave. They create no LOP line and no deduction from CL or EL, and the month's payslip looks normal. Give the leave its own head in the attendance system instead of booking it as casual leave, or your CL reports will be wrong and the benefit will not show in your own data.
Timing is known months in advance, which makes cover easy to plan. Ask for intimation about a month before the expected date, and treat the actual start as movable. One process point matters most: the days should be easy to take. If managers treat taking them as a problem, the company pays for the clause and gets none of the goodwill. The first few cases set the norm.
Common questions
Is paternity leave mandatory in India?
Not for private employers. No central statute grants paternity leave to private sector employees. The 15 day entitlement applies to central government servants under Rule 43 A of the CCS Leave Rules, and many state governments have similar rules for their own staff.
How many days of paternity leave do government employees get?
15 days, for a male government servant with fewer than two surviving children, taken any time from 15 days before the delivery to six months after it. The same 15 days applies on adopting a child below one year, under Rule 43 AA.
How much paternity leave do private companies give?
There is no legal figure, so practice varies. Policies commonly land between one and four weeks of paid leave, with the government's 15 days as the most cited anchor. These numbers are convention; each company sets its own.
Is there a law coming for private paternity leave?
Bills proposing a paternity benefit for all workers have been introduced in Parliament over the years but none has become law as of August 2026. Until one does, private paternity leave remains a policy matter.
Should paternity leave cover adoption and surrogacy?
The government rules cover adoption, and matching them is the simpler design. Covering birth, adoption and surrogacy with the same days keeps the clause short and avoids distinctions the rest of your policy does not make.
Decide your paternity rule, then publish it
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