Paternity Leave Rules in India 2026: What Fathers Can Claim

On the paternity leave rules in India as they stand in August 2026, the short answer is blunt: no central statute requires a private company to give a father a single day of paid leave when his child is born. Mothers have a 26-week statutory entitlement. Private sector fathers have whatever their offer letter says, and nothing more.

That is not the whole picture. Paid paternity leave does exist in India, in three specific places, and a Supreme Court judgment on 17 March 2026 changed the conversation about the rest. Here is who is covered, what a private sector father can take instead, and how to write a policy that holds up.

Does India have a paternity leave law in 2026?

The four new labour codes came into force and left the gap exactly where it was

The four new labour codes — the Code on Wages 2019, the Industrial Relations Code 2020, the Code on Social Security 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code 2020 — all commenced on 21 November 2025. The Central Rules followed on 8 and 9 May 2026. Many state rules are still pending, so existing acts and rules continue to apply through the transition.

That was the largest rewrite of Indian labour law in decades, and the obvious place to look for a new entitlement. It is not there. Chapter VI of the Code on Social Security, 2020 carries forward the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and applies to mothers. There is no matching chapter for fathers, which is why the paternity leave rules in India still begin and end with central service.

The Supreme Court urged the Union to act, which is not the same as ordering it

On 17 March 2026 a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan decided Hamsaanandini Nanduri v. Union of India, 2026 INSC 246, in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 960 of 2021. The petition challenged Section 60(4) of the Code on Social Security, 2020, which capped the adopted child’s age at three months before an adoptive mother could claim maternity benefit.

The Court struck that cap down as a violation of Articles 14 and 21. One reason was purely practical: by the time a child is declared legally free for adoption, the child is unlikely to still be under three months old, so the limit rendered the provision illusory.

The part that matters for fathers is Section F, paragraphs 155 to 165, titled “Highlighting the importance and need for paternity leave”. The bench wrote:

“We must note that proximity is not identical to presence. A father who remains physically near yet is compelled by professional obligations to remain disengaged from early caregiving roles cannot truly participate in the formative experiences of a child’s infancy.”

At paragraph 169 it added: “In light of the aforesaid discussion on the need of paternity leave, we urge the Union to come up with a provision recognizing paternity leave as a social security benefit. We emphasize that the duration of such leave must be determined in a manner that is responsive to the needs of both the parent and the child.”

Read that wording carefully, because much of the commentary got it wrong. Paragraph 169 urges the Union Government. It is not a direction, not an order, and it creates no entitlement for anyone. Nothing about your leave balance changed on 17 March 2026.

Who actually gets paid paternity leave right now?

Central government employees get 15 days under Rule 43-A

The oldest and clearest provision is Rule 43-A of the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972, notified by DoPT Notification No. 13026/1/99-Estt.(L) dated 18 April 2002. A male Government servant, apprentices included, with less than two surviving children may be granted 15 days of paternity leave, taken up to 15 days before or up to six months from the date of delivery. The detail is worth knowing even in the private sector, because it is the template most decent corporate policies copy:

• It is paid at the pay drawn immediately before proceeding on leave.
• It is not debited against the leave account, so it does not eat into earned leave.
• It may be combined with leave of any other kind.
• It lapses if it is not taken inside that window.
• The rule notes that paternity leave “shall not normally be refused under any circumstances”.

Rule 43-A binds central government departments only. Quoting it to your HR manager gives you a persuasive argument, not a legal right.

Adoptive fathers in central service get the same 15 days under Rule 43-AA

Rule 43-AA, introduced by DoPT Notification No. 11012/1/2009-Estt.(L) dated 1 December 2009, grants the same 15 days on the valid adoption of a child below one year of age, taken within six months of the adoption. The pay, non-debit, combination, lapse and non-refusal conditions are identical, and a 2012 amendment extends it to a ward treated as a member of the family.

Public sector bank staff get 15 days through a settlement, not a statute

Male employees of public sector banks with up to two surviving children have had 15 days of paternity leave since 1 June 2015. It runs from 15 days before to six months after the date of delivery, is also available on legally adopting a child below one year old, and can be combined with any leave except casual leave.

The source matters. It came from the bipartite settlement negotiated between the Indian Banks’ Association and the bank unions — contractual, not statutory, which is precisely why it covers bank staff and nobody else.

What can a private sector father in India actually take?

Your entitlement is whatever your appointment letter and leave policy say

Outside those three groups, paternity leave is a contract question, not a legal one. If your employer has published a policy, those terms are what you can enforce. If it has not, there is no statutory floor underneath you.

Be sceptical of the benchmark tables that circulate on this topic. Articles listing named companies and neat percentages rarely trace back to a published, dated survey, and the numbers contradict each other from page to page. The only figure that governs you is the one in your own offer letter or handbook. Ask for it in writing before you need it.

Telangana’s Shops and Establishments Act gives you leave, but never paternity leave

Offices and IT parks in Hyderabad and the rest of Telangana are governed by the Telangana Shops and Establishments Act, 1988. The word “paternity” does not appear anywhere in that Act. Not once. What Section 30 does give a father to work with:

• Leave with wages, Section 30(1). After 240 days or more of service in a continuous twelve months, 15 days of leave with wages in the following twelve months, accumulable up to 60 days, with a right to encash 8 days a year.
• Notice and instalments, Section 30(2). You must apply in writing at least 7 full working days before taking that leave, and cannot take it in more than three instalments in any twelve months. That is the trap nobody warns new fathers about: a delivery date that moves, plus leave already split across the year, can leave you unable to block-book the days you were counting on.
• Sickness and casual leave, Section 30(5). In every twelve months of continuous service, up to 12 days of leave with wages for sickness or accident, and up to 12 days of casual leave with wages on any reasonable ground. Our guide to earned, sick and casual leave rules covers how these stack.
• Family planning leave, Section 30(6). After six months of service, six days of special casual leave, once in an entire career, for a vasectomy or tubectomy, on a medical certificate. It is the only family-planning leave the Act grants as of right — and it is not paternity leave.

In practice, a Telangana private sector father assembles his time off out of earned leave, casual leave and goodwill. That is the real state of paternity leave rules in India for most people reading this.

What is likely to change, and when?

The Paternity and Parental Benefit Bill, 2025 is a private member’s bill

The Paternity and Parental Benefit Bill, 2025 (Bill No. 82 of 2025) proposes eight weeks of paternity leave and would extend it to adopting fathers. The Supreme Court noted the Bill in its March 2026 judgment as evidence that the idea is gaining ground.

It is a private member’s bill. It has not been taken up, and only a very small number of such bills ever become law in India. Treat it as a signal of direction, not a compliance deadline. No employer needs to plan around eight weeks today, and no employee should expect it.

The Section 60(4) ruling shows how these gaps actually get closed

The more useful lesson from Hamsaanandini Nanduri is procedural. The adoptive mothers’ age cap was not fixed by Parliament or by a private member’s bill. It was fixed because someone brought a writ petition and the Court read the provision against Articles 14 and 21. Statutory maternity leave in India has been shaped repeatedly this way.

Paternity leave has no such foothold, for a simple reason: there is no provision to challenge. A court can strike down an unfair line inside an existing benefit. It cannot conjure a benefit Parliament never enacted — which is exactly why paragraph 169 is addressed to the Union, not to any employer.

How should an employer write a paternity leave policy in 2026?

Borrow the CCS structure because it is already drafted and tested

An employer writing paternity leave rules in India from scratch does not need to invent them. Rule 43-A has run since 2002 and its parameters are unambiguous, which is worth a great deal when a manager has to apply them to a real case at short notice. A workable adaptation:

• 15 days of fully paid leave to male employees with fewer than two surviving children.
• A defined window, such as 15 days before the expected delivery to six months after the birth or valid adoption.
• Full salary during the leave, with the days not debited against earned leave, and permission to combine it with accrued earned leave for a longer break.
• Explicit parity for adoption, following the Rule 43-AA approach.

Put it in the appointment letter, which the OSH Code now makes mandatory

Section 6(1)(f) of the OSH Code, 2020 makes a written appointment letter compulsory for every employee, and requires one within three months for staff who never received one. That obligation is an opportunity. A paternity benefit living only in a manager’s memory is worth nothing in a dispute; written into the appointment letter, it is enforceable as a contractual term.

Larger employers have a second document to keep aligned. The Model Standing Orders, 2026 (S.O. 2312(E)), in force from 8 May 2026, supersede the 1946 Central Rules and add Schedule C for services. The regime attaches at 300 or more workers, so a services business past that threshold should make sure its leave policy and its standing orders say the same thing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many days of paternity leave are allowed in India?

Fifteen days, for the groups that are covered: central government employees under Rule 43-A of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, and public sector bank employees under their bipartite settlement. In the private sector there is no statutory number at all — only what the employer’s policy sets.

Is paternity leave paid in India for private company employees?

Only if the employer’s leave policy or employment agreement says so. No Indian labour law requires a private employer to pay a father for time off around a birth, so it is a benefit granted voluntarily, not a right.

Can my employer refuse paternity leave in India?

In central government service, Rule 43-A says paternity leave shall not normally be refused under any circumstances. In a private company it is a policy matter: a written policy binds the employer to its own terms, and with no policy there is no statutory protection against refusal.

Do I get paternity leave for adoption in India?

Central government employees do. Rule 43-AA gives 15 days on the valid adoption of a child below one year of age, taken within six months of the adoption. Public sector bank staff also have 15 days for adopting a child under one. In a private company it depends entirely on the policy.

Is paternity leave mandatory for private companies in India?

No. Neither the four labour codes that commenced on 21 November 2025 nor state legislation such as the Telangana Shops and Establishments Act, 1988 makes it mandatory. The Supreme Court urged the Union Government to create such a provision in March 2026, but that urging has not been enacted.

What leave can I take if my company has no paternity leave policy?

You fall back on ordinary leave. In Telangana that means earned leave under Section 30(1), which needs 7 full working days’ written notice and cannot be split into more than three instalments a year, plus casual leave under Section 30(5). Apply early, put it in writing, and say so in the same email if the delivery date is uncertain.

Photo: “Love in small family” by Stifler.ashish, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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