Six months' surrogacy leave for female government employees in India

Female government employees in India can now take up to 180 days maternity leave when their child is born through surrogacy. 

Additionally, women acting as surrogates, who are also government employees, may take 180 days of maternity leave. This legislative update marks a significant change for intended mothers, as there was previously no rule granting maternity leave to government employees who had children born through surrogacy.

Confirmed on 18 June 2024, The Central Civil Services (Leave) (Amended) Rules, 2024 stated: 'In case of surrogacy, the surrogate, as well as the commissioning mother with less than two surviving children, may be granted maternity leave of 180 days, in case either or both of them are government servants.'

The amended law also allows 15-days paternity leave for intended fathers: 'In case of a child begotten through surrogacy, the commissioning father who is a male government servant with less than two surviving children may be granted paternity leave of 15 days within the period of six months from the date of delivery of the child.'

The amended law confirms that the intended mother will also be entitled to childcare leave for the first time.

This is the latest development following a number of new laws in India relating to surrogacy. Earlier this year, the government amended the Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules of 2022 to allow married couples to use donor eggs or sperm, in cases where one partner faces a medical condition which means use of a donor gamete is required. Under the amended rules, the husband or wife's condition must be confirmed by the District Medical Board.

Under Indian law, only Indian couples who have been married for five years are eligible to access surrogacy in India. Previous legal changes, such as the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill 2021 and Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2020 sought to ban commercial surrogacy in the country and address concerns about exploitation in an unregulated fertility sector (see BioNews 1125).

These pieces of legislation were brought in following concerns surrounding unregulated surrogacy and exploitation of surrogates in the country (see BioNews 1018 and 982).