The calculator below applies the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 as amended in 2017. Enter your expected delivery date, pick how many weeks you want to take before delivery, and it works out your leave start date, the day you have to rejoin, and how much maternity benefit you’re owed.
If you’re planning when to stop working, this is the number that matters: the date your 26 weeks actually ends. Most people count forward from the due date and get it wrong because they forget the pre-delivery weeks pull the start date earlier. Get the start date right and the rejoin date falls out automatically.
How much maternity leave you get
The 2017 amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act raised paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for women with fewer than two surviving children. So your first child and your second child each qualify for the full 26 weeks. That’s 182 calendar days of paid leave.
From the third child onward, it drops back to 12 weeks (84 days). The logic the Ministry gave was that the longer entitlement was meant to support mothers through the early-childhood years for their first two kids; beyond that, the older 12-week rule continues to apply.
A woman who adopts a child below the age of three months, or a commissioning mother (the biological mother who uses a surrogate), gets 12 weeks counted from the date the child is handed over. There’s no pre-delivery portion in these cases for obvious reasons, so the leave simply runs forward from the handover date.
The 8-week pre-delivery rule
Out of the 26 weeks, you can take a maximum of 8 weeks before your expected delivery date. The remaining weeks fall after delivery. For the 12-week entitlement, the pre-delivery cap is 6 weeks.
This is the part the calculator handles that a simple “due date plus six months” sum misses. Say your due date is 1 September and you take the full 8 weeks before. Your leave actually starts on 7 July, and your 26 weeks run out on 4 January, so you rejoin on 5 January. If you’d taken zero weeks before delivery, the same 26 weeks would push your rejoin date all the way to early March instead. The pre-delivery choice moves your entire window.
Most women take somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks before delivery and save the bulk for after the baby arrives. There’s no rule forcing you to take any pre-delivery leave at all. It’s your call, capped at 8.
Who is covered
The Maternity Benefit Act applies to every establishment with 10 or more employees: factories, mines, shops, offices, the lot. If your company has 10 or more people on the rolls, you’re covered, full stop.
The one eligibility test is service: you must have actually worked for at least 80 days in the 12 months immediately before your expected delivery date. Eighty days, not eighty days of being on the payroll. If you joined four months before your due date and worked through, you clear it easily. If you joined six weeks before, you probably don’t, and the benefit isn’t payable.
Government employees follow separate service rules (usually more generous, often 180 days of leave under CCS rules), so this calculator is built for the private-sector Maternity Benefit Act figure.
How maternity benefit pay is calculated
You’re paid your average daily wage for every day of the leave. The Act defines average daily wage as the average of your wages for the days you actually worked in the three calendar months before you go on leave.
The calculator approximates this as your monthly gross divided by 30, then multiplies by the leave days. For a ₹60,000 monthly salary across 26 weeks:
Daily wage = 60,000 / 30 = ₹2,000
Maternity benefit = ₹2,000 × 182 days = ₹3,64,000
That works out to roughly six months of full pay, which is exactly what 26 weeks should feel like. Your employer pays this; it isn’t a government payout. For the 12-week cases the same daily-wage logic applies over 84 days instead of 182.
The ₹3,500 medical bonus
On top of the salary, the Act provides a medical bonus of ₹3,500 if your employer does not provide free pre-natal and post-natal care. Many companies with good insurance and tie-up hospitals do provide that care, in which case the bonus doesn’t apply. The original figure was ₹3,500 and the Act lets the Central Government raise it up to ₹20,000 by notification, though as of 2026 the notified amount most employers pay remains ₹3,500. Ask HR which applies to you.
Worked example: software engineer in Bengaluru, first child
Priya works at a 400-person product company in Bengaluru, gross salary ₹85,000 a month, expecting her first child on 15 October 2026. She wants to work as long as she comfortably can, so she takes only 2 weeks before delivery.
- Leave type: first child, 26 weeks
- Pre-delivery: 2 weeks → leave starts 1 October 2026
- 182 days of leave → last day 31 March 2027, rejoin 1 April 2027
- Daily wage: 85,000 / 30 = ₹2,833
- Maternity benefit: ₹2,833 × 182 = ₹5,15,667
- Plus ₹3,500 medical bonus if the company doesn’t cover her delivery
Had Priya taken the full 8 weeks before delivery, her leave would have started 20 August and she’d be back by mid-February. Same 26 weeks, six weeks earlier on both ends. The total pay doesn’t change; only the calendar shifts.
Things the Act also gives you
Beyond the headline 26 weeks, the Maternity Benefit Act carries a few provisions worth knowing:
- Miscarriage or medical termination: 6 weeks of paid leave from the date it happens.
- Tubectomy: 2 weeks of paid leave following the operation.
- Illness arising from pregnancy, delivery, premature birth or miscarriage: an additional month of paid leave on top, with medical proof.
- Work from home: after the 26 weeks end, if the nature of your work allows, you and your employer can agree to a work-from-home arrangement. It’s optional, not a right.
- Creche facility: establishments with 50 or more employees must provide a creche, and you’re allowed four visits a day to it including rest intervals.
- No dismissal: it’s illegal for your employer to dismiss you or change your conditions to your disadvantage because you took maternity leave.
Frequently asked questions
Is maternity leave 26 weeks for every child?
No. It’s 26 weeks for your first and second child (anyone with fewer than two surviving children at the time). From the third child onward it’s 12 weeks. The calculator’s toggle switches between the two so you see the right rejoin date for your situation.
Can my employer force me to take leave before delivery?
No. The 8-week pre-delivery portion is a maximum you’re allowed, not a minimum you must take. You can work right up to your delivery and take all 26 weeks after, subject to your own health and your doctor’s advice. The calculator lets you set pre-delivery weeks to zero to model exactly that.
Is maternity benefit pay taxable?
Maternity benefit paid by your employer is part of your salary and is taxed as salary income in the normal way. There’s no special exemption for it, unlike gratuity or leave encashment. It shows up in your Form 16 and you pay tax at your slab. The ₹3,500 medical bonus is also taxable as part of salary.
What if I have twins or a complicated delivery?
The 26-week entitlement is per maternity event, not per baby, so twins still give you 26 weeks, not 52. If complications cause an illness arising out of the delivery, that’s where the extra one month of leave under the Act can apply, with a medical certificate. Many employers also extend unpaid leave on request; that’s policy, not statute.
Does the 80-day rule count paid leave and holidays?
The 80 days is days you have actually worked. Days you were laid off, or on leave with wages, are counted toward the 80 as the Act treats certain absences as working days, but the safest reading is 80 days of genuine attendance in the 12 months before the expected delivery. If you’re close to the line, ask HR to confirm against your attendance record before you plan around the benefit.
Do contract and fixed-term employees get maternity leave?
If you’re on the establishment’s rolls and clear the 80-day test, the Act covers you regardless of whether your contract says permanent or fixed-term. Courts have repeatedly read the Act broadly to cover women in continuous employment. Genuinely independent consultants billing through invoices are a grey area and usually fall outside it.
Is paternity leave covered by this Act?
No. The Maternity Benefit Act covers mothers only. There is no statutory paternity leave for private-sector employees in India as of 2026; central government employees get 15 days under separate CCS rules, and many private companies offer a few days as policy. A Paternity Benefit Bill has been discussed but not passed.
Sources
- Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (Government of India)
- Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (raised 12 weeks to 26 weeks)
- Ministry of Labour and Employment: maternity benefit rules and FAQs
- Section 5 and Section 8: average daily wage and medical bonus provisions