In line with the amendment in the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, passed by the Indian Parliament in 2017 a NITI Aayog member V K Paul, stated that both the private and governmental sectors should consider raising maternity leave for female employees from six to nine months on Monday. 

The FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) stated that both the commercial and governmental sectors must work together to consider enhancing mothers maternity leave from six to nine months. According to the announcement, Paul claimed that the private sector may help the NITI Aayog create comprehensive child care by opening additional creches for children and providing the essential elderly care.

Sudha Shivkumar, the president of the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), said that the global care economy, which includes both paid and unpaid work connected to caregiving such as childcare, elder care, and household duties, is a crucial sector that promotes economic growth, gender parity, and womens empowerment.

She stated that while care work is economically useful, it is underestimated globally. The main gap in India is the need for a mechanism for correctly identifying care economy employees, and Indias governmental investment in the care economy is extremely low compared to other countries.

(Source:https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/policy/private-and-public-sectors-should-consider-increasing-maternity-leave-to-9-months-niti-aayog-member/100262114?utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=ethealth_news_2023-05-16&dt=2023-05-16)