India, Oct. 21 -- The 2017 amendment, which provided for increased paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children, followed an 8.4% decline in women's employment and a 2.6% rise in men's employment at covered manufacturing firms, according to a study.

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, mandated employers to bear the cost of the leave. It changed the provisions of an over 55-year-old law, entitling women employees to certain benefits. The new law made it mandatory for every establishment with 50 or more employees to have the facility of a creche within a prescribed distance. The employers were bound to allow a woman employee four visits a day to the creche.

The study, 'Mandated Maternity Leave and Lab...