The Ministry of Women and Child Development has established National Minimum Standards and Protocol in 2024 for setting up creches, requiring care service providers to comply with government rules, laws and regulations related to child protection and safety. This initiative supports the Anganwadi cum Creches (Palna) scheme implemented from April 1, 2022, which provides day care creche facilities in safe and secure environments to children aged 6 months to 6 years, regardless of their mothers' employment status, along with nutritional support, health and cognitive development services, growth monitoring, immunization, and education.
The scheme is centrally sponsored with funding ratios of 60:40 between Centre and State Governments/UTs with legislature, 90:10 for North East & Special Category States, and 100% central funding for UTs without legislature. The requirement for Anganwadi-cum-Crèche Centres is assessed by respective States/UTs, with proposals approved by the Programme Approval Board after detailed discussions. Currently, 4,172 Anganwadi-cum-Crèches are operational across the country, representing the world's largest childcare institutions.
On the regulatory front, the Ministry of Labour and Employment confirmed that provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 have been subsumed under the Code on Social Security, 2020, effective November 21, 2025. Section 67 of the Code mandates creche facilities for establishments with 50 or more employees, with enforcement responsibility falling to State Governments for state sphere establishments and the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) Organisation for central sphere establishments.