The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2007 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on May 14, 2007. It was referred to the Standing Committee on Labour (Chairperson: Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy) on May 17, 2007, which submitted its report on August 16, 2007.

The Bill seeks to amend the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. The Principal Act regulates the maternity benefit available to women in factories, mines, the circus industry, plantations and shops or establishments employing 10 or more persons. It does not cover employees who are covered under the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) for certain periods before and after child-birth. Women entitled to a maternity benefit are also entitled to receive a medical bonus of Rs 250 from their employer, if no pre-natal confinement and post-natal care is provided by the employer free of charge.

The Bill seeks to raise the amount of maternity bonus from Rs. 250 to Rs. 1,000 from the employer, unless pre-natal confinement and post-natal care is provided for by the employer free of charge. The Bill also allows the central government increase the amount of medical bonus to a maximum of Rs. 20,000 by notification.

The Standing Committee in its report recommended that the maternity bonus should be raised to Rs. 5,000 and that there was no need to specify a maximum limit on how much the bonus could be raised up to by the central government. It also felt that the government should revise the bonus every three years.

The Standing Committee made a series of general recommendations.