Leave Engine

Leave Management System in India

Q: What leave types does the leave management system support?

Earned leave, casual leave, sick leave, comp-off, work from home, maternity (26 weeks under the Maternity Benefit Act), paternity, bereavement, sabbatical, and unlimited custom types. Each one is configurable per location, grade, and department.

Q: How do sandwich leave rules work in your system?

If an employee takes Friday and Monday off, the weekend in between auto-counts as leave per your sandwich policy. Rules are configurable per leave type and can be turned off, set to club only intervening holidays, or apply only to specific leave categories.

Q: Can we maintain different leave policies per location in India?

Yes. Each Indian state and branch can have its own holiday calendar, leave types, accrual rules, optional holidays, and sandwich logic. Employees see only the policies that apply to their work-state and grade.

Q: How does leave encashment work in your platform?

Unused earned leave is auto-encashed at year-end, on resignation, or during full-and-final settlement based on your encashment policy. The amount is calculated per the configured formula, TDS is deducted as per Section 192 of the Income Tax Act, and the payout flows into payroll.

Q: Is comp-off tracking automated for weekend or holiday work?

Yes. When an employee works on a weekly off or company holiday, comp-off is auto-credited based on attendance. Expiry windows are configurable, half-day comp-off is supported, and approval workflows mirror regular leave.

Q: How fast are leave approvals on average?

Average approval time under 2 hours, down from the 3 to 5 days typical of email-based approvals. Push notifications go to managers, auto-escalation triggers if no action is taken within configured timers, and auto-approval rules can be set for certain leave types.

Q: Does the leave system integrate with attendance and payroll?

Yes. Approved leaves flow to attendance for accurate present-absent records and into payroll for LOP, encashment, and balance carry-forward. The integration is real-time, not a nightly sync, so balances are always current.

Q: How quickly can we go live with your leave management system?

Most Indian companies go live in 1 to 2 business days. Day 1 we import existing leave types and balances, Day 2 we configure approval workflows and holiday calendars, and you start applying leaves the same week. Larger multi-entity rollouts may take 3 to 5 days.

Q: How is your leave management system better than Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, Darwinbox, or HROne?

We focus on Indian-grade depth: full sandwich logic, state-wise holiday calendars, comp-off and encashment built into the engine, real-time payroll feed, and 1 to 2 day implementation. Many alternatives charge sandwich rules or location-wise calendars as add-ons or take longer to configure.

Q: Can we migrate from existing leave software without losing balance history?

Yes. Our migration team imports leave types, current balances, accrual history, comp-off credits, encashment history, and holiday calendars from Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, Darwinbox, HROne, Excel, or any legacy HRMS. Employees see their historical balances and trail from day one.

Leave Management System That Runs EL, CL, SL, Comp-Off Without The Manual Work.

Manage leave types, accruals, approvals, holiday calendars, sandwich rules, comp-off, encashment, and payroll sync from one leave management system built for Indian businesses.

Get Started for Free See How it Works

✓ 14-day free trial · No credit card required · Live in 1 to 2 days

4.9 / 5

on G2 and Capterra Trusted by 500+ Indian businesses

                app.hrmssuite.in/leave-control
              

Policy sync active

Overview

Leave Calendar

My Requests

Team Leaves

Policies

Holidays

Comp-Off

Leave requests today

tracked across policies, holidays, comp-off, and payroll-linked balances

Leave dashboard | March 2026

1,247 employees | 15 leave types | 4 active locations

12 approvals pending Payroll synced

On Leave

2.8% of team

Pending

avg 2 hour TAT

Comp-Off

credits available

Utilization

67%

within policy range

Recent leave requests

Approvals, auto-rules, and policy checks moving in one flow

3 rules active

Rahul S.

Approved

Earned Leave 2 days

Priya M.

Pending

Sick Leave 1 day

Amit K.

Approved

Comp-Off 0.5 day

Sneha R.

Auto-Approved

WFH 1 day

Balance summary

Earned Leave 8/18

Casual Leave 4/7

Sick Leave 2/6

Comp-Off 1.5

Leave intelligence

Policy ready

Sandwich rule auto-validated

Comp-off and holidays cross-checked

LOP impact pushed to payroll

The Hidden Cost

What manual leave tracking actually costs you

Email chains, Excel trackers, and policy confusion create chaos every month.

3-5 days

Per leave request

stuck in email approval chains

40%

Policy violations

from unclear sandwich & encashment rules

15+ hrs

Monthly HR effort

manually tracking balances in Excel

₹2.1L

Lost annually

from incorrect leave encashment

Approval Bottlenecks

Leave requests stuck in manager email

No escalation for delayed approvals

Employees can't plan without confirmation

Policy Confusion

Sandwich rules applied inconsistently

Leave encashment calculated wrong

Different policies per location not tracked

Balance Errors

Excel sheets with wrong carry-forward

Comp-off and half-days miscounted

Payroll gets incorrect leave data

Fix all of this with policy-driven leave automation. See how →

Complete Leave Suite

Every Feature Your Leave Team Needs, Built In

10 modules covering leave policy setup, accruals, approvals, sandwich rules, comp-off, encashment, employee self service, and payroll sync for Indian businesses.

Custom Leave Policies

Configure earned leave, casual leave, sick leave, comp-off, work from home, maternity, paternity, bereavement, and custom leave types by company, grade, branch, or department.

EL, CL, SL Custom leave types Policy by location

Accrual & Carry Forward

Automate monthly accrual, probation rules, carry-forward limits, lapse conditions, and leave balance resets without spreadsheets or manual calculations.

Monthly accrual Carry forward Lapse rules

Multi-Level Approvals

Route leave requests to managers, skip-level approvers, department heads, or HR with escalation timelines, auto-approval rules, and complete approval history.

Manager routing Escalation rules Approval trail

Holiday & Restricted Calendars

Maintain national, state, branch, and optional holiday calendars so employees only see the leave and holiday rules relevant to their location.

State holidays Optional holidays Branch calendars

Sandwich Rule Engine

Apply sandwich leave logic, clubbing restrictions, prefix-suffix rules, and minimum balance checks automatically based on your leave policy.

Sandwich logic Prefix-suffix Balance validation

Comp-Off & Half-Day Control

Credit comp-off for weekend or holiday work, define expiry windows, and allow first-half or second-half leave requests with policy-based validation.

Comp-off credit Expiry window Half-day leave

Leave Encashment & LOP

Calculate leave encashment at year-end, resignation, or full and final settlement while automatically identifying loss of pay days for payroll.

Encashment calc LOP days FnF ready

Team Calendar & Visibility

Give managers a live team leave calendar with overlap alerts, blackout periods, and staffing visibility before approving requests.

Team calendar Overlap alerts Blackout dates

ESS & Mobile Leave Apply

Employees can apply leave, upload reasons or documents, view balances, and track approval status instantly from web and mobile apps.

Mobile apply Balance visibility Status tracking

Payroll Sync & Leave Reports

Push approved leave data into payroll for LOP, encashment, and attendance impact while HR gets utilization reports, balance reports, and policy analytics.

Payroll sync Leave MIS Utilization reports

How It Works

From leave request to payroll in 4 steps

Fully automated leave lifecycle, zero email chains.

Apply via App

Employee selects leave type, dates, and reason. Balance auto-checked before submission.

Step 01

Smart Routing

Request auto-routed to manager. Escalation triggers if no action within configured time.

Step 02

Policy Check

Sandwich rules, overlap detection, minimum balance: all validated automatically.

Step 03

Payroll Sync

Approved leaves flow to payroll. LOP, encashment, and balance carry-forward automated.

Step 04

Live In 1 To 2 Days

Switching leave management is faster than building one Excel sheet

Our consultants migrate leave types, balances, holiday calendars, and approval workflows from Excel, Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, Darwinbox, HROne, or any legacy HRMS without losing a single balance.

Day 1

Policy Import

Existing leave types, accrual rules, sandwich logic, and balance history loaded from Excel or your current HRMS.

Day 2

Calendars Setup

National, state, optional, and branch holiday calendars configured per location with restricted holiday rules.

Day 3

Approval Workflows

Manager, skip-level, HR routing rules, escalation timers, and auto-approval policies built per leave type.

Day 4

Payroll Sync

LOP, comp-off, encashment, and balance carry-forward connected to the payroll engine for accurate salary processing.

Day 5

Go Live

Employees apply leave from web and mobile, managers approve from anywhere, and balances stay accurate across every state.

Multi-location or 1,000+ employee rollout? Talk to our leave consultant

Trusted by Indian Businesses

De-risk your leave management decision

2M+

Leave Requests Processed

Annually across 500+ companies

< 2 hrs

Avg Approval Time

Down from 3-5 days via email

100%

Policy Compliance

Automated sandwich & encashment rules

ISO 27001:2022

Cert: [Add cert number]

SOC 2 Type II

Audited annually

Maternity Benefit Act

26 weeks supported

DPDP Act 2023 Aligned

India data residency

“Leave approval time dropped from 3 days to under 2 hours. The sandwich rule automation alone saved us 10+ hours a month.”

Kavita Sharma

HR Manager · Add company name

“Managing 15 leave types across 4 locations with different state holidays was impossible in Excel. Now it runs itself.”

Rajesh Pillai

Head HR · Add company name

Transparent Pricing

Leave management system pricing

Simple per-employee monthly pricing in INR with GST invoice. No setup fee for standard onboarding. Cancel anytime.

Core

For startups under 50 employees

₹60 / employee / month

5 leave types
Single approval workflow
Mobile leave apply
Holiday calendar

Automated leave vs the old way

See why teams are ditching email chains and Excel trackers.

Email + Excel

Sandwich violations · No audit trail

Custom Leave Policies

Multi-Level Approvals

Holiday Calendar

Sandwich Rules

Comp-Off Tracking

Leave Encashment

Payroll Auto-Sync

Mobile App

Leave management system in India: how we compare

Side-by-side look at HRMS Software in India vs Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, Darwinbox, and HROne on the leave features Indian HR teams actually use.

Feature	Ours	Keka	GreytHR	Zoho People	Darwinbox	HROne
15+ leave types and unlimited custom types	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	Partial
Sandwich rule and clubbing logic engine	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Partial	Partial
State and branch holiday calendars	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Comp-off credit, expiry, and half-day controls	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	Yes
Maternity Benefit Act 26-week support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	Partial
Multi-level approvals and auto-escalation	Yes	Yes	Partial	Partial	Yes	Partial
Real-time payroll feed for LOP and encashment	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Partial	Partial
Implementation in 1 to 2 days	Yes	Partial	Partial	Yes	No	Partial
DPDP Act 2023 alignment and India data residency	Yes	Partial	Partial	Partial	Yes	Partial

Comparison reflects publicly available product positioning across Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, Darwinbox, and HROne as of FY 2026. "Partial" indicates the feature is available as an add-on, paid module, or with limited Indian compliance depth. Verify with each vendor before procurement.

See A Live Comparison Demo

The Smart Advantage

What changes when leaves manage themselves

Five areas where automation replaces email chains and Excel chaos.

Approval Speed

Leave requests stuck in email for days

Push notification approval in hours

Policy Compliance

Sandwich rules applied inconsistently

Auto-enforced for every leave request

Balance Accuracy

Wrong carry-forward, comp-off miscounts

Real-time balance across all leave types

Encashment

Manual calculation with frequent errors

Auto-calculated with tax at year-end/exit

Payroll Feed

HR manually enters LOP into payroll

Auto-sync: leave data flows to salary

leave-engine

Live

FY 2026 Leave Overview

67% Utilized

On Track

Approved

2M+

Avg Time

< 2h

Violations

Policy Engine Status

15 Leave Types: Active

Sandwich Rules: Enforcing

Holiday Calendar: Synced

Encashment: Auto-Calc

Payroll Feed: Real-time

100% policy compliant

2hr avg approval

See the Engine in Action

By Company Size

Best leave management system for every Indian team size

From a 10-person startup to a 10,000-employee enterprise, our leave engine scales with your headcount, leave types, and approval depth.

10 to 50 employees

Best Leave Software For Startups

Founders managing leave on Excel or WhatsApp. Get clean leave types, mobile apply, and accurate balances without hiring an HR specialist.

Mobile leave apply
Auto holiday calendar
Live in 1 to 2 days

50 to 500 employees

Best Leave Software For SMEs

Growing Indian companies with multi-state hires, sandwich-rule debates, and the first wave of audit needs. Multi-level approvals and policy engine built in.

15+ leave types
Sandwich rule engine
Multi-level approvals

500 to 2,000 employees

Best Leave Software For Mid-Market

Multi-location organisations with state-wise holiday calendars, comp-off complexity, and tighter audit windows. Group reporting and analytics included.

State holiday engine
Comp-off and FnF
Leave analytics

2,000+ employees

Best Leave Software For Enterprise

Pan-India enterprises with multi-entity payroll, contract workforce, and tight audit scrutiny. SLA-backed support, dedicated success manager, and API access included.

Multi-entity policies
API access
Enterprise SLA

By Industry

Built for the way Indian industries actually manage leave

IT, manufacturing, BFSI, retail, healthcare, and BPO each have their own leave quirks. Our engine handles them on one configurable platform.

IT and SaaS

For Indian IT and product teams with WFH leave, sabbatical, paternity, and unlimited custom leave types.

WFH and hybrid leave Custom leave types Paternity and sabbatical

Manufacturing

For Indian factories with shift-based leave, comp-off for weekend work, contract labour leave, and Factories Act compliance.

Shift-based leave Comp-off engine Factories Act ready

BFSI

For Indian banks, NBFCs, and insurance with strict audit trails, blackout periods, and compliance leave reporting.

Blackout dates Audit-ready logs RBI-friendly reports

Retail

For Indian retail chains with store-wise holiday calendars, peak season blackout, and high-turnover leave handling.

Store-wise calendars Peak blackout Quick onboarding

Healthcare

For Indian hospitals and clinics with 24x7 nursing rosters, on-call leave, and clinical-staff leave compliance.

24x7 roster leave On-call adjustments Compliance trail

BPO and KPO

For Indian BPO and KPO operations with rotating shift leave, transport-allowance triggers on leave, and high-volume processing.

Shift leave engine Transport allowance Bulk leave processing

Connected HRMS Modules

Pair leave with the rest of your HRMS

Leave management runs cleaner when payroll, attendance, ESS, performance, and onboarding share data. Explore the modules that connect with leave automatically.

Payroll Software

Leave encashment, LOP, and balance carry-forward feed into payroll for accurate salary every cycle.

Explore module

Attendance Management System

Half-day, comp-off, and absence detection sync with attendance so balances and LOP stay accurate.

Explore module

Employee Self Service Portal

Web and mobile ESS for leave apply, balance check, and approval status by every employee.

Explore module

Performance Management Software

Leave patterns and presence trends feed appraisal and performance review conversations.

Explore module

Employee Onboarding Software

New hires get leave balance setup, holiday calendar assignment, and policy acknowledgement on day one.

Explore module

Expense Management Software

Travel and reimbursement claims connect to leave and tour data for cleaner reconciliation.

Explore module

Built For Indian Procurement Reviews

Security and DPDP Act 2023 readiness for leave data

Built for Indian IT, security, and procurement teams. Every leave application, medical certificate upload, and balance change is processed under documented controls aligned with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

India Data Residency

Leave records, balance history, and uploaded medical or supporting documents hosted on Indian cloud infrastructure.

Documented Consent Flows

Sensitive leave data such as maternity, sick leave, or medical proofs gated by employee consent with audit-ready logs.

Retention And Erasure

Leave, comp-off, and encashment logs retained for the longer of seven years or statutory period under labour and tax law.

Named Grievance Officer

Dedicated Grievance Officer under the DPDP Act, 2023 and Information Technology Act, 2000 with documented response timelines.

Need our DPDP Act compliance memo, ISO 27001 certificate, SOC 2 Type II report, or vendor security questionnaire response? Request the security pack

Ready to automate your leave management?

Join 500+ Indian businesses with instant leave approvals and zero policy violations.

Book a Free Demo View Pricing

No credit card required Setup in 1-2 days Free leave audit

FAQ

Everything About Leave Management

Common questions about leave policies, approvals, and Indian compliance.

What leave types does the leave management system support?

Earned leave, casual leave, sick leave, comp-off, work from home, maternity (26 weeks under the Maternity Benefit Act), paternity, bereavement, sabbatical, and unlimited custom types. Each one is configurable per location, grade, and department.

How do sandwich leave rules work in your system?

If an employee takes Friday and Monday off, the weekend in between auto-counts as leave per your sandwich policy. Rules are configurable per leave type and can be turned off, set to club only intervening holidays, or apply only to specific leave categories.

Can we maintain different leave policies per location in India?

Yes. Each Indian state and branch can have its own holiday calendar, leave types, accrual rules, optional holidays, and sandwich logic. Employees see only the policies that apply to their work-state and grade.

How does leave encashment work in your platform?

Unused earned leave is auto-encashed at year-end, on resignation, or during full-and-final settlement based on your encashment policy. The amount is calculated per the configured formula, TDS is deducted as per Section 192 of the Income Tax Act, and the payout flows into payroll.

Is comp-off tracking automated for weekend or holiday work?

Yes. When an employee works on a weekly off or company holiday, comp-off is auto-credited based on attendance. Expiry windows are configurable, half-day comp-off is supported, and approval workflows mirror regular leave.

How fast are leave approvals on average?

Average approval time under 2 hours, down from the 3 to 5 days typical of email-based approvals. Push notifications go to managers, auto-escalation triggers if no action is taken within configured timers, and auto-approval rules can be set for certain leave types.

Does the leave system integrate with attendance and payroll?

Yes. Approved leaves flow to attendance for accurate present-absent records and into payroll for LOP, encashment, and balance carry-forward. The integration is real-time, not a nightly sync, so balances are always current.

How quickly can we go live with your leave management system?

Most Indian companies go live in 1 to 2 business days. Day 1 we import existing leave types and balances, Day 2 we configure approval workflows and holiday calendars, and you start applying leaves the same week. Larger multi-entity rollouts may take 3 to 5 days.

How is your leave management system better than Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, Darwinbox, or HROne?

We focus on Indian-grade depth: full sandwich logic, state-wise holiday calendars, comp-off and encashment built into the engine, real-time payroll feed, and 1 to 2 day implementation. Many alternatives charge sandwich rules or location-wise calendars as add-ons or take longer to configure.

Can we migrate from existing leave software without losing balance history?

Yes. Our migration team imports leave types, current balances, accrual history, comp-off credits, encashment history, and holiday calendars from Keka, GreytHR, Zoho People, Darwinbox, HROne, Excel, or any legacy HRMS. Employees see their historical balances and trail from day one.

What is the actual setup cost beyond the per-employee fee?

Standard onboarding has no setup fee. The per-employee monthly price is the price. Custom integrations, multi-entity rollouts above five companies, or migration from in-house ERP may be quoted separately. Free trial covers full feature access with zero upfront cost.

Where is leave data hosted? Is the platform DPDP Act 2023 compliant?

Leave applications, balance history, and uploaded medical or supporting documents are hosted on Indian cloud infrastructure for data residency. The platform is aligned with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 with documented consent flows, employee data principal rights, retention policies, and a named Grievance Officer.

Does the platform support contract labour and the Code on Social Security?

Yes. Leave for contract labour is handled separately under principal-employer reporting per the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970. The Code on Social Security 2020 readiness includes maternity, gratuity, and ESI integration once the code is fully notified.

What support do we get during the first three weeks after go-live?

You get a dedicated leave consultant during onboarding plus daily check-ins for the first three weeks. Email, chat, and helpdesk support are included on every plan. Premium and Ultimate plans add priority response and a dedicated success manager for ongoing optimisation.