In a move towards gender parity on parental leaves, asset management firm Fidelity International has announced up to 26 weeks of paternity leave globally, including India.

Currently, the company offers 10 days of paternity leave and 26 weeks of maternity leave which is on par with the central government's parental leave policy and adopted by a few corporates as well.

Introduction of a company-wide enhanced parental leave policy means that fathers and secondary carers will also now be able to take the same amount of paid leave as mothers and primary carers, said the London-based company that employs tens of hundreds.

Its India operations based in Gurugram employs over 2,500, but it did not disclose how many of them are men.

The new parental leave policy will be effective for children born, including via surrogacy, or placed for adoption on or after September 1, 2020 and will offer up to 26 weeks of paid leave for each parent employed by us within the first 12 months of a child's arrival, Fidelity International India said in a statement on Thursday.

The paid parental leave will be equalised with paid maternity leave, it said, adding these new enhancements will ensure all employees are supported to spend time caring for their children, regardless of the gender, sexual orientation, location or how they become a parent.

Anne Richards, the chief executive, said, We want to be a market leader and offer an inclusive culture where all our people may spend time caring for their children and also thrive in their careers. We are proud to announce our new parental leave policy globally to all our employees.

Sally Nelson, chief people officer, said the amount of total time off and pay will match the total paid maternity leave entitlement in each country.

Canada is the only market currently where it offers equalised maternity and paternity paid leave at 25 weeks.

Fidelity offers investment solutions and services to over 2.4 million managing USD 480 billion in assets across 25 geographies. Its clients mostly are central banks, sovereign wealth funds, large corporates, financial institutions, insurers and wealth managers ultra-rich individuals.