The importance importanceimportance of domestic workers cannot be undermined in the wake of emerging trends in the proliferation of nuclear and dual-income families, emerging ‘new’ middle classes, working women and aging and so on and yet it is one of the most neglected constituencies of workforce because of the workers’ conflation with care economy. The workplaces are inside the homes, essentially undertaken by women, which make it outside the purview of‘productive’ labour. Ironically, similar services, when regulated outside the home are treated differently (ILO 2010). This brief note provides an overview of the existing situation of domestic workers – the issues covered range from defining them to the recent legislative interventions and state responses. Definition Defining domestic workers is not as straight forward as it seems. As Neetha (2009) points out, commonly they are part or full-time workers engaged in domestic services in exchange for remuneration payable either through cash or kind. The terms of employment are at times clearly indicated, but are often not explicit. One of the basic challenges is to identify the types of activities that should be included as domestic work, particularly if the quantum of such work is to be assessed for planning/policy measures.