How to Solve Excess and unin formed leaves by employees

We are IT based company in Mumbai and we are facing excess leaves/holidays taken by employees and uninformed absents
- Taking long leave of more than month for going home town.
- Not coming on specified date & extending leave when visiting home town.
- Frequent absent from work with or without informing
Can we make a policy that if any employee takes more leave or is absent for more days then leaves sanctioned we can deduct more salary then normal. for eg. 10% extra deduction for number of absent days in excess days.
Is there any other action we can take against the employee
R. Modi

Dear Ravi Modi,
After reading your post, the first question that comes to one's mind is whether you have a policy on the employee leave? If yes, have you defined what is the procedure to obtain leave, types of leave and what constitutes "unauthorised absence" and merits the deduction of pay?
First and foremost revise your leave policy. After revision, circulate it to all the employees. If the leave is not approved by the HOD, then start deducting the pay for the unauthorised leave.
In case if you are deducting the pay already then this means, the punishment is not working. It shows the mindset of the employees as to how much they are "desensitised".
Therefore, the problem lies in the culture of the company. It appears that you do not have career-conscious people in your company. Going on unauthorised absence shows employees are bothered about their career and if bothered, they are not taking your company seriously. They must be considering your company as a "stopgap" arrangement.
Generally, this problem occurs in a manufacturing company where workers are uneducated and lack seriousness. That this problem should happen in the IT company is a matter of surprise.
The situation merits not just reviewing the leave policy but policy on employee recruitment, policy on employee welfare etc. Please check whether you are paying as per market standards.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar