Since 2014, the Government of India has constructed millions of toilets with onsite containment technology (OCT) (i.e., pit latrines and septic tanks). In this study, a detailed analysis of the toilets built, people’s awareness about the existing sanitation system, and faecal sludge management (FSM) in rural, semi-urban, and urban areas of Maharashtra, India was done by carrying out a household (HH) survey and interviews with stakeholders. In the surveyed areas, open defaecation (OD) has been eliminated and an individual HH toilet with OCT is the most common sanitation available. The rural area has no FSM facilities. The semi-urban area has a very little faecal sludge (FS) collection by private agencies, while the urban area has a government-aided FS collection system. However, the semi-urban and urban areas have no disposal or treatment facility for the FS collected. In the urban area, irregular emptying of FS has triggered 7% of the HHs to practise OD and 29% of the HHs use manual labour for emptying the OCT. This study can help practitioners, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations to understand the ground reality for establishing/modifying FSM rules and regulations for Indian conditions. © IWA Publishing 2021.