NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A nanny in India's IT hub of Bangalore was fired after she regularly drugged a seven-month-old baby in her care and rented him out for $2 a day to be used by street beggars, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The child's mother found her baby missing when one day she returned home early from work at a multi-national firm, the Times of India newspaper said.

The nanny confessed to have been renting out the baby for the past three weeks, it said.

Beggars with babies are a common sight at traffic signals and roads in cities and towns of India, where giving alms is traditionally considered a way of gaining spiritual merit.

Rising female employment and a preference for nuclear families in India means more children are being handed over to hired help for care when parents go off to work.