Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for power savings for control channel monitoring for enhanced machine type communications (eMTC). In one aspect, a method is provided which may be performed by a wireless device such as a low cost wireless device, which may be user equipment (UE) or an eMTC UE. The method generally includes determining whether a downlink channel is present in a subframe; and causing the UE to enter a low power mode for a duration based on a determination that the downlink channel is not present in the subframe.