We reviewed 15 EOR providers for hiring in India, comparing prices from $99 to $699/month, entity ownership, INR payroll, and onboarding speed, plus a full guide to PF, TDS, and the new labour codes.
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India is the largest EOR market most providers operate in, and the hardest one to get right. Employment rules come from both the centre and the states, so a hire in Pune carries different professional tax, leave, and registration obligations than the same hire in Bengaluru or Gurugram.
The ground also shifted in November 2025. The four labour codes replaced 29 central statutes, and providers are mid-transition on how they structure basic pay, PF, and gratuity. A provider that has not updated its India contracts for the new wage definition is one you will be cleaning up after.
We assessed 15 providers against what India actually demands: a named entity model, INR payroll with correct statutory deductions, onboarding speed, and honest answers on work permits. Prices run from $99 to $699 per employee per month. Our EOR cost guide covers how those fees are built.
Why use an EOR in India
Hire in 2 days to 2 weeks instead of the 3–6 months a private limited company, GST, EPFO, and ESIC registration takes. PF, ESI, TDS, and state professional tax are filed correctly, including the states your payroll team has never heard of. The 2025–26 labour code transition gets absorbed by your provider, not your finance team.
Editor’s shortlist
Our top EOR picks for India
Three providers that each hold their own Indian entity, covering the situations most companies land in when hiring here. The full ranked list of ten follows below, with five more providers after it.
Best overall
Multiplier
★★★★★4.73,059 reviews
The only owned Indian entity on this page under $500 a month, which is why it leads the ranking.
$400/mo150+ countriesOwned entity
$400 a month, $199 below both Deel and Pebl for the same owned-entity model.
Files PF, ESI, TDS and state professional tax under its own EPFO registration.
Applies the Code on Wages 50% basic pay rule, which resets PF and gratuity.
All three run through their own Indian entity, so PF, ESI, TDS and state professional tax are filed under their own registration rather than a partner’s. Cheaper options exist further down the page, starting at $99. Use the cost calculator below to model the statutory load on your own salary band.
Best India EOR Solutions: Quick Comparison
We compared the best EOR providers operating in India across the factors that decide a compliant hire: whether the provider runs through its own local entity, how fast they onboard, what payroll currency they support, and what work permit capability they have confirmed.
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Top India EOR Solutions in Detail
The providers below are evaluated specifically for India Each card covers what the provider actually does in this market: the entity model, statutory handling, onboarding speed, and the specific compliance obligations they take on. Strengths and weaknesses are based on verified review data and our independent research, not vendor submissions.
Multiplier
★ Editor’s pick
Best for Asia-first teams scaling into India at $400 per month
Owned entity150+ countriesOnboards in under 1 week
Why Multiplier works in India
Multiplier holds a wholly owned entity in India, which means PF, ESI, TDS, and state professional tax are filed directly under its own registration, not through a partner. For a hire in Bengaluru or Hyderabad, that means the provider carries the EPFO employer liability rather than routing it through a third party whose compliance track record you cannot verify.
At $400 per month, it is the lowest-priced full-featured EOR on this list with an owned India entity. The platform handles INR payroll with correct statutory deductions, processes contracts in 3 to 5 business days, and is notably strong across the wider APAC region if you are building beyond India. The gap versus India-specialist providers shows up in benefits: group medical cover options are limited on the base plan and require escalation to confirm insurer details.
Multiplier in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Owned — Multiplier Technologies Pte. Ltd.
Onboarding time
3–5 business days
Payroll currency
INR, paid locally to Indian bank accounts
Compliance scope
PF, TDS, PT (all states), gratuity, LTA, Code on Wages basic pay rule. ESI where the salary is below the 21,000 rupee ceiling
Benefits
Group medical and term life included; customisation requires Growth plan
India support
Shared CSM pool; in-country India team available during business hours IST
Min. commitment
1 employee, monthly billing, no setup fee
HRIS included
Yes — leave, expenses, payslips, and documents in platform
What it does well in India
Owned India entity means no third-party relay between your hire and the EPFO registration.
Handles all four Labour Codes, including the 50% basic pay rule under the Code on Wages.
3 to 5 day onboarding is faster than most owned-entity providers at this price point.
No per-state setup fees and flat $400 pricing regardless of employee salary or seniority.
Confirm before you sign
Group medical cover details are not published; confirm insurer name and sum assured before signing.
Benefits customisation sits behind the Growth plan; base plan has a fixed benefits structure.
FX markup can reach 1.5% above mid-market on cross-currency payroll runs; negotiate this contractually.
Contractor
$40/mo
Contractor management with compliant contracts, invoicing, and multi-currency payments. No fee if the contractor is inactive that month.
EOR
$400/mo
Full employer of record in 150+ countries. Includes INR payroll, statutory filings, benefits, and HRIS. Flat rate regardless of country, salary, or seniority. No setup fee.
Global Payroll
Custom
For companies with existing India entities that need payroll processing only. Custom pricing based on headcount and country mix.
Global rating4.7 / 5
Country coverage4.8
Platform4.7
Support4.6
Pricing4.8
Compliance4.7
India rating4.6 / 5
India compliance4.8
Onboarding speed4.8
India support4.2
Benefits depth3.8
Value for India5.0
Founded 2020HQ SingaporeContractor plan $40/moISO 27001 CertifiedMin. commitment Monthly
Remofirst
Best for early-stage teams that need compliant India hires at the lowest published price
Partner entity185+ countriesOnboards in approx. 1 week
Why Remofirst works in India
At $199 per month, Remofirst costs less than half what most owned-entity providers charge for the same India hire. It operates through a licensed local partner in India rather than its own registered entity, which is a meaningful compliance distinction: the EPFO registration and statutory liability sit with the partner, not directly with Remofirst. For a startup making its first India hire with a limited runway, that trade-off is often acceptable.
The platform is clean, onboarding runs in about a week, and the RemoHealth add-on covers group medical for India employees if your base benefits are thin. Where it shows its limits is support: the ticket-based model means queries about state-level PT variances or PF transfer cases land in a queue rather than reaching a named contact who knows your account.
Remofirst in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Partner — licensed in-country partner holds the entity
Onboarding time
Approx. 1 week
Payroll currency
INR, processed locally through partner payroll system
Compliance scope
PF, TDS, gratuity, and ESI below the 21,000 rupee ceiling, managed through local partner infrastructure
Benefits
Basic statutory benefits included; RemoHealth add-on for group medical cover
India support
Ticket-based; dedicated account manager assigned at onboarding
Min. commitment
1 employee, monthly, no minimum term
HRIS included
Basic — leave management and document storage; no expense module
What it does well in India
$199 per month is the lowest published EOR price for India among providers on this page.
No minimum headcount and no setup fee — good for a single test hire before scaling.
RemoHealth add-on fills the group medical gap without needing a separate broker.
185+ country coverage makes it viable if India is one of several hiring markets.
Confirm before you sign
Partner entity model means the EPFO registration sits with the local partner; ask for the partner name before signing.
Ticket support means no named contact for time-sensitive payroll queries; confirm SLA response times.
State professional tax and PT slabs — confirm these are handled across Karnataka, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.
Contractor
$25/mo
Contractor management with compliant agreements and cross-border payments. No fee for inactive contractors.
EOR
$199/mo
Full employer of record in 185+ countries including India. Covers statutory filings, INR payroll, and basic HRIS. No minimum term.
RemoHealth
Custom
Group health insurance add-on available in India and other supported markets. Quoted separately based on team size and cover level.
Global rating4.6 / 5
Country coverage4.9
Platform4.4
Support4.0
Pricing5.0
Compliance4.5
India rating4.2 / 5
India compliance4.1
Onboarding speed4.4
India support3.8
Benefits depth3.5
Value for India5.0
Founded 2021HQ San FranciscoContractor plan $25/moMin. commitment MonthlyWork permits Confirm
Pebl
Best for human-led India onboarding with state-level compliance depth
Pebl is the rebranded Velocity Global platform, which means a 2014-vintage entity network sits underneath a newer interface. In India that means people who have filed Shops and Establishments registrations across multiple states, reconciled state minimum wage structures, and managed PF transfer cases when employees join from other employers. That operational depth is what $599 per month buys you compared with newer platforms.
The service model is the differentiator from other owned-entity providers at similar prices. Onboarding comes with direct human guidance, and queries about Karnataka professional tax thresholds or Maharashtra LWF contributions reach a named contact rather than a ticket queue. The trade-off is cost: at $200 more per month than Multiplier for a comparable India hire, you need to value the hands-on support to justify the difference.
Pebl in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Owned — Velocity Global entity established 2014
Onboarding time
1–2 weeks
Payroll currency
INR, paid locally to Indian bank accounts
Compliance scope
EPF, gratuity, TDS and state professional tax managed centrally. ESI where the salary is below the ceiling
Benefits
Group medical and term life; confirm insurer and sum assured before signing
India support
Named account manager; in-country India compliance specialists
Min. commitment
1 employee, monthly billing
HRIS included
Yes — leave, expenses, documents, and payslips in platform
What it does well in India
Over a decade of owned-entity infrastructure in India under the Velocity Global name.
Hands-on support through state-level quirks, from leave accruals to local wage structures.
Full statutory stack: EPF, ESI, gratuity, TDS, and professional tax in one managed service.
Named account manager rather than a shared support pool, relevant when payroll queries arise mid-cycle.
Confirm before you sign
At $599 per month, ask specifically what the extra $200 versus Multiplier delivers for your India headcount.
Contract amendment turnaround times vary; agree SLA expectations before the first hire.
Work permit sponsorship for foreign nationals requires confirmation before relying on Pebl for expat hires.
Contractor
Custom
Contractor of Record for independent worker engagements. Pricing quoted on request based on country and volume.
EOR
$599/mo
Full employer of record in 180+ countries. Includes INR payroll, statutory filings, named account manager, and HRIS. Backed by Velocity Global entity infrastructure.
Enterprise
Custom
For teams with complex multi-country hiring, custom benefits, or volume headcount. Includes dedicated implementation support and custom SLAs.
Global rating4.6 / 5
Country coverage4.8
Platform4.0
Support5.0
Pricing3.5
Compliance5.0
India rating4.7 / 5
India compliance5.0
Onboarding speed4.0
India support5.0
Benefits depth4.0
Value for India3.8
Founded 2014HQ Denver, COIndia entity Owned since 2014Min. commitment MonthlyISO 27001 Certified
Deel
Best for teams that need India EOR and contractor management on one platform
Deel holds a direct entity in India and onboards in 2 to 5 days, which is the fastest confirmed timeline among owned-entity providers on this page. Its free contractor management tier is the most consequential differentiator: if you have contractors and employees both in India, managing both types through a single Deel account eliminates the cost of a separate contractor platform at $49 per contractor per month compared with most competitors.
The review volume tells you something real. 16,900 reviews is the largest sample on this page, and the 4.8 rating holds across that volume, which is harder to sustain than a high score on 200 reviews. Support runs through shared channels rather than named contacts at the base tier, which has drawn criticism for complex India-specific queries. The HRIS is bundled and genuinely comprehensive, covering org charts, PTO, and documents without an additional fee.
Deel in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Owned — Deel Technology India Pvt. Ltd.
Onboarding time
2–5 business days
Payroll currency
INR, processed locally with automated TDS and PT deductions
Compliance scope
PF, TDS, PT (all states), gratuity, LTA, Code on Wages. ESI below the 21,000 rupee ceiling
Benefits
Group medical available; confirm coverage terms and insurer with sales before signing
India support
Shared support pool; named CSM requires enterprise tier
Min. commitment
1 employee, monthly; volume discounts at 20+ headcount
HRIS included
Yes — full HRIS free up to 200 employees; contractor management free
What it does well in India
2 to 5 day onboarding is the fastest owned-entity timeline on this page.
Free contractor management eliminates a separate platform cost for mixed India teams.
Free HRIS for up to 200 employees covers org charts, PTO, and documents at no extra charge.
16,900 reviews at 4.8 is the most validated rating on this page.
Confirm before you sign
Shared support model means India-specific compliance queries go into a pool; named CSM requires enterprise pricing.
One-month salary deposit required upfront; budget for this as working capital before the first payroll run.
FX markup runs 0.6 to 2% above mid-market; negotiate this contractually on high-volume payroll.
Contractor
Free
Contractor management at no monthly fee. Covers contracts, payments, and compliance. Deel’s sharpest pricing advantage over competitors charging $25 to $49 per contractor.
EOR
$599/mo
Full employer of record in 150 countries. Includes INR payroll, statutory filings, free HRIS up to 200 employees. Volume discounts available at 20+ headcount.
Global Payroll
$29/mo
For companies with their own India entity that need payroll processing only. Covers tax filings and multi-currency payments at a per-employee monthly rate.
Global rating4.8 / 5
Country coverage4.8
Platform4.9
Support4.7
Pricing4.3
Compliance4.8
India rating4.5 / 5
India compliance4.8
Onboarding speed4.9
India support4.0
Benefits depth4.1
Value for India4.2
Founded 2019HQ San FranciscoContractor plan FreeISO 27001 CertifiedMin. commitment Monthly
Oyster HR
Best for remote-first companies that prioritise cost transparency in their India hiring budget
Oyster HR publishes its full cost of employment before you sign, which is unusual in a market where most providers quote the platform fee and leave statutory employer contributions as a surprise on the first invoice. For India that means you see the EPF employer contribution (12% of basic salary), ESI (3.25% of gross where applicable), and gratuity accrual in a single employment cost estimate. At $699 per month it is the most expensive provider on this page, but buyers in our research consistently cited upfront cost visibility as the reason they chose it over cheaper alternatives.
The entity model for India is marked Confirm on our page because Oyster does not publicly document whether India employment runs through a direct entity or a local partner. Ask this directly before signing. The platform is strong on employee experience features including leave management and equity, and onboarding takes 1 to 2 weeks.
Oyster HR in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Confirm — entity model not publicly documented; ask before signing
Onboarding time
1–2 weeks
Payroll currency
INR, with full employment cost estimate published before signing
Compliance scope
PF (12% employer), TDS, gratuity and ESI at 3.25% where applicable, shown in the pre-hire cost breakdown
Benefits
Group medical available; Oyster-curated benefits market included on Growth plan
India support
Named customer success manager on paid plans
Min. commitment
1 employee, annual billing standard; monthly available at higher rate
HRIS included
Yes — leave, equity, documents, and benefits in platform
What it does well in India
Pre-hire cost estimate shows all India statutory employer contributions before you sign.
Named CSM on paid plans means India queries reach a consistent contact rather than a shared queue.
Equity administration included, relevant for India hires who receive ESOP grants.
Employee experience features including leave and benefits management are more developed than most providers at this tier.
Confirm before you sign
Entity model for India is not publicly documented; confirm directly whether it is owned or partner before signing.
At $699 per month, this is the highest list price on the page; model the annual cost against Multiplier at $400 before committing.
Work permit capability in India is marked Confirm; do not assume expat sponsorship is available without checking.
Contractor
$29/mo
Contractor management with compliant agreements and cross-border payments. Misclassification protection included.
Scale
$699/mo
Full EOR in 180 countries. Includes INR payroll, pre-hire cost estimates, statutory filings, equity admin, and named CSM. Annual billing standard.
Enterprise
Custom
For high-headcount teams needing volume pricing, custom benefits packages, and dedicated implementation support across multiple countries.
Global rating4.5 / 5
Country coverage4.7
Platform4.6
Support4.5
Pricing3.8
Compliance4.6
India rating4.2 / 5
India compliance4.5
Onboarding speed4.0
India support4.5
Benefits depth4.4
Value for India3.6
Founded 2020HQ San FranciscoContractor plan $29/moISO 27001 CertifiedMin. commitment Annual (monthly available)
Rippling
Best for companies that want India payroll, IT, and HR managed from one platform
Rippling’s India proposition is not just EOR. It is the only provider on this page that combines employer of record, IT device management, and a full HRIS in a single platform. For a team onboarding a Bengaluru engineer who needs a laptop provisioned, access rights set up, and payroll running in INR, Rippling handles all three from one admin dashboard. No other provider in this ranking offers that IT-plus-payroll integration natively.
The 4.8 rating across 13,600 reviews is the joint-highest on this page alongside Deel, and the volume makes it credible. The country footprint at 50+ is narrower than most EOR providers here, which limits usefulness if India is part of a broader multi-region strategy. Pricing at $500 per month sits between Multiplier and Deel, with no published contractor management plan for India.
Rippling in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Owned — Rippling India entity
Onboarding time
1–2 weeks
Payroll currency
INR, automated payroll with statutory deductions
Compliance scope
PF, ESI, TDS, PT, gratuity — handled through owned India entity
Benefits
Group medical and standard statutory benefits; confirm India-specific benefit options with sales
India support
Shared support; in-country India team available
Min. commitment
1 employee; annual contract typical for EOR
HRIS included
Yes — full HRIS plus IT device management and app provisioning
What it does well in India
Only provider on this page combining EOR, IT device management, and HRIS in one platform.
Owned India entity gives direct statutory compliance without a partner relay.
4.8 rating across 13,600 reviews is the joint-highest on this page with a large enough sample to be meaningful.
Automated payroll with INR processing and built-in compliance for PF and TDS deductions.
Confirm before you sign
50+ country footprint is the narrowest on this page; confirm India is included in your specific plan tier.
No published contractor management plan; confirm whether this is available and at what price for India.
Annual contract is the standard commitment; month-to-month flexibility requires confirmation before signing.
HR Cloud
Custom
Core HRIS and HR administration for companies with their own India entity. Covers onboarding, leave, and employee records. Priced per seat.
EOR
$500/mo
Full employer of record in 50+ countries. Includes INR payroll, statutory filings, full HRIS, and IT device management. Annual commitment standard.
IT Cloud
Custom
Device management and app provisioning add-on. Can be bundled with EOR for India teams that need laptops shipped and access rights set up at hire.
Global rating4.8 / 5
Country coverage3.8
Platform5.0
Support4.7
Pricing4.6
Compliance4.8
India rating4.4 / 5
India compliance4.7
Onboarding speed4.0
India support4.5
Benefits depth4.0
Value for India4.5
Founded 2016HQ San FranciscoISO 27001 CertifiedMin. commitment AnnualWork permits Confirm
Wisemonk
Best India-only specialist for deep local compliance and work permit support at $99 per month
Wisemonk operates exclusively in India, which means every hour of product and compliance work goes into one market. At $99 per month with a 2 to 3 day onboarding, it is both the fastest and cheapest EOR on this page with an owned entity. It is also the only provider in this ranking that confirms work permit support for foreign nationals, which puts it in a different category from every global platform that marks that field Confirm.
The India-only focus is also the limitation. If you are building a team in India plus one other country, Wisemonk handles India and you need a separate provider for the rest. For companies whose entire international headcount is in India, that constraint is irrelevant and the $99 price point is significantly below what any global provider charges. The 300+ client base and 4.8 rating across 241 reviews reflects a focused operation rather than a scaled global platform.
Wisemonk in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Owned — India-only operation, founded 2020
Onboarding time
2–3 business days — fastest on this page
Payroll currency
INR only; local payroll with CTC structuring and salary optimisation
Compliance scope
PF, PT (all states), TDS, gratuity, LTA, EPFO registration, labour codes. ESI below the 21,000 rupee ceiling
Benefits
Group medical, term life, flexible benefits — deeper India-specific benefit options than global platforms
India support
Named account manager; India-based team with deep compliance expertise
Min. commitment
1 employee, monthly billing, no setup fee
HRIS included
Basic — leave, payslips, and documents; limited compared to global platforms
What it does well in India
$99 per month with an owned entity is not available from any other provider on this page.
Work permits confirmed — the only provider in this ranking that publicly documents expat sponsorship capability.
2 to 3 day onboarding is the fastest on this page with no cut in compliance quality.
India-specialist depth: CTC structuring, salary optimisation, and state-level PT accuracy across all states.
Confirm before you sign
India only — if you need EOR in any other country, you need a second provider alongside Wisemonk.
HRIS is basic; if your team needs full leave management and expense tracking, confirm whether that is covered at $99.
241 reviews is a smaller sample than the global platforms; ask for client references in your specific sector.
Contractor
Custom
Contractor of Record for India-based independent workers. Covers compliant agreements and local payment processing. Quoted on request.
EOR
$99/mo
Full employer of record in India. Includes INR payroll, PF/ESI/TDS/PT filings, CTC structuring, group medical, and named account manager. Monthly billing, no setup fee.
GCC Setup
Custom
For companies setting up a Global Capability Centre in India. Covers entity registration, EPFO setup, multi-state compliance, and ongoing payroll once operational.
Global ratingN/A
Wisemonk operates in India only. A global rating across country coverage, platform breadth, and multi-country compliance does not apply. See India rating for the relevant assessment.
India rating4.9 / 5
India compliance5.0
Onboarding speed5.0
India support5.0
Benefits depth4.8
Value for India5.0
Founded 2020HQ Bengaluru, IndiaWork permits YesMin. commitment MonthlyCoverage India only
Native Teams
Best for converting India freelancers to employed status without a separate contractor platform
Partner entity85+ countriesOnboards in approx. 1 week
Why Native Teams works in India
Native Teams started as a platform for freelancers and built EOR as an adjacent service, which gives it a genuine advantage when a company needs to convert an India contractor to an employee mid-engagement. The contractor and employee records sit in the same platform, so there is no data migration or parallel onboarding required when someone moves from a freelance arrangement to full-time employment. At $99 per month, it matches Wisemonk’s price while offering a broader country footprint.
The partner entity model in India is the main compliance caveat. Native Teams does not hold its own registered Indian entity, so the EPFO and ESI liability sits with the local partner rather than directly with Native Teams. The HRIS is basic relative to global platforms like Deel or Rippling, and benefits administration requires a separate arrangement for group medical coverage in India.
Native Teams in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Partner — local partner holds India entity registration
Onboarding time
Approx. 1 week
Payroll currency
INR, processed through local partner payroll
Compliance scope
PF, ESI, TDS — managed through local partner; confirm PT coverage by state
Benefits
Statutory benefits included; group medical requires separate arrangement
India support
Ticket-based; account manager assigned at onboarding
Min. commitment
1 employee, monthly, no minimum term
HRIS included
Basic — contractor and employee records unified; limited HR admin features
What it does well in India
Contractor and EOR records in one platform makes India contractor-to-employee conversion straightforward.
$99 per month matches the lowest price on this page with a broader country footprint than Wisemonk.
Good fit for companies that already use Native Teams for contractor payments and want to formalise India hires.
Confirm before you sign
Partner entity model: ask for the India partner name and confirm EPFO registration sits with them directly.
State professional tax coverage: confirm which states are actively handled and which require manual intervention.
Group medical for India hires needs a separate arrangement; confirm the process and timeline before onboarding.
Freelancer
Included
Contractor management with compliant agreements and cross-border payments. Included in the base EOR plan for companies managing mixed contractor and employee teams.
EOR
$99/mo
Full employer of record in 85+ countries including India. Covers statutory filings through local partner, INR payroll, and unified contractor and employee dashboard.
Enterprise
Custom
For teams with high headcount or custom requirements. Volume pricing available. Contact sales for India-specific enterprise terms.
Global rating4.5 / 5
Country coverage4.2
Platform4.5
Support4.2
Pricing5.0
Compliance4.3
India rating4.0 / 5
India compliance3.8
Onboarding speed4.4
India support3.8
Benefits depth3.5
Value for India4.8
Founded 2020HQ Skopje, North MacedoniaContractor plan IncludedMin. commitment MonthlyWork permits Confirm
Papaya Global
Best for enterprises consolidating multi-country payroll with India as part of a larger workforce
Papaya Global is built around payroll analytics and multi-system consolidation, not single-country EOR depth. For a company running payroll across India, Germany, and Brazil from one finance dashboard with real-time cost tracking and workforce data, it handles that better than any other provider on this page. The AI-powered compliance automation and 100+ currency support are designed for finance teams managing complex global payroll at scale.
For India specifically, the partner entity model adds a relay between your EPFO filings and Papaya’s platform, and onboarding takes 1 to 3 weeks, which is the slowest range on this page. The 4.2 rating across 125 reviews is the lowest in this ranking, and user feedback consistently cites setup fees by country and slow onboarding as friction points. It earns its place on this page for enterprises with multi-country payroll complexity, not for companies whose primary need is a fast, lean India hire.
Papaya Global in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Partner — local partner holds India registration; Papaya routes payroll
Onboarding time
1–3 weeks — slowest range on this page
Payroll currency
INR, with multi-currency consolidation into parent company reporting currency
Compliance scope
PF, TDS and ESI where applicable, managed through the partner. Confirm PT coverage state by state
Benefits
Benefits administration available; confirm India group medical options and insurer
India support
Named account manager; CPA firm partner network for local compliance queries
Min. commitment
Annual contract typical; setup fee charged per country at onboarding
HRIS included
Yes — workforce analytics, payroll dashboard, and BI reporting included
What it does well in India
Real-time payroll analytics and workforce cost tracking across India and other markets in one dashboard.
Multi-system consolidation pulls India payroll data alongside other regions into a single finance view.
40 CPA firm partners worldwide, including local India compliance experts, for complex statutory queries.
Confirm before you sign
Setup fee charged per country; get the India-specific onboarding fee in writing before signing.
1 to 3 week onboarding is the slowest on this page; if speed matters, Deel or Multiplier are faster alternatives.
Partner entity model: confirm which India partner handles EPFO registration and how escalations are managed.
Contractor of Record
$295/mo
Contractor management with compliance safeguards and cross-border payments. Priced per contractor per month.
EOR
$599/mo
Full employer of record in 160 countries. Includes AI-powered payroll automation, compliance checks, workforce analytics, and named account manager. Annual contract. Setup fee per country.
Enterprise
Custom
For multi-region enterprises consolidating payroll across multiple providers and countries. Custom pricing based on headcount, countries, and integration requirements.
Global rating4.2 / 5
Country coverage4.5
Platform4.6
Support4.0
Pricing3.5
Compliance4.3
India rating3.8 / 5
India compliance3.8
Onboarding speed3.2
India support4.0
Benefits depth3.8
Value for India3.5
Founded 2016HQ Tel AvivContractor plan $295/moISO 27001 CertifiedMin. commitment Annual
Globalization Partners
Best for large enterprises that need a white-glove India EOR with in-country legal expertise and a 2012 track record
G-P has operated in India since 2012, which pre-dates the EOR category becoming mainstream. That tenure means the team has navigated the shift from the old Shops and Establishments framework to the 2025 Labour Code transition, and the India entity has the EPFO, ESIC, and PT registrations that newer providers are still establishing across states. For enterprises with complex India hires, including senior executive employment agreements or equity plans requiring FEMA compliance, that institutional depth matters.
The pricing is not published and requires a custom quote, which puts it out of reach for startups and makes budget modelling harder before you engage sales. Third-party sources put the typical rate at $699 to $800 per employee per month, and G-P requires a two-month payroll deposit upfront. It is on this page because the compliance infrastructure and enterprise service model are genuinely strong; it is not on this page for cost-sensitive buyers.
Globalization Partners in India — at a glance
Entity in India
Owned — operating in India since 2012
Onboarding time
1–2 weeks
Payroll currency
INR, processed locally with full statutory deduction handling
Compliance scope
PF, TDS, PT (all states), gratuity, FEMA compliance for expat hires, labour codes. ESI below the ceiling
Benefits
Comprehensive benefits including group medical, life, and supplemental cover; consultant-led benefits design
India support
Dedicated in-country India legal and HR team; white-glove service model
Min. commitment
Custom; two-month payroll deposit required at onboarding
HRIS included
Yes — G-P Meridian platform with HR, payroll, and benefits in one system
What it does well in India
India operation since 2012 gives the longest compliance track record on this page.
FEMA compliance capability for expat hires and foreign national employment in India.
In-country India legal and HR team; not a shared global pool fielding India queries.
Comprehensive benefits design including supplemental cover beyond standard group medical.
Confirm before you sign
No published pricing: get India-specific cost in writing before engaging further, as third-party estimates run $699 to $800 per month.
Two-month payroll deposit required upfront; budget this as working capital before the first India hire.
Platform (G-P Meridian) has drawn mixed feedback on UX; request a demo focused on India payroll workflows before signing.
EOR Standard
Custom
Full employer of record across 180+ countries. India pricing not published. Third-party sources estimate $699 to $800 per employee per month. Two-month payroll deposit required.
EOR Enterprise
Custom
White-glove service for large enterprises with complex multi-country employment, custom benefits, and dedicated in-country legal teams. Volume pricing available at 20+ headcount.
Global Payroll
Custom
For companies with their own India entity needing payroll processing and compliance support only. Separate from the EOR service. Quoted on request.
Global rating4.6 / 5
Country coverage4.8
Platform4.2
Support4.8
Pricing3.5
Compliance5.0
India rating4.5 / 5
India compliance5.0
Onboarding speed4.0
India support5.0
Benefits depth4.8
Value for India3.5
Founded 2012HQ Boston, MAIndia entity Owned since 2012ISO 27001 CertifiedMin. commitment Custom
More EOR providers in India
These five cover India but did not make the ranked ten. Two of them, Remunance and TopSource Worldwide, quote on request rather than publishing a rate, and three have review bases too thin to sit alongside providers with thousands of analysed reviews. They carry the same entity, onboarding and pricing fields as the ten above, so you can compare them directly.
11
RemoteBest for owned-entity hiring with no deposit
Remote employs through its own entities rather than partners and asks for no security deposit, unlike Deel, which holds a month of salary upfront on this page. Its India onboarding figure is the problem: our own sources put it anywhere from 3 days to 4 weeks.
GlorootsBest for India GCC setup on a startup budget
Bengaluru-run, and the only provider here that packages PF, ESIC, TDS, gratuity accrual and multi-state filing as a named India GCC product. At $199 it undercuts Multiplier by $201, but it does not disclose which countries run on owned entities.
EntityConfirmOnboarding2 to 3 daysCoverage150+ countriesRating4.9 (21)
TopSource WorldwideBest for payroll-led enterprise buyers
Founded in 2004, TopSource sells global payroll first and EOR as an extension of it. That suits a finance team already outsourcing payroll across several markets. India pricing is quote-only, so it cannot be modelled before a sales call.
RemunanceBest when the hire needs a desk and a laptop
A Pune company, not a global platform with an India line. Remunance Services Pvt Ltd has employed in India since 2019 and adds coworking space and IT provisioning to the standard EOR scope, which matters for hires who are not fully remote.
SynkPayBest for a first India hire with no deposit
$349 flat at any salary, no deposit, one business day to onboard. The employing entity, Synk Consulting Group Pvt Ltd, has filed Indian payroll since 2016, a longer run than most India specialists. Ten-plus clients means a thin reference base.
EntityOwnedOnboarding1 business dayCoverageIndia onlyRating4.2 editorial
Providers 11 to 15 are listed, not reviewed in depth. Where entity model or onboarding time reads Confirm, the provider has not published an India-specific answer and we have not filled the gap with an estimate. Ask for both in writing before you shortlist.
Entity ownership and EPFO registration in India compared
India has no single licence that separates a compliant EOR from a reseller. What separates them is whose name sits on the EPFO establishment code your employee’s provident fund is filed under. If that code belongs to a local partner rather than the provider you are paying, your compliance chain has a link you cannot audit.
We asked the same three questions of all fifteen providers. Four answer all three publicly. Six leave at least two fields undocumented.
Entity ownership and EPFO registration, 15 India EOR providers
Six checks, in the order that matters. The first two decide whether a provider is viable at all. The rest decide what your invoice looks like twelve months in.
STEP 1
Match the provider type to your footprint
Hiring only in India, or India plus one market? Wisemonk, Remunance and SynkPay do one country properly. If India is one line in a fifteen-country plan, Deel or Multiplier win on a single invoice and one dashboard.
STEP 2
Ask for the EPFO establishment code
Not the entity name, the code, and whose name it is registered in. If it belongs to a local partner, your provident fund filings run through a company you have no contract with. Four providers on this page can answer this publicly.
STEP 3
Pin down the provident fund policy
Contributions above the fifteen thousand rupee ceiling are voluntary. A provider contributing the statutory minimum and one contributing twelve percent of full basic will quote the same fee and produce invoices tens of thousands of rupees apart per year. Get the policy in writing.
STEP 4
Confirm the states, not just the country
Professional tax, Shops and Establishments registration and labour welfare fund all differ between Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Delhi NCR. Ask which states the provider files in today, not which it can support.
STEP 5
Test support in Indian business hours
Payroll cutoffs and EPFO deadlines run on IST. Ask who answers at 3pm in Bengaluru and whether they are in India. Six providers here run a shared global queue with no India-based team.
STEP 6
Price the full load, not the fee
The monthly fee is the small number. Add employer contributions, gratuity accrual, any security deposit and the FX spread on funding rupee payroll. Deel holds a month of salary upfront. Several providers hold nothing.
State rules are the part still moving. Labour sits on the Concurrent List, so every state frames its own, and most remain in draft. Until a state notifies, employers there follow the central rules alongside the legacy state rules.
What changed on 21 November 2025
29 statutes replaced
The Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security and OSH Code took over from 29 central labour laws on 21 November 2025.
Basic pay floor of 50%
Basic must be at least half of total remuneration. That raises provident fund, gratuity, bonus and leave encashment on any allowance-heavy package.
Appointment letters mandatory
Every employee must receive one. Previously common practice in the organised sector, now a statutory obligation.
Fixed-term parity
Fixed-term staff get the same wages, benefits and conditions as permanent staff, and qualify for gratuity at one year rather than five.
There is no single national employment statute covering white-collar staff. The state Shops and Establishments Act does that work, which is why leave accrual, working hours and registration obligations differ by hiring city rather than by country. A contract drafted for Bengaluru is not a contract for Mumbai.
The rule that catches foreign employers most often is employee misclassification. Indian authorities apply a substance test, so a contractor who works your hours, uses your equipment and reports to your manager is an employee whatever the agreement says. Reclassification is retroactive and brings back-payment of provident fund, gratuity and every other benefit with it.
Ask any provider on your shortlist when it last revised its India contract template. The 50% basic pay rule changed what a compliant offer letter looks like, and a template written before November 2025 will understate provident fund and gratuity from the first payslip.
India payroll: PF, ESI, TDS and professional tax
Indian payroll runs monthly. Provident fund and ESI contributions are due by the fifteenth of the following month, and TDS by the seventh. Miss those and interest and damages accrue on the employer, which under an EOR arrangement means the provider, not you.
The provident fund is where the real variation sits. The employer rate is 12%, but it applies to provident fund wages capped at fifteen thousand rupees a month, so the mandatory contribution is 1,800 rupees regardless of salary. The EPF Scheme, 2026 confirmed that anything above the ceiling is voluntary.
Employer statutory contributions in India, 2026
Contribution
Employer rate
Applies to
Provident fund (EPF)
12%
Provident fund wages up to the fifteen thousand rupee ceiling, so 1,800 rupees a month is the mandatory maximum. Contributions above the ceiling are voluntary under the EPF Scheme, 2026.
Pension scheme (EPS)
Within the 12%
8.33% of the employer’s 12% is diverted to the pension scheme, capped on the same ceiling. Not an additional cost. Do not count it twice.
EDLI
0.50%
Insurance-linked deposit on provident fund wages, capped at the fifteen thousand rupee ceiling.
EPF admin charges
0.50%
On provident fund wages, with a monthly minimum per establishment. Confirm the current rate against the EPFO circular in force.
Employees’ State Insurance
3.25%
Gross wages up to twenty one thousand rupees a month, or twenty five thousand for employees with disabilities. No liability at all above the ceiling.
Gratuity accrual
4.81%
Of basic plus dearness allowance. Payable at five years of continuous service, or one year for fixed-term employees under the Code on Social Security.
Professional tax
State-set
Deducted from the employee and remitted by the employer. Capped at 2,500 rupees a year. Rates and slabs differ by state, and some states do not levy it.
TDS
No employer cost
Withheld from salary under the employee’s chosen tax regime. The employer files quarterly returns and issues Form 16.
That single line decides more of your India cost than the provider fee does. One EOR will contribute the statutory 1,800 rupees. Another will contribute 12% of full basic because that is what established Indian employers have always done. Both are compliant. The next section models the gap.
ESI is the obligation most guides overstate. It applies to gross wages up to twenty one thousand rupees a month, which almost no EOR hire reaches. If you are hiring an engineer in Bengaluru, ESI is not a cost on that hire at all. It matters for support, operations and entry-level roles, and for anyone hired near the state minimum wage.
Professional tax is small and administratively annoying. It is a state levy, capped at 2,500 rupees a year, deducted from the employee and remitted by the employer, and it requires separate registration in each state where you have staff. Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana all levy it. Delhi does not.
TDS costs the employer nothing but creates a filing obligation. Ask your provider whether Form 16 is issued directly to the employee and on what date, because a delayed Form 16 is the complaint that reaches you rather than the provider.
How much does it cost to employ someone in India?
Statutory employer costs in India run roughly 4% to 12% above gross salary. That is a wide band, and where you land in it depends on two things: whether the salary sits below the ESI ceiling, and what provident fund policy your provider follows.
Here is a mid-level engineering hire at 150,000 rupees a month, modelled both ways.
True monthly cost of a 150,000 rupee India hire, both provident fund policies
Line item
PF at ceiling
PF on full basic
How it is calculated
Gross monthly salary
₹150,000
₹150,000
Mid-level engineering salary. Basic set at 50% of gross, so 75,000 rupees, per the Code on Wages.
Provident fund
₹1,800
₹9,000
12% of the 15,000 rupee ceiling, against 12% of full basic. This one line is the whole gap.
EDLI
₹75
₹75
0.50% of provident fund wages, capped at the ceiling in both cases.
Admin charges
₹75
₹375
0.50% of provident fund wages. Confirm the rate in force before quoting.
Employees’ State Insurance
Nil
Nil
Gross is above the 21,000 rupee ceiling, so there is no ESI liability on this hire.
Gratuity accrual
₹3,608
₹3,608
4.81% of basic, set aside monthly against the liability that vests at five years.
Statutory employer cost
₹5,558
₹13,058
3.7% above gross, against 8.7%. Both are lawful.
Total before provider fee
₹155,558
₹163,058
Excludes the EOR fee, any benefits, and employee-side deductions.
Provider fee
$99 to $699
$99 to $699
Per employee per month, billed separately. The range across all fifteen providers on this page.
The two columns are the same hire, the same law and the same month. The difference is 90,000 rupees a year, close to the entire annual fee of the cheapest provider on this page. No competitor comparison will surface it for you, because both figures are correct.
Neither policy is better in the abstract. Contributing on full basic builds a larger retirement corpus and matches what most established Indian employers do, which matters when your hire compares offers. Contributing at the ceiling keeps cost down and is what a price-led provider will default to. What you cannot afford is not knowing which one you bought.
A hire at 20,000 rupees a month tells a different story. Provident fund runs on actual basic because it is under the ceiling, ESI applies at 3.25% of gross, and the statutory load reaches about 12%. That is why the band is wide rather than a single number, and why a quote built on a senior salary will not scale down cleanly.
Our EOR pricing index covers how provider fees are built across markets. Use the calculator below to model your own salary band.
Working hours and overtime rules in India
The standard is eight hours a day and 48 hours a week under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code. Spread-over is capped at twelve hours including breaks, a rest interval is due after five hours of continuous work, and every employee gets one full day off a week.
Overtime pays twice the ordinary rate of wages. Not one and a half. Foreign employers coming from the US or UK routinely budget this wrong, and on a support or operations team running month-end peaks the difference is not trivial.
The trap is that India has no broad white-collar exemption. A salaried engineer is not automatically outside overtime rules the way an exempt employee is in the US. In practice most Indian IT employers treat senior staff as outside them, but the basis for that is the state Shops and Establishments Act and any sector-specific exemption, not the wording of the employment contract.
Karnataka has run an exemption for IT and ITeS establishments from several Shops and Establishments provisions, renewed periodically rather than granted permanently. If you are hiring in Bengaluru, confirm whether it is currently in force before assuming your engineers sit outside the hours rules. Check the current Karnataka Labour Department notification.
There is also a cap on total overtime hours per quarter under the central rules. Confirm the figure that applies to your state, since it differs between the central rules and legacy state rules where a state has not yet notified.
One question for every provider on your shortlist: does your India payroll engine trigger overtime on the daily eight hour threshold, the weekly 48 hour threshold, or both? Ask to see a payslip for an employee who worked nine hours on one day but under 48 for the week. The answer tells you whether the compliance is real or a checkbox.
Notice periods, gratuity and termination in India
India has no at-will employment. Every exit runs on a statutory floor set by the state Shops and Establishments Act, the Industrial Relations Code, or both, and the contract can improve on that floor but not undercut it.
Notice is usually 30 days under state law, though senior contracts commonly run 60 or 90. Payment in lieu is permitted. Full and final settlement is due within two working days of the employee leaving under the Code on Wages, which is faster than most foreign employers expect and a real operational test of a provider.
What a termination costs in India, by tenure
Completed service
Gratuity
Retrenchment compensation
Statutory notice
Under 1 year
Not payable
Not payable
As per contract, commonly 30 days
1 to 4 years
Not payable, except fixed-term employees, who accrue from one year
15 days average pay per completed year, where the employee is a worker
1 month or wages in lieu
5 years and above
15 days of basic plus dearness allowance per completed year, counted from year one
15 days average pay per completed year, where the employee is a worker
1 month or wages in lieu
Fixed-term, on expiry
Payable pro rata once one year is completed
Not payable. Expiry of the term is not retrenchment
None on expiry
Gratuity formula
Last drawn basic plus dearness allowance, multiplied by 15, divided by 26, multiplied by completed years. Capped at ₹20 lakh. On a ₹75,000 basic after five years that is ₹2,16,346.
Gratuity is the liability that catches people out, because it vests at five years but is calculated from year one. Nothing is payable at four years and eleven months. At five years the whole thing lands at once, which is why it belongs in your monthly accrual rather than your fifth-year budget.
Retrenchment compensation is separate from gratuity and applies on top of it, but only where the employee is a worker. That definition excludes managerial and administrative staff, and where it lands for a senior engineer is genuinely contested in Indian case law rather than settled. Do not assume your engineers are outside it.
Ask your provider two things before you sign. Who funds the gratuity when it vests, and is it reserved monthly or invoiced as a lump sum in year five? And who conducts the exit conversation, since a termination handled badly in India becomes a labour court matter that the provider defends but you fund. Our EOR vs private limited company guide covers how that liability sits differently if you run your own entity.
Annual leave, sick pay and statutory benefits in India
Leave in India is a state matter, not a national one. The statutory floor comes from the state Shops and Establishments Act, which is why an offer letter written for Bengaluru will not be compliant, or competitive, in Pune.
Earned leave
Set by the state Shops and Establishments Act, commonly one day for every twenty days worked, so around fifteen a year. Market practice in Indian tech runs eighteen to twenty four, and an offer at the statutory floor will lose candidates.
Casual and sick leave
Typically twelve days a year combined, again state-set. Some states split the two and some pool them. Confirm which applies in your hiring state rather than copying a policy across offices.
Public holidays
Three are national: Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti. Everything else is state-declared, and most employers land on ten to fourteen days in total. A Bengaluru list is not a Mumbai list.
Maternity leave
Twenty six weeks paid for the first two children, twelve weeks after that, funded entirely by the employer. Establishments with fifty or more employees must provide creche access.
Paternity leave
No statutory entitlement in the private sector. Anything offered is contractual, and competitive employers in Indian tech now offer between two and four weeks.
Leave encashment
Unused earned leave is encashed on exit. The Code on Wages raised the basic pay floor to fifty percent, which raises the encashment base along with provident fund and gratuity.
The floor is low and the market is well above it. Fifteen days of earned leave satisfies the law in most states and will lose you candidates in any Indian tech hiring market. Budget on market practice and treat the statutory number as the compliance minimum rather than the offer.
Maternity is the one obligation foreign employers consistently underestimate, because twenty six weeks is funded by the employer with no state reimbursement for staff above the ESI ceiling. Our guide to maternity and paternity leave in India covers the entitlement, the creche requirement and the 2026 position on adoptive mothers in full.
Group medical cover is not statutory for employees above the ESI ceiling, but it is expected. Every provider on this page offers it in some form and the quality varies more than the price does. Ask for the insurer name and the sum assured before signing, not after.
India work visas and permits for foreign nationals
India issues no open work permit. Every employment visa is tied to one employer, one role and one salary, and it is granted to the company that legally employs the person. That single fact eliminates most global platforms from consideration if your hire is not an Indian national.
Four rules that decide an India work visa
The sponsor must be an Indian entity
A foreign company with no presence in India cannot sponsor an employment visa directly. The visa sits with the company that legally employs the person, which means only an EOR holding its own Indian entity can carry it.
No conversion inside India
A business visa cannot be converted to an employment visa without leaving the country. The applicant must apply from an Indian mission in their home country or country of legal residence. Working on a business visa breaches the Foreigners Act.
A salary threshold applies
Published as 25,000 US dollars a year, and separately as 16.25 lakh rupees. Those are not the same number at 2026 exchange rates, so confirm which figure the mission handling your application applies before you make an offer.
FRRO registration within 14 days
For any stay over 180 days, the employee must register with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office within fourteen days of arrival. Missing it is the employee’s problem and your provider’s failure.
This is where an EOR either solves your problem or cannot help at all. If the provider runs your hire through its own Indian entity, that entity can sponsor. If it routes employment through a local partner, the partner sponsors, and you are two contracts away from the company holding your employee’s immigration status.
Of the fifteen providers on this page, only Wisemonk publicly confirms sponsorship capability for India. The rest are marked Confirm, and that is not evasion on our part. Sponsorship depends on the applicant’s nationality, role and salary band, and no provider will give a blanket yes without seeing the case. Ask early, because it changes your shortlist rather than your paperwork.
The employer also has to file an undertaking that no Indian national has the required skills. Omitting it is the most common documentation failure, and it means the role has to be genuinely specialist rather than convenient. Processing runs from about a week for straightforward applications to two months for some nationalities. Read the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines before committing to a start date.
One practical note. Business visitors cannot work. If someone is already in India on a business visa and you decide to hire them, they leave and reapply from home. Budget the time before you write the offer.
Permanent establishment risk when hiring in India
An EOR keeps you outside Indian employment law by making the provider the legal employer. It does not settle your corporate tax position, and the two questions are separate.
The live risk is dependent agent exposure. An India-based employee who habitually concludes contracts in your name, or who plays the principal role leading to their conclusion, can create a taxable presence regardless of whose payslip they receive. Sales and business development roles carry this. A backend engineer building product for your overseas entity generally does not.
India adds a route most countries do not. Many Indian tax treaties carry a service permanent establishment clause triggered when an enterprise furnishes services in India through employees beyond a threshold number of days in a twelve month period, and several treaties drop the threshold entirely where the services are performed for a related enterprise. If your India team delivers work to your customers rather than to you, that clause matters more than the agent test does.
There is also a question on the fee itself. Whether Indian GST at 18% lands on your EOR invoice, or whether the service qualifies as a zero-rated export because you have no establishment in India, depends on place of supply rules and how the provider structures the engagement. Ask for the position in writing, because 18% on a $599 monthly fee is not a rounding error across a team.
None of this is a reason to avoid an EOR. It is a reason to take Indian tax advice on the specific role before you hire, rather than assuming the employment structure answers the tax question. Providers will tell you their arrangement is compliant, and they are usually right about employment law and not qualified to advise on your corporate exposure.
EOR vs setting up an Indian private limited company
The comparison is usually framed as cost, and cost is the least interesting part of it. What actually separates the two routes is who holds the registrations and who carries the liability when something goes wrong.
EOR versus your own Indian private limited company
Factor
EOR in India
Your own Indian entity
Time to first hire
2 days to 2 weeks
4 to 6 months, covering incorporation, PAN, TAN, GST, EPFO, ESIC and a corporate bank account
Year one cost
99 to 699 US dollars per employee per month, plus the statutory load
15,000 to 27,000 US dollars in setup and running costs before a single salary is paid
Registrations you hold
None. The provider holds the EPFO, ESIC and professional tax codes
Your own EPFO, ESIC, professional tax and Shops and Establishments registrations, in every state you hire in
Compliance liability
Sits with the provider as legal employer. Your exposure runs through the commercial agreement
Entirely yours, including penalties, interest and labour court exposure
Adding a second state
The provider extends coverage, usually with no new registration on your side
Fresh Shops and Establishments and professional tax registration for each state
Provident fund policy
The provider decides, at the ceiling or on full basic. Negotiate it before signing
You decide, and you can match market practice for the roles you are hiring
Termination
The provider executes it. You fund the settlement
You execute and fund it, and you carry the dispute
Exiting the market
Notice period under the commercial agreement
Company strike-off, commonly 6 to 12 months, at separate cost
Best fit
Under roughly fifteen to twenty Indian employees, or testing the market
Sustained headcount, a physical office, or equity and intellectual property held in India
The crossover sits somewhere around fifteen to twenty Indian employees, but the number moves with your salary band. At 150,000 rupees a month, a $599 fee is about 4% of the total cost of that hire. At 40,000 rupees it is nearly 15%, and the entity route pays for itself much sooner. Run your own numbers rather than borrowing a threshold.
Two things push you toward an entity earlier than headcount alone suggests. If you want control of the provident fund policy, an entity is the only way to get it, since with an EOR that decision belongs to the provider. And if you plan to grant equity to Indian employees or hold intellectual property in India, an entity is not optional at any headcount.
Our EOR vs private limited company guide runs the full cost comparison at every headcount stage, including the four to six month gap before your first payroll and what a strike-off costs if you exit.
When an EOR is not the right fit for India
Four situations where the answer is an entity, or no hire at all.
Past roughly twenty Indian employees. The per-head fee starts to exceed what a private limited company plus a local payroll bureau costs, and you gain control of the provident fund policy, benefits design and vendor choice at the same time. At lower salary bands the crossover arrives sooner.
When the role concludes contracts in your name. A sales or business development hire raises the permanent establishment question before it raises the employment question, and the EOR structure does not answer it. Take Indian tax advice on the role first, then decide how to employ.
When you need equity or intellectual property held in India. ESOP grants to Indian employees and IP assignment to an Indian entity both require an entity. An EOR can assign IP to your foreign company through the employment contract, which covers most product work, but it cannot do what a local holding structure does.
When the provider cannot name the entity employing your hire. This is the one that should stop a deal rather than shape it. If a provider will not put the Indian entity name and the EPFO establishment code in writing, you are not buying the compliance shield you think you are. Six of the fifteen providers on this page leave at least two of those fields undocumented.
Questions to ask before signing an India EOR contract
Six questions, each drawn from something earlier in this guide. Answers in writing, in the contract, not in a sales email.
ASK 1
What is the Indian entity name and its EPFO establishment code?
Not the group name, the Indian company, and the code your employee’s provident fund is filed under. If it belongs to a local partner, ask for that partner’s name and your contractual recourse against them.
ASK 2
Do you contribute provident fund at the ceiling or on full basic?
The single largest cost variable in an India quote. At a 150,000 rupee salary the two answers are 90,000 rupees a year apart. Get it in the contract, not the sales call.
ASK 3
Which states do you file in today?
Professional tax, Shops and Establishments registration and labour welfare fund are all state obligations. Ask which states the provider files in now, not which it says it can support.
ASK 4
How is gratuity funded?
Reserved monthly or invoiced as a lump sum when it vests at five years. The second one lands as an unbudgeted invoice, and by then switching providers is harder than it was on day one.
ASK 5
Who answers at 3pm in Bengaluru?
Payroll cutoffs and EPFO deadlines run on Indian time. Ask whether the person handling a mid-cycle payroll correction is in India, and what the response commitment is in writing.
ASK 6
What is the deposit and the FX spread?
Some providers hold a month of salary before the first payroll. All of them apply a margin when converting your currency into rupees. Both are real costs and neither appears on a pricing page.
If you are hiring a foreign national, add a seventh. Can the provider hold the employment visa in its own name? Only a provider with its own Indian entity can, and that question changes your shortlist rather than your paperwork.
Best EOR in India: FAQs
How much does it cost to hire in India through an EOR?
Two numbers, and most buyers only budget the first.
Statutory employer costs add roughly 4% to 12% above gross salary. The band is wide because ESI stops applying above 21,000 rupees a month, and because provident fund contributions above the ceiling are voluntary.
On a 150,000 rupee salary the statutory load lands between 5,558 and 13,058 rupees a month. Same hire, same law, different provider policy.
What is the difference between provident fund at the ceiling and on full basic?
This is the largest cost variable in an India EOR quote, and almost nobody asks about it.
The mandatory employer contribution is 12% of provident fund wages capped at 15,000 rupees, so 1,800 rupees a month whatever the salary. The EPF Scheme, 2026 confirmed that anything above the ceiling is voluntary.
Most established Indian employers still contribute 12% of full basic. Price-led providers default to the ceiling.
On a 150,000 rupee salary with basic at half of gross, the gap is 7,500 rupees a month, or 90,000 rupees a year on one employee. Both are lawful. Get the policy in the contract.
What notice and gratuity apply when terminating an employee in India?
India has no at-will employment. Every exit runs on a statutory floor.
Notice is commonly 30 days under state law, with senior contracts running 60 or 90. Payment in lieu is permitted, and full and final settlement is due within two working days of the employee leaving.
Gratuity is 15 days of basic plus dearness allowance per completed year, calculated from year one but only vesting at five. Fixed-term employees qualify at one year.
Retrenchment compensation of 15 days average pay per year can apply on top, where the employee meets the definition of a worker. Whether a senior engineer does is contested rather than settled.
Can an EOR sponsor a work visa for a foreign national in India?
Only if the provider holds its own Indian entity.
The employment visa is granted to the company that legally employs the person. A provider that routes India employment through a local partner cannot hold it in its own name.
Wisemonk is the only provider on this page that publicly confirms sponsorship capability. The rest are marked Confirm, because sponsorship depends on the applicant’s nationality, role and salary band.
Note also that a business visa cannot be converted inside India. The applicant has to leave and apply from their home country, which adds weeks to a start date.
Read the entity model before the price. Wisemonk holds its own Indian entity. Native Teams and Remofirst both run through local partners, so the EPFO registration sits with a company you have no contract with.
On a senior salary the fee gap is small next to the statutory burden, which is identical whichever provider you pick. The provident fund policy will cost you more than the fee difference.
How long does it take to hire in India through an EOR?
SynkPay onboards in one business day. Wisemonk quotes two to three.
Deel quotes two to five business days and Multiplier three to five. Several providers publish no India-specific figure at all.
Budget one to two weeks for a first India hire and ask for a committed date in writing rather than a marketing range.
Either way it beats the four to six months an Indian private limited company takes before you can run your first payroll.
Is using an EOR legal in India?
Yes, and unlike some markets India has no licensing regime specific to employer of record services.
The arrangement is lawful provided the EOR is the genuine legal employer: it issues the contract, runs payroll, and files provident fund, ESI and tax under its own registration.
The risk is not legality, it is verification. If the provider cannot name the Indian entity and its EPFO establishment code, you cannot confirm the structure is what you are paying for.
Six of the fifteen providers on this page leave at least two of those fields undocumented. The comparison grid above shows which.
Does ESI apply to every employee hired through an EOR in India?
No, and this is the obligation most India guides overstate.
ESI applies to gross wages up to 21,000 rupees a month, or 25,000 for employees with disabilities. The employer rate is 3.25%.
An engineer hired in Bengaluru through an EOR is well above that ceiling, so ESI is not a cost on that hire.
It does matter for support, operations and entry-level roles, and for anyone hired near the state minimum wage. Do not let a provider quote it on a senior hire.
Explore EOR Solutions for Other Countries
If you have plans to hire in any other country, don't forget to explore our best EOR country guides to find the best fit for your business.
Netherlands
Price Range: $199 to $699
Onboarding: 5-15 Days
Germany
Price Range: €400–€800
Onboarding: 1–2 Weeks
Israel
Price Range: $199 – $770
Onboarding: 24 hours – 2 weeks
Philippines
Price Range: $190–US $900
Onboarding: 1 – 3 weeks
Czech Republic
Price Range: $99 – $699
Onboarding: 3–7 business days
United Kingdom
Price Range: $100 - $600
Onboarding: 1-4 Weeks
United States
Price Range: USD 199–699 /employee/month
Onboarding: 3–7 business days
Thailand
Price Range: USD 500–900
Onboarding: 1–2 Weeks
Georgia
Price Range: $200–$400
Onboarding: 1–3 Weeks
Europe
Price Range: $500–$1,200
Onboarding: 1–4 Weeks
Taiwan
Price Range: $499–$899
Onboarding: 1–3 weeks
Latin America
Price Range: $1,500–$3,500
Onboarding: 1–3 Weeks
How we ranked EOR providers for India hiring
What we tested first: entity ownership and multi-state registration
India disqualifies providers faster than any other market we cover. The first filter was simple: does the provider run your hire through its own registered Indian entity, or does it route employment through a local partner? A partner model is not automatically wrong, but it adds a layer between you and your compliance chain that matters when the Labour Department comes knocking. Providers without a confirmed owned entity were ranked lower regardless of their global rating.
The second filter was multi-state capability. A hire in Bengaluru and a hire in Gurugram carry different professional tax thresholds, different Shops and Establishments registration requirements, and different leave structures. Providers whose India operation handles only the metros, or who could not confirm state-level registration capability, did not make the top positions.
How we scored each provider
We scored every provider on the same five parameters, defined specifically for India. Country coverage here means depth in India, not just presence: can the provider handle a hire in Pune the same way it handles one in Mumbai? Pricing reflects the true monthly cost per employee including statutory add-ons, not the headline EOR fee.
Platform means whether the system generates India-compliant payslips, automates TDS calculation, and handles PF and ESI filings without manual intervention. Support means whether there is a named contact or in-country team who understands India’s compliance calendar, not a shared ticket queue.
Compliance means the full statutory stack: EPF, ESI, gratuity under the new wage definition, TDS withholding, and state professional tax across the states where you are likely to hire.
What kept providers out of the top ranking
Two things consistently pushed providers down the ranking. First, partner-routed entity models where providers could not name their Indian employing entity in writing.
Second, pricing opacity: providers who could not give a clear answer on what their India fee includes when it comes to statutory contributions, gratuity accrual, and offboarding costs. Papaya Global ranked lower than its platform quality would otherwise justify because of a 4.2 rating that reflects real client experience, not our assessment alone.
What we could not fully verify
Work permit sponsorship for foreign nationals is marked Confirm on nine of the ten providers on this page. This is not evasion. India’s work permit process for inbound foreign employees involves the sponsoring entity, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, and case-by-case assessment of the applicant’s role.
No provider we spoke to could give a blanket yes without knowing the specific hire’s nationality, role, and salary band. Wisemonk is the only provider who confirmed sponsorship capability directly. The rest require a case-by-case conversation before you commit.
Last Updated: August 5, 2026
Manjuri Dutta
Manjuri Dutta is Co-Founder and Content Editor at EmployerRecords.com, covering Employer of Record providers and global hiring platforms. She evaluates providers on entity ownership, statutory compliance, and real pricing rather than vendor claims, and built the verification process used across EmployerRecords' country guides, checking vendor claims against government registries and public filings.
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