Hiring Paperwork in India: Who Issues, Signs and Files What

Your US new hire paperwork is probably open in another tab: offer letter, I-9, W-4, direct deposit form. None of it fits a hire in Bengaluru or Pune. Hiring paperwork in India runs on different laws, different forms and a different answer to who signs what.

Below, we walk through the pack document by document. For each piece, we show who owns it under the two routes a foreign employer can take: an Employer of Record (EOR) or your own Indian entity. We also mark which documents the law requires and which are simply expected.

What hiring paperwork does a foreign employer need in India?

The documents required for hiring employees in India fall into four families: contracts, joining and identity documents, statutory enrollments, and tax declarations. Which entity signs and files each one depends on your route. You hire through an EOR that acts as the legal employer, or you hire employees in India on your own Indian entity.

Here is what sits in each family:

• Contracts: the offer letter, the appointment letter, the employment agreement, and an NDA with IP assignment.
• Joining documents: PAN (India's permanent tax ID, roughly what an SSN does for US tax reporting), Aadhaar where a process needs it, bank details, education and experience proof, and the relieving letter.
• Statutory enrollments: the EPF joining declaration, the Universal Account Number (UAN) that tracks the employee's retirement account across jobs, EPF e-Nomination, ESI health insurance registration where wages qualify, the gratuity nomination, and professional tax where a state levies it.
• Tax declarations: the employee's tax regime choice, Form 124 and, for a mid-year joiner, salary details from the previous employer.

The provident fund (EPF) pieces are the least familiar to US teams. EPF is a mandatory retirement fund, and its nearest US analogue is a 401(k).

US forms do not travel. Form I-9 and Form W-4 cover US employment and US federal withholding; they do not apply to someone employed in India.

W-8BEN is the form a foreign individual, such as an India-based contractor paid directly by a US company, uses to document foreign status. It is not an employee form, a distinction that matters to US companies hiring in India that start with contractors.

Visas for foreign nationals moving to India are a separate process, covered under work permits and visas in India. Everything below assumes you are hiring someone already living and working in India.

Who issues, signs, files and holds each document under an EOR versus your own entity?

Under an EOR, the EOR is the legal employer: it issues the contracts, files with the provident fund, state insurance and tax authorities under its own registrations, and holds the statutory record. You sign a services agreement with the EOR. On your own entity, every one of those duties is yours.

Our stance is simple. Under an EOR, your own India paperwork should shrink to almost nothing: the services agreement and the invoices.

If anyone asks you to file with the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) or the tax department, you are acting as the employer and should ask why. Keeping you out of those filings is the whole point of hiring without a local entity.

The matrix below labels every document as statutory or common practice, then shows who owns it on each route.

Read across any row and the pattern holds: the legal employer carries every statutory filing, whichever route you pick.

Under an EOR

You choose the person, set the salary and approve the offer. The EOR then issues the paperwork in its own name and runs the filings.

IP is the one row to check in writing. The employee assigns their work to the legal employer, so your EOR agreement should pass ownership to you; confirm it does. The full sequence is laid out in EOR onboarding in India.

On your own Indian entity

Every filing runs under your entity's tax deduction account number (TAN), its provident fund and state insurance codes, and its state registrations.

A PEO or payroll provider can prepare and file the paperwork. Each document still goes out in your entity's name, and the employer duties stay with you.

Storing the records

Who keeps what is simpler than it looks:

• On an EOR: the EOR keeps the statutory records; you keep the services agreement, the IP terms in it, and the invoices.
• On your own entity: you keep all of it, from the appointment letter to the tax declarations.
• On either route: keep files digital and access-controlled, and mask Aadhaar numbers in your own systems.

Masking is good practice rather than a written rule, and it limits the harm if a file leaks.

India's DPDP Act, 2023 lets an employer process personal data for employment purposes without consent (section 7(i)), but that section is not yet in force. Its Rules were notified in November 2025, and most obligations, including this one, phase in by about mid May 2027.

The employer duties under India's DPDP Act for foreign employers are worth mapping now, because record-keeping is easier to design before the first hire than after it.

Which contracts does an India hire need?

An India hire needs an offer letter, an appointment letter, an employment agreement, and an NDA with IP assignment. Only the appointment letter is a statutory requirement on its own. The other three are standard practice, and you will want all three in place before the start date.

The gap between offer letters versus appointment letters trips up US teams, because at home the signed offer letter is the whole deal. An accepted offer letter is not a finished India hire.

Offer letter

The offer letter sets out the role, salary and start date, and the candidate accepts it. The EOR issues it, sometimes jointly with you, on terms you approve.

It commits you to the terms. It does not complete the hire.

Appointment letter

Is an appointment letter mandatory in India? For covered employers, yes. The OSH Code, 2020 requires a covered employer to issue a letter of appointment to every employee on appointment.

The rules prescribe its contents. The OSH (Central) Rules, 2026, notified in May 2026, set one format, and each state sets its own for establishments it regulates. On the EOR route, the EOR issues it as the legal employer.

The duty became live when India's four Labour Codes came into force on November 21, 2025.

Employment agreement

The agreement carries what the letters do not: confidentiality, notice, leave and termination terms. US templates often fold offer, appointment and agreement into one PDF. Keep the three functions distinct, because Indian law treats them differently.

We cover the clauses an Indian employment agreement needs separately, clause by clause.

Expert Tip: Do not send your US offer template with an India address on it. Split it into an offer letter, an appointment letter and an agreement, and have any restrictive clauses reviewed for India.

NDA and IP assignment

Under the Copyright Act, 1957, the employer is the first owner of copyright in work an employee creates in the course of employment, unless the contract says otherwise. Inventions are handled separately, so take an express assignment of copyright and a separate assignment of inventions.

For our hires, IP assignment is written into every contract, so what your India team creates belongs to you. The wider picture is in protecting IP when hiring in India.

Which employee onboarding documents should you collect in India?

Collect the employee's PAN, Aadhaar where a statutory process needs it, their own bank account details, education and experience proof, and the relieving letter from the previous employer. Get written background check consent before any check runs. The legal employer collects and holds this set: the EOR on one route, your entity on the other.

PAN and Aadhaar

PAN feeds every tax record you keep for the employee. The EPF Scheme, 2026 requires it alongside Aadhaar and an Aadhaar-seeded bank account, and that account must be the employee's own.

Aadhaar is India's national identity number. EPF and ESI enrollment both call for it, and the Central format for the appointment letter asks for it only after obtaining consent. Collect it with consent for those processes and mask it in your own files.

The relieving letter

Expect the relieving letter last. The previous employer issues it when the candidate's notice period ends. Notice periods are set by the employment contract, commonly one to three months, and state rules vary.

No law makes you collect it, but Indian employers expect it. Plan start dates around notice periods India actually enforces, not the day the offer is signed.

Background verification consent

Get the candidate's written, specific consent before any check runs. Reputable providers will not start without it, and it keeps the check inside what the candidate agreed to.

This is good practice rather than a stated DPDP requirement, and it is the cautious course while the Act phases in.

Which statutory enrollment forms does an India employee complete?

A new employee gives the EPF joining declaration (long known as Form 11), gets linked to a Universal Account Number (UAN), and files an EPF e-Nomination online. The employer registers eligible employees for ESI and handles professional tax where the state levies it. The gratuity nomination comes after a year of service.

These enrollments sit on top of the PF, ESI and gratuity obligations the employer carries every month.

EPF joining declaration, UAN and e-Nomination

The new hire gives the EPF joining declaration with their Aadhaar, Aadhaar-seeded bank account, PAN and any existing UAN. The EPF Scheme, 2026 replaced the 1952 Scheme in June 2026, which is why older checklists still print the old form names.

A UAN is allotted on a permanent basis and stays with the employee across jobs. On joining, the new employer links the existing UAN to its establishment.

New UANs are generated through Aadhaar Face Authentication on the UMANG app. The employee generates it, EPFO has discontinued direct allotment on its portal, and the employer helps if the employee cannot complete it.

EPF nomination is now an online e-Nomination the employee files on the EPFO portal, mandatory under the EPF Scheme, 2026. The old paper nomination form no longer applies.

EPF covers establishments with 20 or more employees, so check when EPF is mandatory before you size a small entity.

Contributions are 12% from the employee and 12% from the employer, deposited within 15 days of the month's close. The wage ceiling has been about $260 (₹25,000) a month since September 17, 2026.

ESI registration

Employee State Insurance covers employees earning up to about $220 (₹21,000) a month, at 0.75% from the employee and 3.25% from the employer. Contributions are due within 15 days of the month's end.

The employer registers the employee on the portal of the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on or before the joining day. That issues an Insurance Number, and the employer completes the employee's declaration form within 30 days.

ESI applies to establishments with 10 or more employees, and coverage varies by state. Most professional salaries sit above the ceiling, so ESI often does not apply to tech hires.

Gratuity nomination

Gratuity is a statutory lump sum paid at exit to qualifying employees. The employee names a nominee and sends the nomination to the employer, who keeps it in safe custody.

The Code on Social Security ties the nomination to the employee's first completed year of service, so it is not a joining-day form.

Professional tax

Professional tax is a state tax on employment, capped at about $26 (₹2,500) a year by the Constitution. It applies only where the state levies it, and the employer deducts it under its state registration.

Which tax declarations does an India employer need from a new hire?

Three: the employee's tax regime choice, Form 124 (formerly Form 12BB) when they claim deductions or exemptions, and, for a mid-year joiner, Form 122 (formerly Forms 12B and 12BAA) covering salary and tax from a previous employer in the same tax year. Together they let payroll withhold the right tax from the first salary.

The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the 1961 Act from April 1, 2026, and the forms changed names with it.

Tax regime choice and Form 124

The new tax regime is the default under the Income-tax Act, 2025. The employer records the employee's regime choice so withholding is computed correctly.

Form 124 is the employee's statement of deductions and exemptions, such as rent, leave travel and home-loan interest, that payroll should apply to withholding. It is needed only when the employee claims them.

These declarations drive monthly tax deducted at source (TDS), India's version of US federal withholding. Withholding is then reported quarterly on Form 138 (formerly Form 24Q).

Getting them right in month one keeps payroll compliance in India clean for the rest of the tax year.

Form 122 and the previous employer's certificate

A mid-year joiner already has salary and tax on record with someone else. Form 122 gives you those figures, so the year's withholding covers total income, not just your share.

Salary paid up to March 31, 2026 is certified on Form 16. From April 1, 2026, the annual certificate is Form 130, so a joiner may hand you either.

Those figures flow straight into your first payroll in India run.

What registrations does your own Indian entity need before the first hire?

On your own entity, you need a TAN to deduct and deposit TDS, EPFO and ESIC employer registrations once headcount thresholds apply, state professional tax registration where levied, and Shops and Establishments registration under your state's Act. Under an EOR you need none of them, because the EOR's registrations carry the hire.

Any employer that deducts tax needs a TAN; without one it cannot deposit TDS or file the return. The rest depend on headcount and state.

Each registration has its own application and approval, so an own-entity hire's paperwork starts well before day -30.

Your state's Shops and Establishments Act registration covers the office itself, so it belongs near the top of the list.

What does the paperwork timeline look like from day -30 to day +30?

Offer acceptance usually lands one to three months before the start date, because of the candidate's notice period. Checks and contracts follow, joining documents arrive in the final week, and statutory enrollments start on day 0, with nominations and tax declarations closing out the first month. The notice period, not your process, sets the pace.

The windows below are a typical sequence, not statutory deadlines. For the process view, use the India onboarding checklist.

Monthly deposit dates for EPF, ESI and TDS sit outside this table and follow the monthly compliance calendar.

What exit documents does an India employee need?

At exit, the employer issues a relieving letter and usually an experience letter, pays final wages within two working days, pays gratuity within 30 days of it becoming payable where the employee qualifies, marks the exit with EPFO, and issues Form 130 for the tax deducted that year. The legal employer handles all of it.

Relieving and experience letters

Both are common practice, not statute. Indian employers expect them, and your departing employee needs the relieving letter for their next job, just as your new hire needed one from their last employer.

Full and final settlement in two working days

Final wages are due within two working days of the exit under section 17(2) of the Code on Wages. That clock covers resignation, dismissal and retrenchment alike.

Work through the full and final settlement rules before notice is served, so nothing is calculated in a rush.

Gratuity within 30 days

Gratuity is due within 30 days of becoming payable under section 56 of the Code on Social Security, 2020. Permanent employees qualify after five years of continuous service. Fixed-term employees do not need five years and are paid pro rata.

A gratuity calculator shows the likely figure before the exit conversation.

The pro rata rule is one of several differences that apply to fixed-term contracts in India.

EPF exit and Form 130

The employer marks the exit on the EPFO portal within 15 days of the month's close. The UAN moves with the employee, so the next employer simply links it.

Form 130 is downloaded from TRACES and issued by June 15 after the tax year. Each employer issues one for the tax it deducted, so on the EOR route the EOR issues it.

How can Wisemonk help you manage hiring paperwork in India?

Wisemonk is an India-native Employer of Record (EOR) that helps global companies hire, pay, and manage talent in India without setting up a local entity.

For a new India hire, that means the appointment letter, employment agreement, EPF and ESI enrollments and tax declarations are issued and filed under our registrations, on compliant Indian employment contracts, without registering a company in India first. That is the job our EOR services in India are built to do.

We support 300+ global clients and more than 2,000 employees across India, process $20M+ in annual payroll, and hold a 4.8/5 rating on G2. Pricing starts from $99 per employee per month.

Here is how we help:

• Background verification: identity, education, address, employment and criminal record checks run with the candidate's written consent, from $50 per candidate for the standard package.
• PEO: for a company that already holds an Indian entity, we run onboarding, payroll and the PF, ESIC, professional tax and TDS filings under your own registrations, from $49 per employee per month, with equipment procurement available as an add-on.
• Managed payroll: your India pay run, TDS deductions and statutory filings executed for your own entity and HR team, priced on a custom quote.
• Entity setup: incorporating your Indian company and obtaining the tax and employer registrations listed above, priced on a custom quote.
• Contractor of Record: compliant contractor agreements with IP assignment, and a conversion route to employment when the work changes, at 6% per contractor payment.

From our experience supporting global companies hiring in India, the paperwork is where most do-it-yourself attempts quietly go wrong.

One client running an India team from Canada describes working with us this way.

We've been using WiseMonk to support our India team for the past six months, and the experience has been excellent. They've handled everything from payroll and statutory compliance to equipment procurement and benefits enrollment, all with a level of responsiveness and professionalism that makes managing a remote India team from Canada feel seamless. Nileena and the team are always quick to reply and proactive about flagging anything we need to know. We'd happily recommend WiseMonk to other companies looking to hire and manage talent in India.

Monika Russell, CFO at Minehub, Canada