Employer of Record (EOR) in India: Hire Legally Without an Entity

Hiring your first engineer in India looks simple until you try to do it from the US. Then suddenly you are dealing with months of entity setup, payroll compliance, PF, ESI, gratuity, TDS, Professional Tax, state-level labor laws, and India’s new Labor Codes that took effect in late 2025.

Somewhere between the LinkedIn outreach and the first paycheck, most founders realize this is not a “wire them in USD and call it done” problem.

That is where an Employer of Record (EOR) in India comes in. An EOR legally hires employees on your behalf, handles payroll, taxes, benefits, contracts, and statutory compliance, and helps you onboard talent without setting up a local entity.

This guide breaks down how EOR services actually work in India, what they cost, where hidden fees show up, how they compare to setting up your own subsidiary, and what global companies should ask before choosing a provider.

India at a Glance

• Population: ~1.48 billion (world’s largest)
• Currency: Indian Rupee (INR)
• Capital: New Delhi
• Business languages: English & Hindi (22 officially recognized languages overall)
• GDP (Nominal): ~$4.3–4.5 trillion
• GDP Growth: ~6–7% (fastest-growing major economy)
• GDP per capita: ~$2,800–3,200
• Key talent hubs: Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi NCR (Gurgaon, Noida), Chennai

What is an Employer of Record in India?

An Employer of Record (EOR) in India is a locally registered company that legally hires Indian workers on your behalf, while you keep full control over their day-to-day work.

The EOR handles every employer-side legal obligation in India, and you run the actual job.

The responsibilities are split cleanly between the two sides:

Why this setup exists

You can't legally hire someone in India without a registered Indian entity.

Indian law requires every employer to:

• Be registered as an Indian business with a Corporate Identification Number (CIN)
• Hold active PF and ESI accounts for social security contributions
• File monthly TDS returns for income tax deducted at source
• Register under the Shops and Establishments Act in the state where the employee works
• Maintain compliance with India's four labor codes and state-specific labor laws

Putting an Indian worker on your payroll skips all of that, which exposes your company to three real risks:

1. Permanent establishment (PE) risk under the US-India tax treaty, which can trigger Indian corporate tax on a portion of your revenue
2. FEMA violations tied to how foreign currency is moving in and out of India
3. Worker misclassification claims if the person is treated as a contractor but functions like an employee

How an EOR solves it

An EOR already holds everything you'd otherwise have to build from scratch:

• The Indian entity with CIN registration
• PF, ESI, and professional tax accounts
• TDS and GST filing infrastructure
• Shops and Establishments registration in every state where they place employees
• Compliance teams that track labor law updates in real time

When you hire through an EOR, the worker becomes a full-time employee of the EOR's Indian entity, not your company. The EOR carries the legal liability for compliance. You get the talent and the output, without spending 4 to 6 months and $15,000 to $50,000 to set up an Indian subsidiary.

A useful US analogy: an EOR works similarly to a staffing partner that fully employs the worker on your behalf. The difference is that an EOR is purpose-built for cross-border hiring in countries where you have no entity, and it carries the full employer liability under local labor law.

How does an EOR in India work for your companies?

An EOR in India operates on a three-party structure: your company, the EOR's Indian entity, and the employee you want to hire. You and the EOR sign a service agreement. The EOR and the employee sign a separate employment contract. The three sides are linked, but the legal relationships stay clean and separate.

The process from offer to first paycheck runs in six steps:

1. You select the candidate: Sourcing, interviewing, offer negotiation, and final selection sit entirely on your side. The EOR doesn't get involved in who you hire.
2. You sign a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with the EOR: This is a US-style commercial contract between your company and the EOR. It defines scope of services, monthly fees, FX handling, IP assignment, data protection, liability limits, and termination terms.
3. The EOR signs a locally compliant employment contract with the worker: This contract is governed by Indian law and includes state-specific clauses, statutory benefits, notice periods, and IP assignment that flows back to your company through the MSA.
4. The EOR runs payroll in Indian rupees: Salary, PF, ESI, TDS, professional tax, and gratuity accruals all process through the EOR's Indian bank accounts and tax registrations.
5. The EOR invoices you monthly in USD: A single consolidated line bundles the gross salary, employer statutory contributions, and EOR service fee, converted at the agreed FX rate.
6. You manage the work: Daily standups, code reviews, performance feedback, promotions, and project assignments all stay with you. The EOR steps in only when something requires legal employer involvement, such as statutory leave approvals, payroll queries, terminations, or compliance updates.

Two contracts, not one

A common misconception is that EORs use a single three-way contract. They don't. The structure uses two separate contracts that work together:

The employee has no contractual relationship with your company. They are legally an employee of the EOR. You direct their work through standard business communication, not through a contract that binds them to your local entity.

How the EOR shields your company from permanent establishment risk

Permanent establishment (PE) is the biggest tax risk most foreign companies face when hiring in India. Under Article 5 of the US-India tax treaty, your company can become taxable in India if it maintains a "fixed place of business" in the country, or if a "dependent agent" regularly concludes contracts on its behalf.

A properly structured EOR engagement avoids both triggers:

• No fixed place of business: The employee works remotely or from a co-working space the EOR provides. Your company does not own or lease premises in India.
• No dependent agent: The EOR is an independent third party running its own business. It does not sign contracts on your behalf or commit your company to anything in the Indian market.
• No contract-binding authority: The employee's role is internal, such as writing code, running campaigns, or supporting customers. They do not negotiate or sign commercial contracts that legally bind your company.

If you cross any of these lines, the EOR shield can break. The most common mistake is giving an India-based employee a title and authority to close enterprise deals with Indian customers, which can create PE exposure regardless of how clean the EOR setup looks on paper.

Our suggestion: Spell out the limits of the employee's authority in their job description and in the MSA. Indian tax authorities look at substance, not just paperwork. If the role functions like a country manager who signs deals, no EOR can fully protect you from PE risk.

Why are US companies hiring in India through an EOR?

Most US companies pick an EOR because it gives you everything an Indian entity gives you for hiring purposes, without the 3 to 6 months and $20,000 to $50,000 of setup work upfront. For most teams hiring their first 1 to 20 employees in India, that math wins every time.

From our experience helping US companies expand business to India, here are the six reasons US buyers consistently land on EOR:

1. Speed: 48 hours vs 4 to 6 months

Setting up your own Indian subsidiary involves DIN application, name reservation, MOA/AOA drafting, SPICe+ filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, PAN/TAN registration, GST registration, PF/ESI enrollment, opening a current account, FEMA filings for capital infusion, and INC-20A commencement filing. Even with experienced Indian lawyers running point, the full sequence takes 3 to 6 months before you can legally pay your first employee.

An EOR has already done all of that. Once a candidate clears KYC and background verification, they can be on payroll within 24 to 72 hours.

2. Cost: $15K to $100K of avoided setup spend

A realistic first-year budget for spinning up an Indian subsidiary, including legal fees, registration costs, FEMA compliance, accounting setup, and ongoing CFO/auditor retainers, lands between $15,000 and $100,000 depending on complexity.

The side-by-side looks like this in Year 1:

3. Compliance offload

The EOR carries the day-to-day compliance burden. That covers PF and EPFO filings, ESI contributions, monthly TDS deduction and remittance, professional tax remittance by state, gratuity accruals, Shops and Establishments compliance, Maternity Benefit Act compliance, and ongoing alignment with India's four labor codes.

Miss any single one of these as a US company trying to manage it remotely, and you are looking at penalties, interest, and director-level personal liability under Indian law.

4. Risk mitigation: misclassification, PE, FEMA

A lot of US companies default to "we'll just pay them as a contractor." That works for short, project-based work. It fails fast for long-term, full-time roles. Indian authorities apply a supervision and control test that often reclassifies long-term contractors as employees, which retroactively triggers PF, ESI, gratuity, and TDS obligations plus penalties.

An EOR removes three risks at once:

• Misclassification: the worker is a properly classified full-time employee from day one.
• Permanent establishment: the EOR breaks the PE chain under the US-India tax treaty, as covered in Section 2.
• FEMA: foreign currency moves into India through the EOR's regulated channels, not through unauthorized contractor payments that can flag as FEMA violations.

5. Access to engineering talent at 30 to 50% of US cost

US engineering hiring in 2026 still averages $130,000 to $150,000 in base salary for a mid-level software engineer. Comparable mid-level Indian engineers, hired full-time through an EOR, typically land between $30,000 and $60,000 fully loaded (gross salary plus employer statutory contributions plus EOR fee).

India has the second-largest engineering talent pool in the world, with strong English-speaking depth in cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai. For US companies facing hiring budget caps, India is one of the few markets that offer both volume and quality at this price point.

India's IT-BPM workforce crossed 5.8 million in FY2025. The country now houses 2.23 lakh+ DPIIT-recognized startups and ranks as the world's third-largest startup ecosystem.

6. Flexibility to scale down without entity wind-down

Closing down an Indian subsidiary takes 12 to 18 months. There's final ROC filings, tax clearances, employee settlement, bank account closure, and FEMA reporting. With an EOR, scaling down means terminating the MSA and serving notice on the employees. The compliance wind-down stays with the EOR.

How much does an EOR in India cost?

An EOR in India typically costs between $99 and $699 per employee per month as a service fee.

On top of that, you pay the employee's gross salary plus statutory employer contributions (roughly 15 to 22 percent of gross salary covering PF, gratuity, and group medical).

The full picture, what finance teams call the total cost of employment, usually runs 115 to 125 percent of the employee's gross annual salary.

What EOR pricing actually looks like in India

There are two pricing models in the Indian EOR market. Understanding which one you are being quoted matters more than the headline number.

The rough market bands for India as of 2026:

• India-native EOR specialists (Wisemonk): Starting at $99 to $399 per employee per month. These providers own their Indian entity, handle all compliance in-house, and are often the lowest total-cost option for India-only hiring.
• Global EOR platforms (Deel, Remote, Oyster, Multiplier): Typically $499 to $699 per employee per month for India. Deel's India pricing starts around $599/month, with FX fees of 3 to 5 percent on cross-border payments on top.
• Enterprise EOR (G-P, Atlas): $599 to $1,500+ per employee per month, usually quote-based.

Read more:"What is the Cost of Employer of Record (EOR) in India?"

Try our fully loaded cost calculator now and take the first step towards building your world-class team in India: Salary Calculator India: Simplify Your Take-Home Pay Calculation.

EOR or own entity: which makes sense for hiring in India?

For your first 1 to 20 employees in India, an EOR almost always wins on speed and cost.

Once you cross 20+ FTE in one location, the fixed cost of running your own Indian subsidiary starts to pay for itself, especially if you need a physical office, custom benefits, or a permanent local brand presence.

Most US companies start with an EOR and graduate to an entity once the headcount math flips.

For the full break-even math, transition mechanics, and a detailed cost comparison, read our deep-dive guide: EOR vs Entity in India: Which Should You Choose?

What compliance does an EOR in India handle?

India's employment compliance is split between central (federal) laws and state laws, with both applying simultaneously to every employee.

An EOR handles both layers for you, from monthly filings and contributions to state-specific registrations and overlapping reporting deadlines.

What's new in 2026: labor codes and DPDP Act

Two regulatory shifts reshaped the compliance picture in late 2025 and early 2026:

1. The four labor codes were notified on November 21, 2025, replacing 29 separate central labor laws.

The biggest operational change is the 50% wages rule: basic salary plus dearness allowance must equal at least 50% of total CTC, which raised the effective PF and gratuity outflow for employers running low-basic salary structures.

Final central rules rolled out around April 1, 2026. States are still notifying their own rules, so the operational picture remains a patchwork across the country. A capable EOR is already running the new wage definition in their payroll, restructuring CTCs where needed, and tracking state notifications as they come.

2. The DPDP Act and Rules create India's first comprehensive data protection regime.

The DPDP Rules were notified on November 13, 2025, with phased rollout: the Data Protection Board is operational now, the consent manager framework activates November 13, 2026, and full enforcement of consent, notice, and breach provisions kicks in by May 13, 2027. Penalties reach up to ₹250 crore (around $30 million) for serious violations.

Contrary to early concerns, India did not adopt hard data localization. Cross-border transfers are permitted, with the central government reserving the right to restrict transfers to specific countries.

For US companies, this means employee data can continue flowing into US-based HRIS and payroll systems, subject to standard consent, notice, and security obligations.

Your EOR should be handling employee consent for HR data processing, breach notification protocols, and Data Fiduciary obligations for the employment relationship.

Which Indian labor laws apply differently across states?

Labor is a "concurrent" subject under the Indian Constitution, which means both the central and state governments legislate.

Five areas where state variation routinely catches US employers off guard:

On the ground, an employee in Bengaluru and an employee in Pune may have meaningfully different leave entitlements, professional tax obligations, and overtime rules, even when they work for the same company on the same role and salary.

The EOR's job is to issue employment contracts that respect the laws of the state where each person actually works, not your headquarters' default policies.

What statutory benefits must an EOR provide to Indian employees?

An employee hired through an EOR gets every statutory benefit they would get from a direct Indian employer.

The law doesn't distinguish between EOR employees and direct hires of a local company, so the benefits package is identical. An EOR that cuts corners here is breaking the law, not optimizing cost.

What's NOT statutory (but matters for a competitive offer)

US employers often assume the statutory list is the full benefits package. In India's organized sector, it isn't.

Five benefits aren't mandated by law but are table stakes for any competitive professional offer:

1. Private group health insurance: ESI doesn't cover professionals above the wage ceiling. The market expectation is employer-paid group health insurance with a sum insured of ₹3 lakh to ₹10 lakh ($3,600 to $12,000), covering employee, spouse, and children. Senior hires often expect ₹15 lakh to ₹25 lakh ($18,000 to $30,000).
2. Life and accidental death insurance: Group term life cover of 2 to 3 times annual CTC is standard for mid-to-senior hires.
3. Paternity leave: No statutory requirement for the private sector, but most tech employers offer 1 to 4 weeks. New parents notice when it's missing from the offer.
4. Internet or work-from-home allowance: Post-2020, ₹1,500 to ₹3,000 per month is a common monthly allowance for remote roles.
5. Annual performance bonus: Statutory bonus rarely applies to professional hires. A discretionary annual bonus of 10% to 25% of fixed CTC is standard at mid-level, higher at leadership level.

Read more: Employee Benefits in India: Employer Guide

Our recommendation: When you ask an EOR what's included in their benefits package, check whether they bundle private health insurance with statutory coverage or treat it as an add-on. Cheaper EORs often quote a low monthly fee, then bill the group health premium separately at a marked-up rate. Ask for a single all-in monthly figure before signing.

How do you protect IP and avoid permanent establishment risk?

For companies hiring engineering, design, or research talent in India, two legal questions dominate everything else: who actually owns the code, products, and inventions, and does this engagement expose your company to Indian tax.

Both are solvable through a properly structured EOR, but the protections aren't automatic. They depend on contract language, supervision boundaries, and the EOR's own legal architecture.

Why direct IP assignment from an Indian worker fails

A common assumption among US founders: "I'm paying them, so I own what they create."

That logic doesn't translate cleanly to Indian law. The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 sets default ownership rules that catch foreign employers off guard:

• Section 17 default ownership: If a person is employed under a "contract of service," the employer owns the copyright in works created during employment. But the legal employer in your setup is the EOR, not your company. So default ownership lands with the EOR, not directly with you.
• Independent contractors own their own work: If you hire an Indian developer as a contractor instead of through an EOR, default ownership stays with the developer unless the contract explicitly assigns it. Many US companies discover this only after a dispute.
• The 5-year default rule (Section 19(5)) :If an IP assignment doesn't specify a duration, Indian law presumes the assignment is valid for only 5 years. After that, rights can revert to the original author.
• Moral rights are non-assignable (Section 57): The author keeps personal rights of authorship and integrity even after assigning economic rights. You can't fully extinguish these.
• Patents need explicit assignment: Under the Patents Act, 1970, inventions are owned by the inventor by default. You need a written, registered assignment to move ownership to the employer.

The indirect IP assignment model

The clean way an EOR transfers IP from an Indian worker to your company is a two-step chain, not a direct assignment:

1. Step 1: Employee assigns IP to the EOR: The employment contract between the Indian worker and the EOR includes explicit IP assignment language covering all copyrights, patents, designs, and trade secrets created during employment. The clause specifies perpetual duration, worldwide territorial scope, and a moral rights waiver to the maximum extent permitted by Indian law.
2. Step 2: EOR assigns IP to your company: The MSA between the EOR and your company includes a flow-through IP assignment, transferring everything the EOR receives from the employee directly to you. This step is automatic under a properly drafted MSA, with no per-deliverable paperwork required.

This indirect structure has three advantages over trying to assign IP directly from the Indian worker to your company: it avoids the "contract of service" classification problem, it cleanly handles future works without renegotiation, and it survives the 5-year default rule because both contracts specify perpetual duration.

NDA and confidentiality enforcement

Confidentiality obligations in India are governed by the Indian Contract Act, 1872. NDAs are enforceable as long as they don't operate as a general restraint of trade (Section 27). Confidentiality during and after employment is fine. Broad non-competes that prevent the employee from working in the industry are generally not enforceable in India and Indian courts have voided them repeatedly.

Non-solicitation clauses for customers and employees are enforceable when narrowly drafted, with typical durations of 6 to 24 months post-employment. A capable EOR includes both an NDA and an IP assignment in every employment contract, plus separate confidentiality riders for projects involving sensitive data or trade secrets.

Avoiding permanent establishment risk (deeper look)

Section 2 covered the basics of how an EOR breaks the PE chain. The deeper structural protections under Article 5 of the US-India tax treaty work like this:

• Fixed place of business test. A US company creates a PE if it has a "fixed place of business" in India. An EOR employee working from home, a co-working space the EOR provides, or any premises the US company doesn't lease or control doesn't trigger this.
• Dependent agent test. A PE exists if someone in India "habitually concludes contracts" on the US company's behalf. The EOR is an independent business with its own clients. The Indian employee, under a properly scoped role, doesn't have authority to bind your company commercially.
• Service PE. If your company sends employees to India for more than 90 days in any 12-month period to perform services, that can trigger a service PE separately from the agent test. EOR engagements alone don't create this exposure, but visiting US executives can if they overstay.

FEMA and the supervision-and-control test

Two further risks that don't always come up in EOR comparisons:

• FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act): Payments from your company to an India-based individual must go through legitimate channels. Paying an Indian "contractor" via PayPal, Wise, or direct USD wire for what is functionally full-time employment can flag as FEMA non-compliance, because the inward remittance category and the underlying business relationship don't match. An EOR routes all payments through its regulated Indian bank infrastructure, which keeps FEMA compliance clean.
• Supervision-and-control test: Indian regulators apply a substance-over-form test to classify workers. If a "contractor" works set hours, uses your tools and systems, reports to your managers, and has no other clients, they're an employee in the eyes of the law, regardless of what the contract says. Misclassification penalties include retroactive PF, ESI, gratuity, TDS, and interest. The EOR structure removes this risk because the worker is correctly classified as an employee from day one.

Pro tip: Ask the EOR for a copy of their standard employment contract and MSA before signing. Specifically, look for: perpetual IP assignment language, worldwide territorial scope, moral rights waiver, flow-through IP assignment in the MSA, and a confidentiality clause that survives termination. If any of these are missing or vague, the legal protections you think you're getting may not actually exist.

What does the EOR onboarding timeline in India actually look like?

Most EOR providers market "1 to 2 day onboarding." The honest answer is 24 to 72 hours from offer acceptance to active employment, IF the candidate's documents are clean and complete.

In practice, a real onboarding plays out as parallel workstreams across 3 to 5 business days, with edge cases stretching to 2 weeks.

Document checklist for a clean 72-hour onboarding

To hit a 72-hour timeline, the employee needs to upload these documents on Day 0:

• PAN card. India's tax identification number. Mandatory for any salaried hire.
• Aadhaar card. National biometric ID. Required for PF/UAN setup and tax filings.
• Address proof. Utility bill, rental agreement, or passport showing the current residential address.
• Bank account details. Cancelled cheque or bank statement showing account number, IFSC code, and account holder name.
• Educational certificates. Degree certificates and transcripts for background verification.
• Previous employer relieving letter. Confirms the last working day at the previous employer. Critical for BGV.
• Last 3 months' payslips. Used for salary verification during BGV.
• Form 16 from previous employer. Ensures tax continuity within the current financial year (April to March).
• Passport-size photograph. For records and ID cards.
• Universal Account Number (UAN). If the employee already has a PF account from a previous employer, the UAN lets that account port over instead of opening a new one.

Where onboarding actually slows down

The "1 day onboarding" marketing claim collapses in real-world scenarios.

Five common delays that push timelines past a week:

• Missing or delayed relieving letter. Some employers withhold relieving letters during notice period disputes or pending dues. Without this, background verification can't complete and the employee technically can't start a new full-time role.
• BGV holds. Discrepancies in education credentials, prior employer information, or address history can stretch BGV from 3 to 10 business days. Senior hires with longer histories take longer.
• State registration backlogs. If the EOR isn't already registered in the state where the employee lives, Shops and Establishments registration can add 5 to 15 business days. A capable EOR is already registered in every major Indian state.
• PF transfer issues. If the employee is moving from another company, the UAN transfer from the previous PF account can take 7 to 30 days. The new hire isn't blocked from starting, but their PF continuity may take time to reflect.
• Off-cycle joining dates. If the start date falls in the middle of a payroll cycle, the first paycheck is usually prorated and delivered on the next regular cycle, which can be up to 30 days out.

Get the candidate to upload the relieving letter from their previous employer as soon as their notice period clears. This single document holds up more EOR onboardings in India than any other.

If the candidate is still serving notice, ask the EOR to pre-draft the contract and prepare the payroll setup so everything is ready to execute the day the relieving letter lands.

Read more: Employee Onboarding Checklist for Hiring Employees in India.

How do you choose the right EOR in India?

Picking the right EOR comes down to nine evaluation criteria, weighted by what matters most for your situation.

For most US companies, three of those carry the heaviest weight: whether the EOR owns its Indian entity, how transparent the pricing actually is, and how deep its India-specific compliance expertise goes.

The owned-entity vs aggregator distinction

This is the single biggest decision-shaping factor that most US buyers miss.

In the owned-entity model, the EOR has its own wholly-owned Indian subsidiary. Compliance, payroll, contracts, and bank infrastructure are all under one roof. If something goes wrong, one company is accountable.

In the aggregator (partner) model, the EOR markets the service globally but doesn't own the Indian entity. Instead, they contract with a third-party Indian firm that actually employs your workers. You're contracted to the EOR, but legally, an Indian company you've never heard of is the real employer.

The aggregator model lets global EOR providers cover 150+ countries without building local infrastructure everywhere. It also creates a layer of dependency that breaks down when something complex happens, like a tax inspection, a wrongful termination claim, or a benefits administration issue.

For India specifically, owned entities matter more than for most countries because the compliance landscape (state-by-state variation, frequent labor law changes, the 2026 codes) requires current expertise that aggregator partnerships rarely keep up with.

What questions should you ask an EOR provider before signing?

Before you sign an MSA, get answers (in writing) to six questions:

1. Do you own your Indian entity? If yes, what's the CIN? Verify the Corporate Identification Number on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal. Confirm the entity's incorporation date, registered office, and director list. Aggregators often give vague answers here.
2. Can I see a sample monthly invoice? Request a redacted real invoice showing every line item: gross salary, employer statutory contributions, EOR service fee, FX rate used, and any other charges. If they can't or won't produce one, that's the answer.
3. What's your FX markup over the mid-market rate? The honest answer is a specific percentage. Anything over 2% is a red flag. Under 1% is industry-leading.
4. Can you share 3 reference customers in my size band and industry? A 50-person SaaS company shouldn't take references from a 5,000-person enterprise customer. Ask for relevant peers and actually call them.
5. What's your SLA on onboarding speed, and what causes exceptions? Vague promises don't count. Get a specific commitment, like "72 hours from document submission," with a named list of valid exceptions (BGV holds, state registration delays).
6. What does termination look like, and what's the deposit refund process? Ask for the specific clauses in the MSA. Some providers charge 1 to 3 months of service fees as exit penalties, or hold security deposits for 60 to 90 days after offboarding.

Most EORs are happy to demo their platform. Fewer are willing to share contract templates, sample invoices, and entity proofs without a sales meeting first. Push for those documents in writing before the second call.

Providers that gatekeep this material until you're "committed" are signaling something about how they'll behave when you're a customer.

How does Wisemonk simplify employer of record in India?

Wisemonk is an India-native EOR platform built from the ground up for global companies hiring in India.

We operate through our own Indian legal entity (no partner network), start at $99 per employee per month with no hidden FX markups, onboard hires in 24 to 48 hours, and assign a dedicated India-based HR manager to every client.

We are not a global platform with India on the side. India is the only market we work in.

Here's how Wisemonk EOR helps global businesses:

• Compliant employment contracts drafted under the Indian Contract Act and the applicable state Shops and Establishments Act, with IP and confidentiality clauses built in
• Payroll run in-house on our own payroll platform, with USD or EUR or GBP in and INR out, and full transaction-level FX transparency
• Monthly statutory filings: EPF, ESI, TDS, Professional Tax, Labour Welfare Fund, and the new Labor Code requirements
• Group medical insurance, customizable benefits (including executive-level health cover and tax-optimized CTC structuring), and equipment procurement if needed
• Offboarding, full and final settlement within the 48-hour window mandated by the new Labor Codes, and clean exit documentation
• Contractor of Record (COR) services alongside EOR, for teams running hybrid models
• Entity transition support when you scale past the EOR route and move to your own Indian subsidiary

From our experience supporting US, UK, Canada, and EU teams hiring into Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, NCR, and tier-2 cities across India, the pattern that works is the same every time: start lean with an EOR, stress-test the India strategy for 12 to 24 months, then either keep scaling with us or transition to your own entity with our support.

You do not lock yourself into one path, and you do not lose compliance continuity when you move.

Ready to hire in India without setting up an entity? Book a quick call with our India team →