Hiring through an Employer of Record in India is extremely fast. Most companies are able to hire in a few days, with onboarding completed shortly after the candidate submits documentation. This is possible because the EOR already has a fully compliant legal entity and HR infrastructure in place.
From our experience supporting US teams entering India, hiring timelines that normally take three to six months through entity setup shrink to less than a week when using an EOR. All legal contracts, compliance steps, payroll setup, and statutory requirements are handled immediately, allowing you to onboard as soon as you select a candidate.
Key benefits of fast hiring with an EOR
The main reason hiring speeds up under an EOR is that all legal groundwork already exists. The EOR simply plugs the employee into a compliant structure.
- Speed: EOR hiring often happens within days because you avoid entity incorporation, director appointments, bank setup, and government registrations.
- Streamlined onboarding: The EOR prepares India-compliant employment contracts, collects employee documents, processes payroll information, and sets up statutory benefits without your involvement.
- Compliance management: The EOR takes responsibility for legal and tax compliance, including PF, ESI, Professional Tax, and TDS, ensuring the employee is work-ready from day one.
- Flexible scaling: This model allows you to scale quickly for pilot projects or urgent hiring needs, giving you freedom to grow or contract without administrative overhead.
How the process works?
The hiring flow is simple and requires minimal effort from your side.
- Choose a candidate: You identify and select the person you want to hire.
- Sign with the EOR: You finalize an agreement with your chosen EOR provider.
- EOR onboarding: The EOR gathers employee data, prepares contracts, and completes compliance steps.
- Employee starts: The employee begins work once onboarding is done, while the EOR manages payroll and statutory deductions.
Based on our work enabling global teams to hire in India at speed, this entire process consistently completes in under a week for most roles where documentation is quickly provided.
Factors affecting onboarding speed
Although the EOR accelerates everything, a few variables can influence the exact timeline.
- Candidate responsiveness: Delays usually come from slow document submission (ID proofs, bank details, employment history).
- Background checks: Standard checks take a few days, but more detailed verifications may take up to two weeks depending on institutions involved.
- EOR capability: EORs with fully owned local entities and automated payroll systems onboard faster than providers that outsource to third-party aggregators.
- Foreign nationals: Hiring non-Indian citizens requires visa processing and FRRO registration, extending timelines to several weeks or months.
Wisemonk: Fast, compliant hiring in India
Wisemonk is an India-specialist Employer of Record that helps US companies hire fully compliant employees in 2–4 days. We handle local contracts, payroll, statutory benefits, and onboarding end-to-end so your team can start operating immediately.
Client Review:
“Working with the Wisemonk team in India has been a genuinely positive experience… I value the quality of compliance Wisemonk brings.”
– Lisa Jones, Chief People Officer at Couch Health
Need help with your global expansion in India? Contact our team to learn how we can support your global operations.