Plan your India expansion like a consultant would.
Answer a few questions about the team you want to build. Get a fully-loaded cost, a recommended engagement model, a 6-week go-live plan, and a compliance risk read — the brief that usually takes a spreadsheet and three sales calls.
Fully-loaded cost
Salary + statutory + fees, per head
Model recommendation
EOR, entity, contractor or hybrid
6-week roadmap
From MSA to first payroll
Risk & compliance
PE, DPDP, misclassification
Tell us about the team
Everything's adjustable. Start with a preset if you're not sure.
Work model
Cities
Services you're exploring
Role mix 8 planned
Recommended model
Hybrid
Fully-loaded / month
$22,169
7 hires
Time to first hire
~4 wks
vs ~14 wks for own entity
Compliance risk
Low
Why Hybrid? In the 4–24 range a hybrid keeps you fast and compliant today while positioning core roles to graduate to an entity around the 23-head break-even.
📊 Break-even: an own entity becomes cheaper than EOR at 23 heads for this team.
Anchor city + remote mix — moderate infra needs.
Engagement model cost comparison (monthly)
Fully-loaded cost per head
Compliance effort split
- Payroll & statutory
- Misclassification / PE
- Contracts & IP
- Data protection (DPDP)
- Benefits & POSH
Cost by role (recommended model)
3-year cumulative cost — EOR vs Entity vs Hybrid ($ thousands)
- EOR
- Entity
- Hybrid
India vs US/UK — savings on the same team
US/UK monthly
$58,161
India (EOR) monthly
$20,365
You save
$37,796/mo
65% lower
6-week go-live roadmap
- 1
Week 1 — Model lock & scoping
Confirm engagement model, cities and role mix. Sign MSA.
- 2
Week 2 — Contracts & offers
Compliant offer letters issued; IP + DPDP clauses in place.
- 3
Week 3 — Statutory registrations
EPF/ESI/PT enrolment; PAN and bank setup per hire.
- 4
Week 4 — Onboarding & equipment
Devices provisioned, BGV completed, accounts created.
- 5
Week 5 — Payroll dry-run
First payroll simulated; benefits + POSH compliance set.
- 6
Week 6 — Go-live
Team operational and compliant. Ongoing payroll and compliance run monthly.
- Statutory load ~15% (effective): EPF (12% of capped basic), gratuity ~4.81%, ESI 3.25% (only on gross ≤ ₹21k). Total employment cost lands ~1.25×–1.4× base salary.
- Wisemonk fees: EOR from $99/employee/mo (flat, no % of salary); contractor payments $19/contractor/mo.
- Own entity: ~$10k one-time setup + ~$2.2k/mo in-house compliance overhead (sourced range $5k–$15k setup).
- City cost index: Mumbai 1.18× · Bangalore 1.15× · Delhi NCR 1.10× · Hyderabad 1.02× · Pune 1.00× · Chennai 0.98× · Remote 0.95×. Bengaluru runs ~30–50% above Tier-2 cities.
- Salary anchor: mid-level Bengaluru engineer ≈ ₹18L/yr (~$1,790/mo gross), rising ~9% YoY in 2026.
- US/UK comparison: ~3.4× India gross blended, applied per role (2.6× support → 3.8× engineering), so the gap tracks your mix.
Rates verified against 2026 India statutory guidance and Wisemonk's published pricing. Salaries are market mid-points and vary by seniority. Figures are directional — a consultation validates them for your case.
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