India Payroll Run Cost Calculator
What running payroll for your existing India team actually costs every month — gross-to-net for each salary band, the full employer statutory load, the filing calendar, and what it costs to operate the run in-house vs handing it to a managed payroll partner.
Your India team
Simplified single-state view. Multi-state teams stack additional PT registrations and filings.
Total monthly outflow
₹10,20,826
gross payroll + employer statutory load
Per employee / month
₹1,02,083
10 employees across 4 bands
Statutory load on gross
4.4%
EPF, ESI, gratuity & bonus accruals
Where the money goes each month
Total monthly outflow ₹10,20,826
Add at least one salary band to see the breakdown.
Gross-to-net by salary band
| Band | Gross | EPF (ee) | ESI (ee) | Prof. tax | TDS est. | Net in-hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior engineering × 4 | ₹1,50,000 | ₹1,800 | n/a | ₹200 | ₹12,567 | ₹1,35,433 |
| Mid-level × 3 | ₹90,000 | ₹1,800 | n/a | ₹200 | ₹0 | ₹88,000 |
| Operations × 2 | ₹45,000 | ₹1,800 | n/a | ₹200 | ₹0 | ₹43,000 |
| Support × 1 | ₹18,000 | ₹1,080 | ₹135 | nil | ₹0 | ₹16,785 |
| Team total / month | ₹9,78,000 | ₹17,280 | ₹135 | ₹1,800 | ₹50,267 | ₹9,08,518 |
New-regime income up to ₹12.75L a year is effectively tax-free after the ₹75,000 standard deduction and Section 87A rebate — that is why lower bands show zero TDS.
Employer statutory load
| Component | Monthly | Annual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPF employer (12% of PF wages) | Statutory | ₹17,280 | ₹2,07,360 |
| EDLI + EPF admin charges (0.5% + 0.5%) | Statutory | ₹1,440 | ₹17,280 |
| ESI employer (3.25% of gross ≤ ₹21k) | Statutory | ₹585 | ₹7,020 |
| Gratuity accrual (4.81% of basic) | Accrual | ₹23,521 | ₹2,82,251 |
| Statutory bonus accrual (8.33%, eligible wages) | Under 20 employees | ₹0 | ₹0 |
| Total employer load | ₹42,826 | ₹5,13,911 |
EPF is computed on basic capped at ₹15,000 — the statutory minimum. On EPFO's full-basic position the employer EPF line rises materially; flip the toggle to compare. EPF registration is mandatory at 20+ employees but near-universal below that for teams employed via an EOR or a registered entity. Gratuity and bonus are accruals — cash leaves later, but under the Labour Codes gratuity vests at one year for fixed-term employees, so provisioning from month one is the honest budget.
The filing calendar you're signing up for
7th
Salaries paid + TDS deposited
1.5%/mo interest + ₹200/day
15th
EPF & ESI remitted
12%/yr interest + damages up to 100% of arrears
Quarterly
Form 138 TDS return (replaced Form 24Q)
₹200/day late fee
Jun 15
Form 130 to every employee (replaced Form 16)
₹100/day per certificate
Under the Income Tax Act 2025 (live since 1 Apr 2026), salary TDS falls under Section 392(1); filings using old form numbers fail portal validation. Payslips are due monthly and payroll records must be kept digitally for seven years under the Labour Codes. Professional tax and labour welfare fund deadlines vary by state.
What it costs to run the run
| Option | Monthly | Annual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run it in-house Software ~₹75/emp + 15.0 hrs/mo of finance & compliance time at ₹1,500/hr (stated assumption). | Estimate | ₹23,250 | ₹2,79,000 |
| Wisemonk Managed Payroll — from $49/employee/mo End-to-end monthly processing and statutory filings on your entity. | Published | ₹46,550 | ₹5,58,600 |
| Wisemonk EOR — from $99/employee/mo Only relevant if you'd rather not employ on your entity at all. | Published | ₹94,050 | ₹11,28,600 |
The in-house line is an operating estimate; it excludes the cost of getting a filing wrong (Exhibit 4's penalty column) and of keeping pace with the Labour Codes and the Income Tax Act 2025 rewrite. Crossover at these assumptions: managed payroll is cheaper than in-house below ~5 employees on raw cost.
At 10 employees, in-house is cheaper on paper — so let’s be honest about it
On raw operating cost, running payroll yourself pencils out to ₹23,250/mo against ₹46,550 for managed payroll. The arithmetic is not the argument at your scale.
The argument is Exhibit 4: hard monthly deadlines, penalties that accrue automatically, a tax law rewritten in April 2026 that breaks filings using old form numbers, and state-level variation that multiplies with every new work location. If your finance team owns that confidently, keep it in-house. If each payroll run still involves someone googling Form 138 — that’s the $49.
Sources & assumptions
- Statutory rates per Wisemonk's India Payroll 2026 guide: EPF 12% employee + 12% employer on basic+DA; ESI 0.75% / 3.25% of gross up to ₹21,000/mo (10+ employee establishments); TDS per Income Tax Act 2025 new-regime slabs with 4% cess; professional tax per state (Delhi and Haryana levy none). Basic is taken at 50% of gross per the Labour Codes wage definition (in force 21 Nov 2025). EDLI 0.5% (₹15,000 cap) and EPF admin 0.5% included; EPFO's ₹500/mo admin minimum not modelled. Gratuity accrued at 4.81% of basic; statutory bonus at 8.33% of bonus-ceiling wages for eligible employees in 20+ establishments. Surcharge applied above ₹50L taxable income. Labour welfare fund (nominal, state-specific), shift allowances, employer NPS, one-time F&F and reimbursements are excluded. Wisemonk fees per published pricing: Managed Payroll from $49/employee/mo, EOR from $99/employee/mo, FX markup 0.6%. TDS figures are estimates, not tax advice — actual withholding depends on each employee's regime choice and declarations. Have your payroll structure reviewed by a qualified CA before relying on these numbers.
Trusted by 300+ Global Companies
