- India-specific statutory requirements , provident fund, gratuity, professional tax, ESIC, and state-level registration , vary materially in how EOR platforms handle them. That variance, not the headline price, is the real comparison.
- The best EOR for India is not necessarily the biggest global brand. Skuad and Multiplier both have India-native payroll infrastructure that general-purpose platforms lack.
- India EOR pricing is typically quoted per employee per month, but the fully loaded cost includes statutory contributions that can add 15 to 20 percent on top of gross salary.
- Setting up a private limited company in India takes months and requires a permanent registered address, a local director, and ongoing compliance filings. An EOR gets you to zero-to-hired in days.
- Notice period norms in India are longer than most Western markets expect , commonly 30 to 90 days , and a good EOR builds that into the employment contract by default.
The best EOR platforms for hiring in India in 2025 are Skuad, Multiplier, Gloroots, Deel, and Remote. Skuad and Multiplier are the strongest choices for companies that need deep India-specific statutory compliance , provident fund, gratuity, ESIC, professional tax, and salary structuring , built natively into their platform, not bolted on through a sub-vendor. Gloroots is the best option for India-first coverage at a competitive price point. Deel and Remote work well for companies already using them for multi-country hiring who are adding India to an existing footprint.
Why India EOR Compliance Is More Complex Than Most Markets
Most buyers come to this comparison assuming EOR is a commodity , pick the cheapest platform, plug in a salary, done. India breaks that assumption fast. The statutory layer in India is both mandatory and multi-jurisdictional, meaning compliance requirements differ by state, by employer size, and by salary band.
Here is what every EOR handling Indian employees must manage on your behalf:
- Provident Fund (PF): Governed by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), PF contributions are 12 percent of basic salary from both employer and employee for companies with 20 or more employees, as set under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. The EOR, as the legal employer, registers and remits these contributions monthly.
- Gratuity: A statutory lump-sum payment due to employees who have completed five or more years of continuous service, governed by the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The formula is 15 days of last drawn salary per completed year of service. A good EOR accrues this liability on your books from day one, not as a surprise exit cost.
- Professional Tax: A state-level tax levied on salaried employees. The rate and applicability vary by state , Maharashtra and Karnataka have it, some states do not. The EOR must handle registration and deduction state by state.
- ESIC (Employees’ State Insurance Corporation): Applicable where gross salary is at or below the statutory wage ceiling set by the government. Contributions are split between employer and employee. The EOR registers the employee and files monthly returns.
- TDS and Form 16: Tax deducted at source from salary is the employer’s responsibility. Form 16 is the annual tax certificate issued to employees, mandatory under Indian tax law. The EOR generates and distributes these.
- Salary structuring: Indian payroll is not a single gross-to-net calculation. It involves components like HRA (House Rent Allowance), LTA (Leave Travel Allowance), and special allowances that affect both employee tax liability and employer cost. The EOR’s salary structuring capability directly affects your employees’ take-home pay.
- Notice period norms: Standard employment contracts in India carry 30 to 90-day notice periods, often with a buyout clause. The EOR should embed the locally appropriate notice period in the contract by default.
Any EOR that routes India payroll through a local aggregator without owning this layer directly is a risk. Before you sign, ask specifically: do you have a registered Indian entity, and who runs your India payroll in-country?
For a broader view of EOR mechanics across all markets, the global EOR platform comparison covers the full category before you narrow to India-specific vendors.
EOR Versus Setting Up a Private Limited Company in India: Which Should You Choose?
Setting up a private limited company (Pvt Ltd) in India gives you full control over hiring, payroll, and equity grants. It also takes three to six months minimum, requires a registered office address, at least one Indian resident director, a company secretary, ongoing MCA filings, and a dedicated compliance team or CA firm to manage it.
An EOR gets your first hire active in two to five business days. The trade-off is cost and control: you pay a per-employee fee indefinitely, and the EOR is the legal employer on paper, which means certain IP assignment and equity structures require more careful drafting.
The decision is straightforward at the extremes. If you are hiring one to five people in India to test a market or build a remote team, an EOR is the correct call. If you plan to hire 50 or more people in India within 24 months, or if you need to issue ESOPs directly to Indian employees under a domestic ESOP scheme, setting up your own entity eventually makes financial and structural sense. Most companies land somewhere in between, which is why several EOR vendors now offer entity-setup services as an upgrade path.
| Factor | EOR | Own Pvt Ltd Entity |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first hire | 2 to 5 business days | 3 to 6 months+ |
| Setup cost | None (included in monthly fee) | Registration, legal, CA fees |
| Ongoing compliance | Managed by EOR | Internal or CA firm required |
| Per-employee cost | Monthly EOR fee + statutory costs | Payroll cost only (no EOR fee) |
| ESOP/equity grants | Complex, limited options | Full control under Indian rules |
| Break-even headcount | Better under 30 to 50 employees | Better above 40 to 60 employees |
| IP assignment | Possible, requires careful drafting | Cleaner structure |
How Much Does an EOR Cost Per Employee in India?
India EOR pricing is quote-based at most platforms, but the market has enough public signal to give you a working range. Platform fees typically fall between $199 and $599 per employee per month, depending on the vendor and headcount. Skuad and Multiplier both publish pricing starting in this range. Deel and Remote are generally at the higher end for India, reflecting their broader global infrastructure cost.
The headline fee is only part of the story. On top of the EOR service fee, the employer’s statutory contributions add real cost:
- Provident Fund employer contribution: 12 percent of basic salary (typically 40 to 50 percent of gross CTC)
- ESIC employer contribution: applicable where gross salary is below the statutory wage ceiling
- Gratuity accrual: approximately 4.8 percent of basic salary per year
- Bonus under the Payment of Bonus Act: applicable to eligible employees
Fully loaded employer cost in India commonly runs 15 to 20 percent above gross salary before you add the EOR platform fee. If a vendor gives you a “total employer cost” figure without itemizing these contributions separately, push them to break it out. The number matters at budget time.
Understanding the full cost structure across HR software categories is worth doing early. The hidden costs of HR software piece covers the implementation and per-employee fee traps that catch buyers in every category, including EOR. The HR software pricing guide also covers what HRIS, payroll, and HCM platforms really cost if you are budgeting across your full stack simultaneously.
The 6 Best EOR Platforms for Hiring in India
1. Skuad
Skuad (now part of Payoneer Workforce Management) is the strongest India-native EOR option for companies that want granular statutory compliance without managing it themselves. The platform was built with APAC and India as primary markets, not as add-on coverage, which shows in the payroll infrastructure.
Skuad handles PF registration and monthly remittance, ESIC enrollment, professional tax deduction by state, gratuity accrual, and Form 16 generation natively. The salary structuring tool lets HR teams configure HRA and allowance splits before the first payslip runs, which directly affects employee take-home and employer tax efficiency. The platform’s India compliance engine updates when statutory thresholds change, so you are not chasing ESIC wage ceiling updates manually.
Pricing is available from Skuad’s website and is competitive within the India EOR market. Onboarding in India typically completes in two to five business days. The platform supports INR payroll with same-currency disbursement, which reduces FX conversion friction for employees paid locally.
Best for: Companies hiring their first India team of one to 30 people, especially those that want India-specific statutory expertise built in rather than contracted out.
2. Multiplier
Multiplier is the other India-native EOR worth serious evaluation. The Singapore-headquartered platform has deep India payroll infrastructure and runs its own registered entity in India rather than routing through a local partner, which matters for compliance accountability.
What sets Multiplier apart is salary structuring sophistication. The platform lets you configure CTC (Cost to Company) breakdowns with component-level detail , basic, HRA, LTA, special allowance, PF, and gratuity accrual , before you make an offer. Most global EOR platforms give you a gross salary input and handle the rest as a black box. Multiplier makes the structure visible and adjustable, which is the right approach for India where the pay structure affects both parties’ tax exposure.
Multiplier also handles multi-state professional tax registration automatically when you hire across Karnataka, Maharashtra, and other states simultaneously. For companies scaling across Indian cities quickly, that removes a meaningful compliance gap.
Multiplier publishes its pricing on Multiplier’s pricing page; confirm current rates there before budgeting, as pricing is subject to change. The platform also covers contractor payments and compliance in India, which is useful if your India team is a mix of employees and freelancers.
Best for: Companies scaling India headcount quickly across multiple cities, and teams that need full CTC structuring visibility before making offers.
3. Gloroots
Gloroots is an India-focused EOR that has built its entire platform around South and Southeast Asian markets. It appears in the SERP as a leading India EOR option, and for good reason: the pricing is competitive, the India compliance layer is native, and the onboarding experience is designed for companies hiring India-based employees for the first time.
Gloroots manages the full statutory stack , PF, ESIC, gratuity, professional tax, and TDS , and generates Form 16 at year-end. The platform is well-suited to companies that want an India-first EOR rather than a global platform that happens to cover India. Support teams are India-timezone-aligned, which matters when you have a payroll question at 9am IST and your US-based EOR’s team is not yet online.
Pricing is quote-based. Given its market focus and competitive positioning, Gloroots typically comes in below the global platform pricing for India headcount. Worth getting a quote in parallel with Skuad and Multiplier to benchmark.
Best for: Companies that want an India-specialist EOR at a competitive price, particularly those hiring fewer than 20 employees in India with no immediate plans for multi-country expansion.
4. Deel
Deel covers India as part of its 150-plus country EOR footprint. If your company is already using Deel for EOR in other markets, adding India is administratively straightforward , one platform, one contract, consolidated reporting. Deel handles PF, ESIC, gratuity accrual, and TDS, and the India compliance module has matured substantially over the past two years.
The honest trade-off: Deel’s India handling is solid but not differentiated. The salary structuring tools are less granular than Skuad or Multiplier’s, and the platform is optimized for global scale rather than India-specific depth. For a company that hires in 10 countries and India is one of them, Deel makes sense. For a company whose primary or sole international market is India, the India-native platforms are worth the comparison.
Deel’s public pricing for EOR starts at $599 per employee per month according to Deel’s pricing page. India pricing is within that range and is quote-based at volume. Deel’s alternatives are worth reviewing if you want to pressure-test whether its global footprint justifies the premium for India-only use.
Best for: Companies already on Deel for other countries adding India to an existing multi-country EOR setup.
5. Remote
Remote operates its own legal entities in every country it covers, including India. That ownership model means Remote is the legal employer in India through its own Pvt Ltd, not through a third-party aggregator, which is a real compliance advantage over platforms that white-label local partners.
Remote’s India coverage includes PF, ESIC, gratuity, professional tax, and TDS management. The platform’s global employee management interface is clean, and the onboarding flow is one of the simpler ones in the market for HR teams who are not India compliance experts. Remote also provides locally compliant employment contracts with correct notice periods and statutory benefits built in by default.
Remote’s EOR pricing starts at $599 per employee per month according to Remote’s pricing page. Like Deel, it is priced for global coverage rather than India-specific value. Companies evaluating Remote for India should run a direct comparison against Multiplier and Skuad on price and statutory depth before deciding.
Best for: Companies that value owned-entity EOR structures globally and are adding India as one market among several, particularly in Europe-first expansion strategies that include India.
6. Remunance
Remunance is an India-only EOR and PEO that operates as a Professional Employer Organisation under Indian law. It handles all employer obligations including PF, ESIC, professional tax, gratuity, and TDS through its own registered entity in India.
Remunance does not have a global platform, which is both its limitation and its focus. If you need EOR only in India and want a provider whose entire business is Indian employment compliance, Remunance removes the complexity of a global platform you will not use. The trade-off is that if you expand to other markets, you will need a separate solution.
Pricing is quote-based. Worth requesting alongside the larger platforms if India is your only target market and you want to see what a specialist-only provider costs.
Best for: Companies hiring exclusively in India with no current multi-country plans.
India EOR Platform Comparison: Statutory Compliance and Key Features
| Platform | India-Owned Entity | PF & ESIC | Gratuity Accrual | Professional Tax (State-Level) | Form 16 | Salary Structuring | Multi-Country | Public Pricing (EOR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skuad | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Strong | Yes | Quote-based |
| Multiplier | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (multi-state) | Yes | Strongest | Yes | See pricing page |
| Gloroots | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Good | Limited | Quote-based |
| Deel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Standard | Yes (150+ countries) | From $599/mo |
| Remote | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Standard | Yes (180+ countries) | From $599/mo |
| Remunance | Yes (India-only) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Good | No | Quote-based |
Pricing sourced from vendors’ public pricing pages where available. Confirm current rates directly before budgeting.
What India-Specific Questions to Ask Every EOR Vendor
The standard EOR sales demo will show you onboarding flows and dashboards. Push past that and ask these questions before you sign anything:
- Do you operate through your own registered Indian entity, or through a local partner? If a partner, name them.
- How do you handle professional tax registration when we hire employees in multiple states simultaneously?
- When the ESIC wage ceiling changes, how quickly do you update employee enrollment and deduction rates?
- How is gratuity liability tracked on our cost reports? Can we see the accrued liability at any point?
- What does your salary structuring process look like for India , specifically, how do you handle HRA and LTA components?
- What notice period do you embed in your standard India employment contracts, and how do you handle buyout situations?
- How long does it take to onboard an India employee from signed offer to first payslip?
- What is your process for generating and distributing Form 16 to employees each April?
A vendor that cannot answer questions three through eight specifically is routing India payroll through a partner and guessing on the details. That is a risk you do not want at payroll time.
If you are running a broader HR vendor selection process, the HR software buying checklist covers 75 evaluation questions applicable across EOR, HRIS, and payroll decisions. The HR software RFP template is also worth using if you are running a formal vendor comparison across multiple India EOR shortlist candidates.
Is EOR Legal in India? Compliance and Misclassification Risks
EOR is legal in India. There is no prohibition on a foreign company engaging an Indian EOR to employ workers on its behalf. The EOR is a registered Indian company, and the employment relationship it creates is fully compliant with Indian labour law , the Shops and Establishments Act, the Payment of Wages Act, the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, and relevant state-level statutes all apply to the employment, and the EOR is responsible for compliance with each.
The risk is not EOR legality. The risk is misclassification, specifically the temptation to engage Indian workers as independent contractors to avoid the EOR fee. India’s labour law framework does not have a clear statutory contractor test equivalent to the US IRS or UK HMRC tests, but the intent-based analysis courts apply looks at control, exclusivity, and economic dependence. An Indian worker who works exclusively for one foreign company, follows their processes, and uses their equipment will likely be reclassified as an employee on audit. The penalty exposure includes back PF contributions, ESIC arrears, and penalties under applicable labour statutes. The EOR fee is cheaper than that exposure.
For HR teams thinking about compliance risk across AI-assisted hiring and global employment, the AI HR compliance and bias audit tools comparison covers the vendor category for automated compliance monitoring.
How Does India EOR Integrate With a Global HR Stack?
If your company uses Workday, BambooHR, HiBob, or another HRIS as its system of record, India EOR data needs to flow cleanly into that system. Headcount, cost center allocation, and payroll data all originate in the EOR platform , but your finance and HR teams need to see them in one place.
Skuad, Multiplier, and Deel all offer native or API-based integrations with common HRIS platforms. Before selecting an EOR, confirm exactly which integration your HRIS requires, and test it with a demo employee rather than taking the vendor’s word that it works. Payroll data from India often includes fields , CTC structure, PF account numbers, TDS challan references , that generic HRIS integrations do not map cleanly.
Companies building out a full global HR stack will also want to think through where EOR fits relative to contractor management. The contractor management platform comparison covers the tools for managing the non-employee workforce that often sits alongside EOR-employed headcount in India. If your India hiring includes a mix of employees and contingent workers, the vendor management system comparison is also relevant for keeping both populations visible in one place.
Frequently Asked Questions: EOR India
Is EOR legal in India?
Yes. Employer of Record arrangements are fully legal in India. The EOR operates as a registered Indian company and employs workers under Indian labour law, including the Employees’ Provident Funds Act, the Payment of Wages Act, and applicable state-level statutes. Foreign companies using an EOR are not the legal employer and are not required to have their own Indian entity. The EOR assumes full statutory employer obligations, including PF remittance, ESIC enrollment, TDS deduction, and Form 16 issuance.
How much does an EOR cost per employee per month in India?
India EOR platform fees typically range from around $199 to $599 per employee per month, depending on the vendor and headcount volume. Multiplier publishes its current pricing on its pricing page , confirm the latest figures there before budgeting. Deel and Remote both start at $599 per employee per month according to their public pricing pages. On top of the platform fee, employer statutory contributions , PF, ESIC, gratuity accrual , commonly add 15 to 20 percent of gross salary to the total employer cost. Always request a fully loaded cost breakdown from any vendor before budgeting.
What statutory benefits must be provided when hiring in India through an EOR?
The EOR must provide provident fund contributions (12 percent of basic salary from both employer and employee, under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952), ESIC coverage for eligible employees, gratuity accrual from the first year of employment (payable at five years of service under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972), professional tax deductions by state, and TDS withholding with annual Form 16 issuance. Employees are also entitled to statutory paid leave, public holidays as per the applicable Shops and Establishments Act of their state, and maternity or paternity benefits under relevant statutes. Salary structuring with HRA and LTA components is standard practice in Indian employment.
How long are notice periods in India, and how does an EOR handle them?
Notice periods in India are typically 30 to 90 days, with 60 to 90 days common for professional and managerial roles. The specific period is set in the employment contract. Most EOR platforms embed a locally standard notice period into the default India contract template. Notice periods can be bought out , the departing employee pays their equivalent salary in lieu of serving the notice. A good EOR documents the buyout process in the contract and manages the financial settlement as part of offboarding.
What is the difference between PF and gratuity in India?
Provident Fund is an ongoing monthly retirement contribution , 12 percent of basic salary each from employer and employee , remitted to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and accessible by the employee on retirement, resignation, or certain qualifying events. Gratuity is a one-time lump-sum payment due only when an employee leaves after completing five or more years of continuous service, calculated as 15 days of last drawn salary per completed year of service under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. PF is a monthly cash flow obligation; gratuity is a contingent liability that the EOR should be accruing on your cost reports from the start.
Can an EOR issue ESOPs to Indian employees?
EOR-employed workers in India can participate in foreign parent company stock plans, but the structure requires careful legal and tax handling under India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the Income Tax Act. The employee’s EOR employer typically needs to withhold TDS on the perquisite value when options vest or shares are allotted. Direct Indian ESOP schemes under a domestic entity structure are cleaner for large India teams. If equity is a material part of your India compensation strategy, discuss the specific structure with the EOR’s compliance team before making offers.
How do I choose between Skuad, Multiplier, and Gloroots for India?
Choose Multiplier if CTC structuring transparency and multi-state professional tax automation are your priorities. Choose Skuad if you want an APAC-native platform with strong India compliance infrastructure and plan to expand across Asia. Choose Gloroots if your hiring is concentrated in India, you want an India-specialist provider, and competitive pricing is a significant factor. All three handle the full statutory stack , PF, ESIC, gratuity, professional tax, TDS, and Form 16. The differentiator is depth of salary structuring control and multi-state handling, not basic compliance coverage.
The Single Most Important Insight for India EOR Buyers
Every platform on this list will tell you they handle India compliance. The question worth asking is whether they handle it natively or whether they are relaying instructions to a local partner and hoping the output is right. The platforms with their own registered Indian entities , Skuad, Multiplier, Gloroots, Deel, Remote , are accountable for the output in a way that white-label aggregators are not. Start there.
Salary structuring is the second differentiator that separates serious India EOR platforms from global platforms with India coverage. In markets like the US or UK, gross-to-net payroll is relatively mechanical. In India, the CTC structure you agree on at offer stage affects the employee’s tax liability every month and your statutory contribution base. A platform that exposes and lets you configure that structure , rather than handling it invisibly , gives you control that matters at scale.
For companies hiring their first one to five people in India, the EOR decision is mostly about speed and compliance confidence. Get to Skuad, Multiplier, or Gloroots, request India-specific quotes from all three, ask the eight questions listed above, and pick the one whose answers are most specific. The platform fee difference over 12 months is likely smaller than one bad payroll run or one mishandled ESIC enrollment.
