Employer of Record
Employ people in India without an Indian entity
Growth Pods becomes the legal employer of your India team. We carry the contracts, statutory benefits, tax and labor compliance. You manage the people and the work, exactly as if they were on your own payroll.
What we cover
The whole employment layer, handled
- 01Compliant employment contracts
- Indian-law employment agreements with confidentiality, IP assignment and non-solicitation clauses naming your company as beneficiary.
- 02Statutory benefits and filings
- Provident fund, ESI, gratuity, professional tax, leave and maternity benefit: registered, contributed and filed every month.
- 03Tax withholding
- Monthly TDS deduction, quarterly returns and annual Form 16 for every employee.
- 04HR administration
- Onboarding, background checks, health insurance, performance cycles, grievances and offboarding under Indian rules.
- 05Devices and access
- Managed laptops, asset tracking and secure access policies. Dedicated secure workspace for regulated data.
- 06Entity transition
- When you incorporate, we transfer employees to your entity with continuity of service and benefits.
Why not just incorporate?
An entity pays off at scale. Until then, it is overhead.
Incorporating in India means a subsidiary, resident director requirements, a registered office, bank accounts, GST, transfer pricing, statutory audits and a stack of monthly filings. That takes months before the first hire and costs a fixed amount every year whether you have 3 employees or 300.
With Growth Pods as your Employer of Record, you start in weeks and pay only per employee. When your team is large enough for an entity to make sense, we help you move them over.
Setting up an entity typically requires
- 1.Private limited company incorporation and a resident director
- 2.Registered office and bank account
- 3.PAN, TAN, GST and state labor registrations
- 4.Transfer pricing study and annual statutory audit
- 5.Monthly payroll, PF, ESI, TDS and professional tax filings
- 6.Company secretary and annual ROC compliance
With an EOR: one services agreement, one monthly invoice.
Is an EOR legal in India?
Yes. The Employer of Record model is a standard, compliant way for foreign companies to employ people in India. Growth Pods is the legal employer, registered with the relevant statutory bodies, and you direct the work under a services agreement.
Can I use the EOR without a Pod?
Yes. If you have already found the person, we can employ and manage them under our Employer of Record service. Most clients combine it with recruiting, which is what a Pod is.
How does pricing work?
You pay the employee's gross salary and statutory costs at cost, plus a flat per-person monthly management fee. There are no setup fees and the engagement runs month to month. See the pricing page for the engagement options.
Who owns the IP?
You do. Contracts assign all work product and IP to your company.
What happens if I want to end the engagement?
We run a compliant offboarding under Indian notice period and settlement rules, or transition employees to your own entity or another employer you nominate.
Need to employ someone in India this month?
We can onboard an employee under our EOR in as little as two weeks, or recruit a full Pod for you.