Pick the wrong EOR and you discover the gap at month 6 — when a PF notice arrives, a Form 16 is wrong, or your engineer's PT is missing in three states. Pick the right one and the Indian compliance layer becomes invisible. The decision is more consequential than the headline per-employee fee suggests.
Selection criteria that matter
- Dedicated point of contact — named human, not a ticket queue. Test this in the sales process; ask who specifically will own your account.
- Compliance audit history — ask for sample inspection findings they've handled, redacted. Vendors with no inspections to share have either never been inspected (small) or are hiding things.
- State coverage — full PT filings across every state where you'll have employees. Many vendors cover Karnataka / Maharashtra well and others poorly.
- USD reporting — clean monthly invoice with FX conversion explained. Your CFO will need this.
- Implementation timeline — under 14 days for first hire. Slower = padding.
- Exit clause — 60-day notice without penalty. Anything longer with cancellation fees is a red flag.
- Reference customers — speak to 2-3 actual foreign-company customers similar to yours. Check satisfaction at the 6-month mark, not just at launch.
Three tiers — what each delivers
| Tier | Per employee per month | Best for | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global multi-country EOR (Deel, Remote, Rippling, Velocity, Multiplier) | $499-799 | Companies hiring in 5+ countries simultaneously | Single dashboard for global team; slick UX | Slower on India-specific edge cases; higher cost |
| India-specialist EOR (FastLegal, etc.) | $199-349 | Companies hiring exclusively or primarily in India | Dedicated CA consultant; faster on PF / ESI / PT quirks | Not the right pick if you're also hiring across LATAM, EMEA, APAC |
| Local Indian payroll firm acting as EOR | $99-199 | Cost-sensitive, hand-holding expectation low | Cheapest option | Variable quality on cross-border invoicing; weaker reporting |
FastLegal sits in the India-specialist tier
We're priced at $199-299/month per employee with a dedicated CA-qualified consultant. Best fit for foreign companies with India team of 1-30. We don't try to be your global EOR — we go deep on India and partner well with global EORs for other regions.
How to pick by company profile
- US Series A startup with 5-15 India engineers and possibly hiring in LATAM later — start with India-specialist for India team; add global EOR when you cross 2+ countries.
- Mid-stage SaaS with 20+ India team and growing globally — global multi-country EOR for unified ops; India-specialist if India team is the largest pool and quality matters.
- Pre-seed / seed exploring India — India-specialist; lowest per-month cost with deep expertise.
- Enterprise foreign company with multi-country footprint — global multi-country EOR; brand and reporting consistency matter.
Questions that separate marketing from substance
- Walk me through how you handle a mid-year PT registration when our employee relocates to a new state.
- What's your turnaround on an EPFO show-cause notice?
- How do you reconcile Form 16 Part A (TRACES) and Part B (your system)?
- What's your approach to year-end TDS true-up?
- How is the FX rate determined in our invoice?
- Show me a sample monthly invoice and reporting package.
- Who is the named consultant on my account? Can I speak with them now?
Frequently asked questions
Should we use the same EOR our US payroll provider recommends?+
Check who they actually white-label. Most US payroll providers' 'global' offerings are reselling underlying EORs. Going direct can save 25-40%.
Is the cheapest EOR good enough?+
Rarely. Compliance gaps at the bottom of the market cost more than the savings when EPFO / ESIC / IT department notices arrive.
Can we switch EORs mid-contract?+
Yes — exit notice runs out, employees migrate to new EOR with continuity. Painful but doable. Negotiate clean exit clauses upfront.
What's the typical contract length?+
12-24 months with 60-day notice. Push back on multi-year lock-ins with penalties.
Stop reading circulars. Start running clean payroll.
Every FastLegal plan ships with a dedicated payroll consultant — a real human who runs your PF, ESI, PT, TDS and Form 16 issuance, configured to your salary structure, your state, and your hiring plan. You sign off. We do the rest.