What this estimate covers, and what it cannot know
The number above is the monthly cost of employing one person in India through TMS. It has three parts: the gross salary you agree with the candidate, the statutory employer contributions that sit on top of it, and our management fee. Everything else on a TMS invoice is a pass-through at actuals.
A worked example
Take a mid-level engineer on ₹90,000 a month gross.
- Gross salary: ₹90,000
- Employer statutory contributions: roughly 10 to 25 percent depending on how the salary is structured and which state the person sits in. On this salary, budget somewhere near ₹9,000 to ₹13,000
- TMS management fee: USD 100 for your first five employees, stepping down to USD 50 above 25
So the fully loaded monthly cost lands close to ₹1,00,000 to ₹1,04,000 plus the fee. The fee is the only part that is fixed per person. The statutory part moves with the structure.
Three things move this number more than people expect
Salary structure. Provident fund is calculated on basic wages, not on gross. Two offers with identical gross pay can carry different employer costs depending on how much of the package sits in basic. Under the Labour Codes the wage definition constrains how far you can push this.
State. Professional tax and labour welfare fund are state subjects. They are small amounts, but they differ by state and they are the line most often missed by teams running payroll from outside India.
When gratuity starts biting. Gratuity is a liability that accrues from day one and becomes payable at five years. Some providers bill it monthly, some only when it crystallises. That single choice changes the monthly number by a noticeable margin, so ask before you compare quotes.
What the estimator deliberately does not include
- Variable pay, bonuses and incentives, because they are your policy, not a statutory figure
- Background verification, which is quoted separately per employee
- Insurance premiums, which are billed at the actual premium your chosen cover attracts
- Equipment, workspace and travel, all of which are pass-through
- Anything involving a foreign national on Indian payroll, which carries visa and tax questions this tool cannot model
Treat the output as a planning figure, not a quote. We issue a binding cost sheet per role once we know the state, the structure and the start date.
EOR cost questions we get asked
Is the EOR fee charged on top of salary?
Yes. You fund the gross salary and the employer statutory contributions, and the management fee sits on top of both. Nothing is deducted from the employee's pay to cover it.
Why is a flat fee better than a percentage of salary?
Percentage pricing makes senior hires disproportionately expensive and quietly raises your cost every time someone gets an increment. The compliance work does not scale with salary, so the fee should not either.
Does the cost change if my employee is outside a metro?
The management fee does not. Statutory items can, because professional tax and labour welfare fund are set by the state. We confirm the exact figures for the employee's state in the quote.
What is the minimum team size?
One. There is no minimum headcount, and onboarding usually runs 24 to 48 hours from a signed agreement and an accepted offer.
How accurate is this estimate?
Close enough to budget with, not close enough to sign. It uses indicative statutory percentages and an indicative exchange rate. The binding number comes from the cost sheet, which is priced against the actual role, state and salary structure.
