Employer of Record
Employer of
Record in India
We become the legal employer of your Indian team — compliant contracts, monthly payroll, EPF/ESI enrollment, TDS, benefits and settlements, end to end, with no Indian entity needed on your side.
What an Employer of Record is
An Employer of Record is a company that legally employs people on your behalf in a country where you have no legal presence. The employment contract is between the worker and us. The work is for you.
In practice that split is cleaner than it sounds. Your team member is hired under an Indian employment contract with Aether Blue Associates, is enrolled in Provident Fund and ESI where applicable, has tax deducted at source from their salary, and receives payslips and a Form 16 like any other employee in India. Day to day, they work under your direction, on your projects and using your tools — exactly as they would if you had hired them yourself.
You need no Indian entity, no Indian bank account and no Indian registrations. That is the point of the model: the legal, payroll and compliance layer is ours, and the working relationship is yours.
Who owns the work:
IP and confidentiality
This is the question that stops most EOR conversations in diligence, so it is worth stating plainly. Our Master Service Agreement includes confidentiality and IP-assignment provisions so that all work product belongs to you. Employees sign matching undertakings, so the chain runs from the individual through us to you without a gap.
The two documents are designed to line up. An assignment in the client agreement is worth little if the person who actually wrote the code never signed anything equivalent — which is why the employee undertakings mirror the MSA rather than sitting alongside it.
Transition rights:
you are not locked in
Your protection here is contractual and practical. The MSA gives you a transition right: employees can be moved to another EOR or to your own Indian entity, with full handover of employment records, payroll registers and statutory filings.
Those records are shared with you monthly in any case, so you always hold a current copy rather than having to request one at the worst possible moment. And employee dues — Provident Fund balances, funded gratuity — sit with government bodies and with a regulated insurer, not on our books, so they are protected independently of us.
If you later decide you do want your own Indian subsidiary, we advise on incorporation and transition employees across.
How a month runs
You receive one consolidated monthly invoice in USD covering salaries, statutory contributions and our service fee, payable by wire before the salary date. As an exporter of services under LUT, our invoices carry no Indian GST.
Salaries reach employees on schedule every month. We maintain the working discipline that your team’s payday is never dependent on a same-day transfer landing. Filing proofs and payroll registers accompany every cycle, so your finance team can reconcile what was paid against what was filed.
We employ across all Indian states and major cities. State-specific items — Professional Tax schedules, Shops & Establishments rules, state holidays and state Labour Code rules — are applied per each employee’s work location, and the compliance calendar tracks them state-wise.
Pricing
Contact us
for pricing
One flat monthly fee per employee, billed in USD and quoted against your headcount and roles. Salaries and statutory contributions are passed through at actuals with proofs. No setup fee, deposit or platform fee.
“We needed engineering capacity in India without the overhead of an entity, and without compliance surprises in a business where compliance is everything. Aether Blue runs it like clockwork — contracts, payroll, filings, proofs — one invoice, zero follow-up needed from our side.”
Hooman Parvardeh·CEO, AssetIntel
Verified client
Scope
What's included
Employment contract
Compliant Indian contract on the new Labour Codes wage basis
Included
Monthly payroll
Salary processing, payslips and payroll registers
Included
EPF & ESI
Enrollment, monthly contributions and returns
Included
TDS
Tax deducted at source, 24Q returns and Form 16
Included
Professional Tax
State-wise deposit and return per work location
Included
Leave & benefits
Written Leave SOP, registers, funded gratuity provisioning
Included
Full & final
Exit settlement, gratuity, leave encashment, statutory exits
Included
USD invoicing
One consolidated invoice, zero-rated under LUT
Included
Fit
Who it's for
US companies hiring their first one to twenty people in India
Teams that need someone working in eight weeks, not eight months
Founders who want employees on proper contracts and PF, not contractor invoices
Companies testing an India team before committing to a subsidiary
Buyers whose diligence turns on IP assignment and clean employment records
Do we need to register a company in India to hire through you?
No. Under the EOR model, Aether Blue is the legal employer in India. You need no Indian entity, bank account or registration.
Who controls the employees' day-to-day work?
You do. Employees work under your direction, on your projects and tools. We handle the legal employment, payroll and compliance layer.
What about confidentiality and IP?
Our agreements include confidentiality and IP-assignment provisions so all work product belongs to you, and employees sign matching undertakings.
What if we need to terminate an employee?
Indian employment is notice-based, not at-will, but it is entirely manageable when contracts are drafted well. Our employment contracts define probation periods (with shorter notice), clear notice periods thereafter (typically 30–60 days, or pay in lieu), and grounds-based termination procedures. We handle the documentation, final settlement, gratuity and leave encashment, and statutory exits — you make the business decision, we execute it lawfully. We brief every client on termination mechanics before their first hire, not after a problem arises.
Further reading
Related guides
Guide
EOR vs. setting up a subsidiary in India: full cost and timeline comparison
Learn more ➞
Guide
What an employee in India actually costs: EPF, ESI, gratuity and bonus explained
Learn more ➞