Planning to enter the Indian market? Start with hiring a remote team in India
A nation of cultural diversity, economic opportunities, and a vibrant young population, India is a sought after market for MNCs and startups globally.
Summary
In comparison to the US, India has an average cost of living that is 64.6% lower
The average age of the population is low. Additionally, the thriving startup ecosystem makes it easy to locate employees that are motivated to succeed and adapt to your company philosophy.
Many global software powerhouses today, including Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, etc., outsource to India after realizing the country's talent potential. India has an expanding infrastructure, a robust industrial base, and digitization. Collaborative policies and relaxations by the Indian government, makes India all the more lucrative.India's software sector alone produced $16 billion in goods and services.
Read more: Why NOW is the right time to enter Indian market
Given that there is no shortage of opportunities and talent, building a remote team in India might be the perfect solution for your business.
Advantages of hiring a remote team in India
- Stealth entry into Indian consumer market- As famously advised by business gurus ‘build your audience before building the product’, you get the benefit of understanding the market in India before getting into the hassles of setting up your office
- Access to diverse and skilled talent pools- Just like the cultural diversity, Indian talent is power-packed with a diverse set of skills that global companies can benefit from by hiring a remote team in India.
- Benefit from the cost differential- Hiring remotely from India works out great for cost conscious organizations. India has cost-effective pay rates and compensation practices, as compared to the USA, UK, and other western countries. In India, there is room for negotiation. Additionally, recruiting fees are reasonable if you plan to engage a recruitment consultant to help you with the hiring process. In comparison to your on-site or internal personnel, you can hire remote workers in India for a reasonable price
- Leverage talent surplus in India- The number of engineers graduating every year is way more than the job vacancies available in Indian companies. Companies leverage this talent surplus by hiring remote employees from India for skill sets that are not easily available in their home country.
- Extended business hours for your company- Companies use the difference in time zones to their advantage. Remote teams in India work after the closure of business hours (COB) in your country. With this, you will be able to offer round the clock customer service and enhance business productivity.
Companies save 60-80% by hiring a remote employee in India rather than hiring on-site employees with the same skill set
How to find new employees remotely?
An appropriate hiring strategy is required to scout the right talent for your requirements. Remote hiring can be done in a variety of ways:
- Online job portals- Posting vacancies on online job portals like Naukri.com, Indeed, Angel List, is the easiest way to get started. However, it might take significant time to close your vacancies if you rely only on this approach.
- Social media postings- Networking sites like LinkedIn have 62 million Indian subscribers. Candidates actively look out for remote work opportunities on LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Instagram. Employees in India look up mechanical and software engineering career openings on social media networking sites the most, according to LinkedIn data.
- Recruitment agency- Another excellent method of finding remote employees in India is to engage recruitment agencies to benefit from the local expertise ensuring timely hiring and implementation of your business plans.
Some employer of records (read more about EOR below) service providers like Expat Orbit offer recruitment solutions to ensure a smooth onboarding process. If you are concerned about background check, compensation structures, and local laws and EOR partner with holistic service offering might be able to help you with all the requirements.
What are the costs of hiring a remote team?
There are various costs involved with employing remote workers, depending on the hiring process you choose. For instance, the costs charged by a professional recruiting consultant to find employees might range from 10% to 18% of the employee's gross annual income.
Every recruitment agency has a different pricing structure. There might be extra fees for things like running a background check, police verification, etc.
You must pay contractors' salaries straight into their bank accounts if you hired them directly. You will incur a set transaction fee by banks for each transfer.
Hidden costs of remote teams
- Remote workers pose a greater security threat- Remote team workers expose the company network to risk by using unprotected devices. They are endangering the network of your business if they utilize the same gadget for work and personal use.
- Risk of non-compliance with local laws- Improper documentation and contracts might expose businesses to various risks like misclassification of employees, permanent establishment, etc. resulting in huge fines.
Different models to hire remote talent in India
There are several ways to build remote teams in India, including outsourcing, contracting, freelancing, and subsidiary formation. You can select the model based on your requirements, your long term objective of conducting business in India, and how much control you want. These are some of the different routes of remote hiring in India:
- Partnering with an EOR- When you are looking for an efficient way to build remote teams, allocate work, produce timely deliverables, and manage costs, EOR (employer of record) services is the perfect solution for you. An EOR partner onboards employees and manages all employer compliances on your behalf. The model guarantees control over employees, a committed team working full-time, minimal upfront costs, and the chance to establish an entity at the right time.
- Outsourcing model- Another way is to outsource a piece of work to a third party. In this case, you lose direct control of the resources. The third party allocates your work to its employees and takes responsibility for timely completion of the work being allocated. However, for any additional work beyond the defined scope extra charges would be levied.
- Hiring contractors directly- Contractors work for you on a short- term or long-term project based upon the defined scope. While this arrangement has no employer obligations, timely completion of work becomes a challenge since contractors are legally permitted to perform concurrent tasks for numerous clients. Without proper clauses at place, businesses run at the risk of sharing intellectual information to competitors by engaging contractors.
Read more: Questions founders ask while building remote teams in India
Top talent, both conventional and remote, is now found in India. The demand for skilled personnel will continue to be high as the worker shortage in the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Brazil, and many more countries is predicted to get worse in the coming years.
Hire Indian remote workers as your safety net, not just for today, but for the coming decade
Want to get the ball rolling? Get help with finding the right talent, local payroll management, employer compliance, and finance advisory by reaching out to Expat Orbit at [email protected] or directly DM our founders Prateek Agarwal, Henna Vij
