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Outsource to India, or hire there? A working decision framework.

The word outsource covers two very different moves: renting a vendor's capacity, and standing up your own people in India. Picking wrong costs quarters. This page is the framework we walk prospects through, ending with the hybrid most of them choose: recruit named employees, employ them through our entity, treat them as your own team.

Rent a vendor, or build your own India team? Here is the decision framework we use with prospects, and the hybrid that usually wins.

Speak to sales EOR vs entity, in detail

G2 4.8 / 5 on G2, from companies employing teams in India through us.

Teams building in India. First hire to full team.

The signals that decide the model.

Read your situation down the left column. Where most of your answers sit tells you which way to move.

Signals for a vendor

Signals for your own team

The work is
A bounded project with an end date
An ongoing function you will run for years
Specification
Fully written down before work starts
Evolving weekly with the business
Context needed
Little; the task explains itself
Deep product and customer context
Quality bar
Acceptable is acceptable
Craft and judgement move revenue
Time horizon
Months
Years, with compounding value
Right answer
A project vendor fits
Your own employed team fits

Signals for a vendor
The work is A bounded project with an end date
Specification Fully written down before work starts
Context needed Little; the task explains itself
Quality bar Acceptable is acceptable
Time horizon Months
Right answer A project vendor fits

Signals for your own team
The work is An ongoing function you will run for years
Specification Evolving weekly with the business
Context needed Deep product and customer context
Quality bar Craft and judgement move revenue
Time horizon Years, with compounding value
Right answer Your own employed team fits
Week 1
Sort your India work into bounded and ongoing
Week 2
Bounded work goes out for vendor quotes
Week 2
Ongoing roles come to us as briefs
Week 3
Nine-day shortlists land for the employed roles
Week 5
Core team onboarded on our entity in 5 days
Quarter 2
Review the split; move work between models freely

The price of running the wrong model too long.

Teams that vendor out an ongoing function pay twice: once in blended-rate overhead, and again in context that resets every renewal. Teams that direct-hire for genuinely bounded work carry idle salary after the project closes.

Misfit costs are quiet, so they compound. The fix is cheap by comparison: re-sort the work and move it to the model it belongs in.

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Illustrative drag from a misfit model, six-person function Cumulative avoidable cost while an ongoing function stays vendor-run
$21,000 Month 3
$42,000 Month 6
$63,000 Month 9
$88,000 Month 12
Illustration for a six-person ongoing function held on vendor rates a year longer than needed. Actual drag depends on rates, salaries and switching costs.
Who absorbs the misfit cost
Ongoing function left with a vendor You fund the overhead
Function moved to employed team Budget returns to salaries

If your answers split down the middle, outsource the bounded work and employ the core. The framework is a filter, not a religion. Put numbers behind the decision with the EOR versus entity calculator and see what each path costs at your headcount.

The hybrid in practice: who holds what.

Most companies land on employed core plus vendored edges. Here is how the employed side runs when we operate it.

You run

  • The sorting decision, revisited quarterly
  • Direction of the employed core team
  • Vendor relationships for bounded work

We handle

  • Recruiting the employed roles
  • Indian employment and contracts
  • Payroll, filings and insurance
  • Transfers if you later open an entity

You run
  • Sort the work
  • Lead the core
  • Manage vendors
  • Own the output

We handle
  • Recruit the core
  • Employ them
  • Run payroll
  • File statutory
  • Insure the team
  • Manage exits

When something happens in India, it is ours.
Choosing which model each workstream gets Yours, quarter by quarter
Employment of the core team Our Bengaluru entity
The function and its output Yours throughout

A named compliance manager owns your account. Not a queue, not a chatbot, one person who already knows your headcount and your last filing.

Account managerMedian first reply 4 to 6 hours
Recruitment coordinatorBrief to shortlist 9 days
Finance associateFilings on time 8 / 8

We argue against ourselves

When a prospect's work is genuinely bounded and specified, we say so and point them to project vendors. An EOR fee on a team that should not exist is bad business for both sides.

The hybrid needs no committee

Employed core through us, vendored edges through whoever you like. The two models share nothing operationally, so adding one never disturbs the other.

Switching is designed to be cheap

Move a workstream from vendor to employed team and the new hires are shortlisted in nine days and onboarded in five. Move the other way and employment winds down with proper notice and full and final settlement, no stranded contracts.

The decision stays reversible

Nothing in the employed model locks you in: no minimum headcount, no fixed term, and a built-in transfer path to your own entity if India becomes permanent.

We argue against ourselves

When a prospect's work is genuinely bounded and specified, we say so and point them to project vendors. An EOR fee on a team that should not exist is bad business for both sides.

A framework you can trust has to cut both ways.

The hybrid needs no committee

Employed core through us, vendored edges through whoever you like. The two models share nothing operationally, so adding one never disturbs the other.

Model changes become routing decisions, not reorganisations.

Switching is designed to be cheap

Move a workstream from vendor to employed team and the new hires are shortlisted in nine days and onboarded in five. Move the other way and employment winds down with proper notice and full and final settlement, no stranded contracts.

Cheap switching is what makes the framework safe to apply.

Moving someone across

When the employed core becomes your subsidiary.

The framework's end state for many companies is their own Indian entity. When you reach it, the core team we employ transfers across in a single payroll cycle.

Team structure and managers Kept
Pay, benefits and accruals Kept
Statutory continuity Continuous
Downtime in the function 0 days

The decision framework retires itself; the team never notices.

Supporting evidence

Diligence the employer side of the hybrid.

The employed core sits on Foo Falcon Technologies Pvt Ltd, a Bengaluru private limited company registered with the MCA in 2022. Its record is public, and we hand over statutory extracts on request.

  • Incorporation
  • GST
  • EPFO code
  • ESIC
  • Shops and Establishments
  • PAN and TAN
  • Udyam MSME
What we verify
  • Incorporation Ministry of Corporate Affairs
  • GST Goods and Services Tax
  • EPFO code Employees Provident Fund Organisation
  • ESIC Ministry of Labour and Employment
  • Shops and Establishments Government of Karnataka
  • PAN and TAN Income Tax Department
  • Udyam MSME Government of India

Registration and challan evidence supplied before any signature.

200

employees moved to our books inside a single quarter

33

payrolls our Bengaluru team closes every month

5 days

to onboard each hire the framework routes to us

G2 4.8 / 5 on G2, from companies employing teams in India through us.

G2 4.8 / 5 on G2, from companies employing through us.

Companies that sorted the work and kept the upside.

From operators who ran the framework, employed their core in India and stopped paying for capacity they did not need.

Video
Bharath Rasoi KS Rajeshwari Founder, Bharath Rasoi
Video
Open Theatre Anand Raj Founder, Open Theatre
Abid Hassan Verified client
Sensibull
“They moved fast and took the whole compliance side off my plate. For a founder making an early India hire, that is exactly what you want.”
Abid Hassan Founder and CEO, Sensibull
Via G2
Moonshot
“Every option was either 'set up your own entity' or a platform that quotes a great price then hits you with add-ons. Versatile was the one that actually made it simple. First payroll ran on time. No scramble.”
Angad S. Co-Founder, Moonshot
Via G2
Digital Marketing Agency
“Contracts, PF, ESI, TDS and payroll all in one place. Invoicing in USD meant zero exchange rate surprises. The compliance rigour is genuinely reassuring.”
Vedant T. Founder, Digital Marketing Agency
Via G2
Design Studio
“Setting up in a new country can get messy fast, but their India EOR made onboarding feel easy. The team is responsive, clear, and great to work with.”
Setu C. Studio Owner, Design Studio
Via G2
US Startup
“We used Versatile to hire our first employee in India after months of putting it off because the compliance side seemed like a mess. They walked us through it and now we don't think about it.”
Verified US Founder First-time Founder, US Startup
Via G2
Mid-Market Tech Co.
“Versatile consistently delivered work that was both strategically sharp and execution-ready. Their turnaround times are impressive, and they think about problems the way an in-house team would.”
Shivani K. Senior Manager, Tech TA
Via G2
Growth-stage Startup
“Their team was highly responsive, professional, and easy to work with. They made a complex process feel simple.”
Mukul S. Core Team, Growth-stage Startup

Case studies.

Largest food delivery app in India, decacorn View case study The world's largest professional network, part of Microsoft View case study Legacy US software company, publishing platforms View case study

What the employed side of the framework costs.

If the framework routes a role to direct employment, this is the entire price of running it through us.

Recruitment

Staffing the roles you employ
12% of annual CTC

Junior and mid searches at 12% of annual CTC, senior at 15%, leadership priced by mandate. Invoice waits for day 90.

Run the framework with us
  • Help sorting roles into the right model
  • Shortlists inside nine days
  • Salary data for every role
  • Structured interview support
  • Offer management
  • Day-90 invoice timing
  • Replacement search at no cost
  • Handover into onboarding
  • Help sorting roles into the right model
  • Shortlists inside nine days
  • Salary data for every role
  • Structured interview support
Plus four more inclusions
  • Offer management
  • Day-90 invoice timing
  • Replacement search at no cost
  • Handover into onboarding

No fee at all on candidates you bring yourself.

Employer of Record

Running the employed core
$149 /employee/mo

Steps to $129 per head beyond twenty employees. Salaries and statutory amounts pass through itemised at cost.

Price the core team
  • Employment on a real Indian entity
  • Payroll cycle with payslips
  • PF, ESIC, PT, TDS filings
  • Group medical insurance
  • Gratuity accruing from day one
  • Leave administration
  • Exit processing and settlements
  • Free transfer to your future entity
  • Employment on a real Indian entity
  • Payroll cycle with payslips
  • PF, ESIC, PT, TDS filings
  • Group medical insurance
Plus four more inclusions
  • Gratuity accruing from day one
  • Leave administration
  • Exit processing and settlements
  • Free transfer to your future entity

One flat fee replaces the entire vendor overhead layer.

Beyond twenty employed heads

$149 $129 /employee/mo

Volume pricing opens at the twenty-first head. The recruitment rate card does not move with size.

Inside the monthly fee

  • Full payroll processing
  • Every statutory filing
  • Insurance administration
  • HR letters and records
  • Leave and attendance
  • Expense handling
  • Deadline ownership
  • A named manager for your account

Volume pricing

$149 $129 /employee/mo

From head twenty-one, the fee drops to $129.

Inside the monthly fee

  • Full payroll processing
  • Every statutory filing
  • Insurance administration
  • HR letters and records
  • Leave and attendance
  • Expense handling
  • Deadline ownership
  • A named manager for your account

Statutory employer costs add roughly 13% to 17% over salary and are billed at actuals. To see the employed path priced against a vendor quote, run the EOR versus entity calculator with the roles your framework produced.

The outsource-or-hire decision, answered.

The questions that come up every time we walk a prospect through the framework.

Is outsourcing to India still worth it in 2026?

Yes, but the winning shape has changed. Pure project vendoring still fits bounded, well-specified work. For ongoing functions, companies increasingly employ their own India team through an EOR, keeping the cost advantage while owning the people and the context.

What is the simplest test between the two models?

Ask whether the work will still exist in eighteen months and whether it needs your product context to do well. Two yeses point to your own employed team. Two noes point to a vendor. One of each usually means splitting the workstream.

Can we mix both models at once?

Most of our clients do. A core of employees on our entity handles the ongoing functions while vendors absorb spikes and bounded projects. The models do not interfere with each other, and work moves between them as its nature changes.

How fast can the employed side stand up?

Brief to shortlist takes nine days, interviews to offer about a week more, and onboarding onto our entity completes in five days. A function can move from vendor-run to employed inside six weeks without a delivery gap.

What does the employed model cost in total?

Market salary at actuals, statutory employer add-ons of roughly 13% to 17%, $149 per person per month to us, and a one-time recruitment fee of 12% of annual CTC if we run the search. There are no other charges in the model.

What if we choose wrong?

The framework assumes you sometimes will, so both directions stay cheap. Winding an employed role down uses standard notice and full and final settlement; standing one up takes about three weeks. Nothing locks you into last quarter's decision.

When does opening our own entity beat both options?

Typically past thirty to forty India heads, when the fixed cost of a subsidiary spreads thin enough. Until then an entity mostly adds compliance load. When you cross that line, the team we employ transfers to your entity with continuity of service.

Longer reading: The canonical guide to outsourcing work to India · Building a team in India from scratch · Entity or EOR, decided properly

Tell us where you are on the decision.

A role you want to hire, a team you want moved, or just the two routes to compare. A named person replies in 4 to 6 hours.

A named person replies in 4 to 6 hours, not an autoresponder.

We use these details to respond to your enquiry.

A named person replies in 4 to 6 hours, not an autoresponder. We use these details to respond to your enquiry.

What the first call covers

30 minutes

A cost comparison for your headcount, on your numbers, both routes.

  • A written cost breakdown
  • Entity documents before the call
  • PF, ESI, TDS, termination law
  • No follow-up sequence
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