India employer compliance scorecard.
Answer 10 questions across worker classification, PE exposure, payroll filings, POSH, and data handling. Get a compliance score (0-100), dimension breakdown, and verdict tier.
Question 1 of 10
Do you have any contractors who are required to work set hours or specific times (e.g., 9 AM to 6 PM)?
Do your contractors provide their own equipment (laptop, phone) or do you provide it?
Do you have a registered office, office space, or fixed location in India?
Have you incorporated a private limited company in India, or do you use an EOR model?
Are you filing PF, ESIC, TDS returns on time each month/quarter?
Do you maintain statutory wage registers and PF/ESIC records?
Do you have 10 or more employees in India?
If you have 10+ employees, have you formed a POSH (anti-harassment) committee and conducted training?
Do you collect or store employee Aadhaar, salary data, or personal contact information?
Do you have a data privacy policy and employee consent for data processing?
Your compliance score
Overall score
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By dimension
- Worker Classification
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- Permanent Establishment
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- Payroll Compliance
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- POSH & Harassment
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- Data Privacy (DPDP)
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This is a diagnostic tool based on 10 key questions. A full compliance audit requires review of wage registers, statutory record books, filed returns, and contractual documentation. For forensic audit or remediation planning, speak to sales.
Compliance dimensions explained.
Worker classification
Are your contractors truly independent, or mis-classified employees? India labour law applies a 6-factor test: control, integration, exclusivity, equipment, personal performance. Score reflects risk of reclassification and back-pay liability.
PE and structural compliance
Permanent Establishment means taxable presence in India. Hiring via EOR on our entity avoids PE. Your own entity, office, or employee manager triggers PE and corporate tax, TDS filing, transfer pricing. Score reflects PE exposure.
Payroll, POSH, DPDP
Payroll: are you filing PF/ESIC/TDS on time? POSH: do you have anti-harassment policy and committee (10+ employees)? DPDP: are employee data, Aadhaar, salary protected? Score reflects statutory coverage across all three.
Worked example
Answering all 10 questions as fully compliant scores 100 with the verdict Compliant, keep monitoring. Answering all 10 as non-compliant scores 0 with the verdict At risk, act immediately.
Compliance scorecard, answered.
The audit questions every India employer should ask.
What is permanent establishment (PE) and why does it matter?
PE means you have a taxable presence in India (office, agent, operations) that triggers Indian corporate tax and TDS filing. If you hire via EOR with no office, you avoid PE. If you incorporate, set up office, or place a manager for >6 months, PE is triggered. This scorecard flags PE risk.
Why is worker classification the highest-risk dimension?
If an "independent contractor" shows these traits: you control their hours, you provide equipment, they cannot refuse projects, they work exclusively for you - India labour law re-classifies them as employees. Back-pay liability is typically 12% EPF + 3.25% ESI + employer pro-tax, compounded over months of misclassification.
What is POSH compliance?
POSH = Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act. If you have 10+ employees, you must file POSH registration, form an internal committee, draft an anti-harassment policy, and conduct annual training. Violations carry fines up to ₹5L and criminal liability. This scorecard checks POSH setup.
What does DPDP (data handling) compliance mean?
DPDP = Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. If you collect/store employee data (salary, PF account, Aadhaar, address, contact), you must implement data privacy policies, consent management, and security controls. Violations carry fines up to ₹5Cr. This scorecard checks data governance basics.
When is this tool the wrong answer?
When you have complex structure (multi-entity, PE disputes, litigation pending). Or when you need a full forensic audit (detailed wage register review, statutory record books, filed-form accuracy). This is a quick diagnostic. Speak to sales for forensic audit.
Longer reading: EOR services in India · India EOR compliance guide · Related tool: PE risk quiz
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.
What the first call covers
30 minutesA 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
You pick the time, we send a Meet link. Any timezone.