How to build a dedicated team in India without setting up an Indian company 

A dedicated team in India is a group of people who work only on your business, from India, while a partner holds the employment, payroll, tax and compliance. You interview and choose each person. They use your tools and report to your managers. You get senior talent at Indian salary levels without an Indian entity.

What is a dedicated team?

A dedicated team is a set of people employed by a partner in India who work exclusively for one client business.

Three features set it apart from other models. The people are yours in practice: they are not shared with other clients or moved between projects. You choose them: you tell the partner the roles and skills you need, interview a shortlist and pick. And you manage the work: the team joins your stand-ups, uses your tools and follows your process.

What you do not do is run an Indian business. The partner is the legal employer. It signs the contracts, pays the salaries, deducts and deposits the statutory contributions, files the returns and complies with Indian labour law. You deal with the work, not the paperwork.

The roles go well beyond software. A dedicated team can include senior engineers and developers, QA and testing, design and product roles, and finance, accounting and back-office roles. Its shape follows what your business actually needs.

Why do businesses hire in India?

There are two main reasons, and cost is the first. A senior engineer in the US costs well over $100,000 a year in salary alone. In India, an engineer of the same seniority often earns under $30,000. That gap reflects two different labour markets, not two different standards of work.

The second reason is access. Many overseas businesses cannot find, or cannot afford, enough senior people at home. Hiring in India widens the pool. A strong senior engineer in India does the same work as one in the US or Australia, so the saving comes from the market and you are not asked to accept a weaker person to get it.

A third reason is continuity. When people work only on your business, what they learn about your product, your customers and your ways of working builds up and stays with you. Shared or rotating staff take that knowledge with them each time they move on.

One caution. Salary is not the whole cost. Payroll costs, compliance, equipment, office space and management time all sit on top of it. Our companion guide on engineer costs in India and the US explains how to compare quotes on a like-for-like basis.

What are the four ways to hire in India?

An overseas business has four routes. Each gives a different answer to the same question: who is the employer, and who carries the obligations?

Your own entity

You set up an Indian company or branch and employ people directly. This gives you the most control, and every obligation along with it: registrations, payroll, statutory filings, labour law, an office and local accounting. It suits a business that plans a large, permanent presence and is ready to run one.

Employer of record

A provider becomes the legal employer of people you recruit and runs payroll and statutory compliance. You still find the people, arrange the office or remote working, buy the equipment and manage the work. It is faster than setting up an entity, but selection and day-to-day setup remain with you.

Contractors

You engage individuals or small firms as independent contractors. It is the quickest route to start, and it works well for defined pieces of work. It turns risky when contractors keep fixed hours, work only for you and take your direction. At that point they look like employees, and the arrangement can be challenged. Our guide on treating full-time people as contractors covers this in detail.

A dedicated team through a partner

The partner selects and shortlists candidates, employs the people, provides the office, equipment and security in India, and handles payroll, contracts and compliance. You interview, choose and manage. Compared with an employer of record, it adds selection, office, equipment and management support. Our comparison of the three main routes sets them out side by side.

What sits behind every hire in India?

Finding the person is the easier part. Behind every employee sits a set of obligations that must be met each month and each year. Here they are, named rather than explained. Our guide on statutory obligations covers each one in turn.

• Provident fund (PF), a retirement savings contribution paid by both employer and employee.
• Employees' State Insurance (ESI), a contribution that funds medical and related benefits for covered employees.
• Gratuity, a payment made to employees after a qualifying period of service.
• Tax deducted at source (TDS) from salaries, deposited with the tax department.
• Professional tax, a state-level tax that differs from state to state.
• The labour codes, which set the rules on wages, leave and termination.

Each item has its own filing, deadline and penalty. One missed filing can bring interest, penalties and a notice addressed to someone who has never read Indian law. The labour codes are also recent. The Government of India announced that the four Labour Codes were made effective from 21 November 2025, replacing 29 existing labour laws, and the rules on wages, leave and termination changed as a result.

In a dedicated team, the partner carries these obligations. You still need to know they exist, because they determine what a fair quote should include.

How is a dedicated team set up?

The process is short, with five steps.

1. You tell the partner the roles and skills you need.
2. The partner shortlists candidates and you interview them.
3. You choose the people.
4. The partner handles contracts, payroll and compliance.
5. Your team starts work.

A few practical steps make the first month smoother. Write a clear brief for each role covering the work, the tools and the hours of overlap you need. Give the team access to your tools and documents early. Name one manager on your side who answers questions quickly, and agree how work will be reviewed in the first few weeks.

Ask the partner what happens if someone turns out not to be the right fit. A good arrangement lets you request a replacement. Ask too how notice, handover and the end of the arrangement are handled, so nothing comes as a surprise later.

Who owns the work and the IP?

You should. Intellectual property means the code, designs, documents and ideas the team creates. If the contracts do not say who owns it, ownership can become unclear. That risk is easy to remove before anyone starts.

Look for three things. The employment contracts assign intellectual property to you. They include confidentiality terms. And the agreement between you and the partner says the same. Ask to read these clauses. If a provider cannot show them to you, treat that as a warning sign.

Confidentiality is also a matter of everyday habits. Ask where data is held, who can access your systems and what security the office in India provides. Keep control of access to your own systems, so you can add and remove people as they join and leave.

What does quality look like, and how do you control it?

Quality starts with selection. Because you interview and choose, you judge each candidate by your own standard rather than accepting whoever happens to be free that week. After that, control comes from the same habits you use at home: clear goals, regular reviews, shared tools and open communication.

• Set outcomes for each role, not only tasks.
• Hold the same stand-ups and reviews you hold with your onshore people.
• Keep the work in your own repositories, boards and documents.
• Review the first deliverables closely, then ease off as trust grows.
• Meet the partner regularly about people, workload and any concerns.

Lower cost does not have to mean lower standards. If a price looks too low, ask what has been left out. The answer is usually compliance, equipment or the calibre of the people.

Time zones need a plan. Decide how many hours of overlap each role needs. A dedicated team can work your hours where overlap matters and work independently for the rest of the day. Write the agreed hours into the arrangement so both sides know what to expect.

Finally, agree how the arrangement can change. You may want to add people, replace someone or reduce the team. Ask how each of these works and what notice applies. A clear exit route usually means a partner that expects to keep your business by doing good work.

What do you control, and what does the partner control?

A clear split of duties heads off most disagreements. Write it down before the first person starts, and look at it again after the first quarter.

How is this different from ordinary outsourcing?

Ordinary outsourcing hands a piece of work to a vendor. The vendor decides who does it, how and often when. You are buying an output. You may never meet the people doing it, and they may change from one week to the next.

A dedicated team works the other way round. You are buying people, not an output. You choose them, they work only for you, and they become part of how you run the business. The partner's job is to employ them well and keep the legal and compliance side in order.

Neither model is better in every case. Outsourcing suits a clear, bounded job. A dedicated team suits work that continues, grows and needs people who know your business well.

What should you ask a partner before you sign?

Good questions protect you. A partner that is confident in its work will answer them plainly, and in writing.

• Who is the legal employer of each person, and which entity signs the contracts?
• Do the people work only for me, and will you confirm that in writing?
• Can I interview and choose every person, and can I ask for a replacement?
• Which statutory obligations do you carry, and can you show proof of filing?
• Do the contracts assign intellectual property to me and include confidentiality terms?
• What office, equipment and security do you provide in India?
• How do I add people, reduce the team or end the arrangement, and what notice applies?
• What happens to my data and my access if the arrangement ends?
• Who responds to a notice from an Indian authority?

Pay attention to vague answers. If a provider says everything is taken care of but cannot say by whom, or will not show you the contract terms, slow down.

What mistakes do overseas businesses make in the first months?

• Hiring on cost alone and settling for people who are not senior enough.
• Treating the team as a separate unit with no access to the people who make decisions.
• Skipping the brief, so people guess at priorities and effort is wasted.
• Leaving nobody on your side responsible for questions, so work sits waiting.
• Holding back feedback for too long, then giving it all at once.
• Not agreeing hours of overlap, so meetings become hard to arrange.

Each of these is easy to avoid. Treat the team as part of your business from day one. Share the same goals, the same news and the same respect you give your people at home. Teams that feel included do better work and stay longer.

When is a dedicated team the right choice?

A dedicated team suits a business that needs ongoing, senior capacity and does not want to run an Indian entity. It fits when you want to choose each person, when the work will last months or years, and when you want one accountable partner for both people and compliance.

Think about the first twelve months. In month one, the team learns your product and how you work. Over the next few months, output rises as people gain context. After that, the team starts to carry parts of the work on its own. The value builds with time, which is why the model rewards businesses that plan to stay.

It fits less well for a single short task, which a contractor can handle. It also fits less well if you plan a large, permanent Indian business of your own and want to own every layer of it. In that case an entity may be the better long-term choice, though a dedicated team can still be a sensible first step.

This guide gives general information. It is not legal or tax advice. Rules, rates and dates change. Check the current position with your own advisers before you act.