Hire in Weeks, Not Months — The Faster Alternative to Setting Up a Subsidiary Company in India

Setting up a subsidiary company in India often takes 6–12 months. The process involves lawyers, registrations, payroll setup, Provident Fund (retirement contributions), ESIC (healthcare), and ongoing compliance. All this happens before you can interview your first engineer. During this time, roadmaps slow down and hiring managers wait.

There is a faster alternative.

Build-direct hiring lets you recruit under your brand while employment, payroll, and compliance are managed for you from Day Zero. This guide shows how to achieve hiring speed, cost discipline, and talent quality—without entity delays or the compromises of outsourcing.

What if you could start interviews this week and payroll next month?

Scaling into India should not take a year. Yet, most U.S. companies wait months before making their first hire. Setting up a subsidiary company in India with compliance and payroll systems all slows you down.

During this delay, product roadmaps slip, and competitors hire faster. With build-direct, you skip this wait and begin interviewing right away.

Subsidiaries are slow by design

Setting up a subsidiary company in India is slow by design. Each step requires government approval, vendors, and oversight. Nothing happens overnight.

1. You must first register the entity with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Then apply for PAN and GST. Only after these approvals can a bank account be opened. Each stage adds weeks.
2. Payroll is another challenge. It must handle Provident Fund and ESIC compliance. Benefits vendors for insurance and wellness are also needed. Local HR and finance staff must be hired to manage all of this.
3. Ongoing compliance adds more work: regular filings, audits, and vendor management.
4. Leadership time is heavily consumed:

• Legal teams draft documents.
• Finance reviews filings.
• HR negotiates contracts.

The opportunity cost is high. Product velocity slows. Hiring momentum stalls. Competitors already in India capture talent while you wait.

Outsourcing was a shortcut—until top talent moved away from it

Outsourcing was once the shortcut. Subsidiaries were slow, so companies turned to vendors. They already had entities, payroll, and HR. Hiring looked faster.

But flaws soon appeared. Top Indian talent wants stability and brand-led roles. Outsourcing feels temporary, so engineers, designers, and product managers avoid it.

Hidden frictions add to the problem. Vendors often mark up salaries by 35–100%. Pay becomes opaque. Employees are unsure what they truly earn. Incentives diverge—vendors chase margins, not employee experience.

Control is also limited. Promotions, reviews, even exits sit with the vendor. Culture and standards weaken.

For a time, outsourcing seemed like a quick fix. Today, India’s market is more competitive. High-bar talent prefers direct brand jobs. Outsourcing has lost appeal for engineers, product managers, designers, and data scientists—the very talent you want most.

The faster alternative: Build-direct hiring with compliant employment from Day Zero

The faster alternative is build-direct hiring with compliant employment from Day Zero. This model combines speed with control.

You hire talent under your own brand. A local Employer of Record (EOR) manages compliant employment. You post roles, run interviews, and make offers. Candidates see your logo, culture, and brand. The EOR handles contracts, payroll, and benefits under Indian law.

All obligations are covered from the start—Provident Fund, ESIC, and Gratuity. Payroll runs locally in INR with transparent salaries. Health insurance, leave, and compliance filings are managed seamlessly.

The benefits are clear:

• Full control of hiring, performance, and promotions.
• No delays from entity setup.
• 80% lower overhead compared to subsidiaries.

This is not outsourcing. Employees are fully part of your company, while operations are handled in the background.

Week-by-week timeline: “Entity months” vs “Build-direct weeks”

The timeline difference shows the real advantage. Build-direct hiring moves in weeks, not months.

Build-direct timeline:

• Week 0–1: Share a job description. Receive shortlists within days. Begin interviews immediately.
• Week 2–3: Run interview loops, remote or onsite. Select candidates. Issue offers under your brand with transparent INR salaries.
• Week 4–6: Onboarding begins. Payroll, Provident Fund, ESIC, and benefits go live on Day One. Laptops, workspace, and HR support arranged as needed.

By six weeks, your team is working. Compliance is handled. Payroll is running. Employees feel part of your company, not a vendor.

Subsidiary timeline:

• Entity registration takes months.
• PAN, GST, and bank accounts add delays.
• Payroll and HR operations begin only after entity setup.
• Hiring usually starts six to twelve months later.

The contrast is clear: weeks vs. months. Build-direct lets you scale before competitors.

How build direct beats outsourcing and curated contractor platforms

Build-direct hiring is faster and stronger than outsourcing or contractor platforms. Outsourcing uses temporary staff. Contractor platforms rely on freelancers who do not stay. Both limit top talent access.

Build-direct attracts full-time professionals seeking stability and brand affiliation. You control hiring and decisions. Candidates connect with your mission. Results are clear—better interview-to-offer ratios, higher retention, and stronger teams built quickly.

Transparent, predictable costs with no vendor markups

Outsourcing often hides costs. Vendors mark up costs by 60%. Bills inflate. Employees see less of their true pay and lose trust.

Build-direct hiring fixes this. You set salaries directly in Indian rupees. There is no hidden markup. Instead, you pay a flat Kaamwork fee of $599 per employee per month, which includes: Employer of Record services to manage all HR activities, seamless payroll/compliance/tax filings, your company branding on portals, offer letters, and swag kits, basic background checks, and 24/7 support.

The model creates clarity. You know exactly what you spend. Employees know exactly what they earn. They feel like direct hires, not contractors.

Savings are also strong. Compared to setting up a subsidiary company in India, overhead can drop by 80%. Scaling is simple—from one hire to a 10-person team in six months. Predictable costs give finance leaders confidence. Budget shocks common in outsourcing disappear.

Risk, compliance, and governance—handled without slowing hiring

Compliance in India is complex. Employers must manage payroll filings, Provident Fund, ESIC, and leave policies. These are mandatory and require monthly submissions.

From Day Zero, compliance is taken care of in direct building-hiring models. Local contracts conform to Indian labor laws. Payroll runs with utmost accuracy. Statutory benefits and filings are correspondingly serviced with. Kaamwork’s transparent salary bands and HR touch keep attrition under 5%, compared to industry averages of 30%+.

Security and IP protection are ensured. Confidentiality clauses find their place in the contract. Furthermore, employee data is dealt with strictly on privacy grounds.

You keep governance while execution is managed for you. Dashboards provide visibility into payroll, benefits, and filings. Leadership focuses on building teams, not chasing compliance.

This model lets you scale quickly without risk. Employment remains 100% legal and aligned with global governance expectations.

Who should choose this model (and who shouldn’t)

The build-direct model suits companies that need speed, brand ownership, and quality talent.

Best fit:

• Tech and tech-enabled firms with revenue above $100M.
• Series A+ startups building pods in engineering, product, design, analytics, or marketing.
• Non-tech enterprises with 20+ open tech roles.

Poor fit:

• Companies with a mature subsidiary in India.
• Firms already invested in a local office and entity.

This model doesn't suit every business. However, for growth-stage companies or companies growing the tech side, build-direct delivers scale, speed, and control—all without compromise.

Brands that scaled fast without an entity

Real-world cases show the power of this model. Many companies begin with one hire. Within six months, they grew to 10 people. Some reach 20 or more in a year.

Results are consistent—faster hiring, lower costs, and strong retention. Voluntary attrition is under 5% in two years, far below industry norms.

TripAdvisor is one example. They needed an analytics pod fast. With build-direct hiring via Kaamwork, they built a 10-person team in under four months. No subsidiary. No delays. Employees worked as TripAdvisor staff from day one.

Thrasio did the same. They hired brand-led teams while Kaamwork managed compliance and payroll. The result: speed without overhead. Companies scale quickly while staying in control.

How the build-direct flow works (step-by-step)

The build-direct model follows a simple and fast process.

1. Discovery: You share a live job description. We align on hiring bar, leveling, and salary bands in INR. This ensures expectations are clear from the start.
2. Sourcing in 24 hours: Within a day, you see two or more calibrated profiles. This validates speed and fit before you invest in full interview loops.
3. Your interview loop: You run the process end-to-end. We coordinate scheduling, feedback, and candidate communication. You keep momentum and control.
4. Offer and onboarding: Offers go out under your brand and logo. Employment is managed through the Employer of Record model. Payroll, Provident Fund, ESIC, and benefits are live on Day One. Employees experience a seamless start.
5. Operate and scale: You manage goals, reviews, and promotions. We run payroll, file compliance, and manage benefits. HR operations stay accurate and on time.

This flow mirrors the control of an owned entity but without delays. You build teams directly under your brand. Compliance, payroll, and governance run in the background. Within weeks, your team in India is live, contributing, and scaling.

Start hiring in weeks without the entity drag

You don’t need to wait six to twelve months to set up a subsidiary in India. With build-direct hiring, you can launch interviews this week, issue offers next week, and onboard employees within a month. All contracts, payroll, and benefits are handled compliantly from Day One. You keep brand ownership, culture, and control—without entity delays or heavy overhead. The model gives you the positives of a local office, minus the compliance burden.

Ready to see calibrated profiles against a live JD? Book time with Kaamwork and validate speed and quality today.