Expanding into India is not just a cost advantage but a strategic move. With the world’s largest STEM graduate pool and a strong product engineering ecosystem, India has become a choice for companies building global tech teams.
But making that decision is just the first step. The harder part is figuring out how to set things up–especially when speed, cost-efficiency, and long-term flexibility are all in play.
This guide walks through the time, cost and operational considerations of setting up your own entity in India, along with a practical comparison to working with a partner like TeemGenie.
Let’s get started.
The reality of setting up your own entity in India
India is a no-brainer for many fast-growing startups, especially those focused on deep tech.
While US and EU founders battle for a limited pool of engineers, India offers a high-skill, low-competition market – where the best developers cost a third of what they do in the US.
No wonder global founders are looking East.
At this point, setting up your own entity might feel like the logical next step. More control. A long-term footprint. The ability to hire directly.
But speed and scale in India aren’t just about being here – they’re about how you get started.
If you’re still validating the market, working with a lean team, or need to hire quickly to hit product milestones, the entity route might slow you down more than you expect.
It’s worth doing a real time–cost–effort analysis before you choose your path. Here’s what many founders discover a little too late:
1. Costs add up quickly (and unpredictably)
You’ll need legal experts, tax advisors, payroll administrators, and HR consultants just to get started. By the time you’ve covered company registration, local licenses, tax setup, and insurance, your initial spend could be significantly higher than what you initially planned. Here’s a breakdown of fixed, recurring, and hidden costs you can expect going the entity setup route –
Fixed upfront costs:
- Legal fees (company incorporation, drafting MoAs/AoAs, approvals from ROC)
- Government registrations (GST, EPFO, ESIC, PAN, TAN)
- CA and legal consultants for setup
- Deposits for office leases, IT infra purchases
Ongoing recurring costs:
- Bookkeeping, monthly tax filings, audit
- Payroll management tools + finance headcount
- Employee insurance, gratuity, PF, ESIC
- Office rent
- Local HR or admin support
- Director salary (mandatory resident director)
Hidden costs:
- Delays due to document errors, lack of notarized documents
- KYC issues with banks, especially for foreign founders
- Cost of attrition and re-hiring when onboarding is delayed
- Exchange rate volatility if funding is USD-denominated
“If you’re building a 50-member engineering team over 12 months, your recurring operational overhead (payroll, tax, HR, infra, compliance) could add up to 30% of total team cost – often without you realizing it.“
2. Timelines are longer than they look on paper
Even if things go smoothly, it can take 2-3 months just to register your entity and complete compliance checks. Then comes the setup of infrastructure – office space, IT systems, and local vendor contracts. All in, you’re easily looking at 6-12 months before your team is fully operational.
3. Compliance is not a one-time checklist
Indian labor laws are nuanced. Payroll filings, PF, ESI, professional tax, gratuity, and state-level nuances – each has its own timelines and documentation. If you miss something, you risk fines, reputational damage, or worse.
And if things don’t work out? Shutting down an entity in India can take up to two years and a whole new round of legal and administrative legwork.
See also: What Do Operations At A Tech Startup Really Mean – All You Need To Know!
4. Hiring is hard without a local footprint
While India has a deep engineering talent pool, finding highly specialised, quality tech talent can be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Without a local brand presence, founders often struggle to attract experienced candidates, especially those in senior or niche roles.
“The top 5% of engineering talent in India gets 2–3 offers. If your brand isn’t known, your offer may not even get opened. Highest attrition rates (~23%) make retention an even bigger challenge.”
TeemGenie: A faster, more convenient route to your India expansion
Most fast-moving startups are looking for speed, flexibility, and cost efficiency when considering expansion.
If your goal is to accelerate product development by tapping into India’s deep-tech talent—without the pains and costs of setting up an independent entity—TeemGenie is purpose-built for that.
We offer an end-to-end solution that handles everything you’d need to scale an India presence: from sourcing and onboarding deep tech talent to running payroll, managing compliance, structuring benefits, and supporting your team with physical infrastructure and local operations.
1. Get started fast with zero setup cost
- You can start hiring from day one. No months-long registration processes, no tax ID applications, and no local bank account setup hassles.
- There are no legal or administrative costs. Compared to the ~$20,000+ you’d typically spend setting up an entity, you’re saving capital from day one.
- Your ongoing cost footprint stays lean – under 9% of team cost, versus the 30%+ overhead required to run in-house operations through your own entity.
- Offer letters go out within one business day. Workspace and IT setup? Live within a few weeks. For teams competing in fast-moving hiring cycles, this kind of speed is critical.
2. Built-in payroll, compliance, and legal coverage
- We take full responsibility for payroll, tax deductions, PF, ESI, gratuity, state-specific labor rules, and monthly filings – across multiple jurisdictions.
- All local contracts and processes are fully compliant from day one.
- And if you choose to move to your own entity later, we support a clean, risk-free employee transition without disrupting contracts, payroll, or benefits.
3. Deep-tech hiring done by experts
- We’re a tech-native hiring partner. We’ve built a curated pipeline of senior engineers, product leaders, and deep-tech specialists.
- Our 80% screen-to-select ratio means your hiring team sees fewer, more relevant profiles.
- We also support executive hiring for founders scaling engineering orgs, from CTO and VP-level searches to strategic domain-specific roles.
- Our recruiters are tuned into the Indian tech ecosystem and know how to navigate candidate motivations, compensation benchmarks, and cultural alignment.
4. Benefits that help you attract and retain top talent
- We offer comprehensive benefits packages that go far beyond industry norms. Up to ₹30 lakh in insurance coverage, including medical, accidental, and term life.
- Tax-optimized salary structures include NPS, food cards, and other perks that increase employee take-home without increasing CTC.
- Beyond paperwork, we support employee engagement and employer brand-building so your team truly feels like they’re part of your company’s core mission.
5. On-ground HR, admin, and workspace support
- Need managed office space, hybrid setups, or remote-first infrastructure? We adapt to your team’s working model and handle vendor coordination end-to-end.
- We help you save up to 18% on local IT procurement through GST input credits – an often overlooked, but significant cost-saving lever.
- We also support visa, travel, and short-term relocation needs for founders, leads, or cross-border team visits.
Making the right decision: Should you set up an entity or explore other options?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Whether you set up your own entity or work with a partner like TeemGenie depends entirely on your goals, timeline, and internal capacity.
When setting up your own entity makes sense
- You’re building a large-scale, long-term India presence – think 100+ employees, local leadership, and multi-year commitments.
- You have in-house HR, legal, and finance teams who can manage registrations, filings, payroll, and compliance in India.
- You’re ready to invest upfront time and capital into entity setup (~6–12 months, ~$20K+), and can handle 30%+ operational overheads (~$70K).
- You want full control over IP, contracts, and employment structures from day one.
- You’re expanding across India in a way that requires your own infrastructure and long-term brand footprint.
Many companies do eventually transition to an entity – but only after validating the market, building the right team, and proving the model.
When TeemGenie is the better fit
- You’re looking to build a high-quality tech team quickly, without waiting for months of legal and compliance setup.
- You’re not ready to invest in a local ops team but still want a team that feels fully your own.
- You want to stay lean – with under 9% ongoing operational cost, instead of 30%+ through in-house teams and consultants.
- You value end-to-end support: from talent sourcing and onboarding to payroll, compliance, infrastructure, and retention.
- You want flexibility. With TeemGenie, you can start quickly and transition to your own entity when the time is right, without disrupting your team.
- You care about long-term retention and employee experience. Unlike traditional EORs, TeemGenie helps you offer a high-quality employee experience—customized benefits, engagement programs, and seamless onboarding—so your team feels invested, not outsourced.
What about traditional EORs?
- Traditional EORs simplify compliance but offer little to no help with hiring, culture, or team management.
- Most don’t offer talent pipelines, leadership hiring, office setup, or employee engagement support.
- They’re built for passive back-office support—not for companies building high-performance tech teams in India.
See also: Expand to India Without HR Headaches: EOR for HR
Conclusion
There’s no perfect answer, but there is a right fit for your current stage, speed, and growth priorities.
What you choose now will shape how quickly you can hire, how much complexity you take on, and how much space your team has to stay focused on product and momentum.
If you’re still evaluating the path forward—or want to explore how India expansion could work without the drag of setting up an entity—we’d be happy to help you map it out.
Book a 30-minute session with one of our India expansion experts. We’ll walk you through your options, answer questions, and share what’s worked (and what hasn’t) for teams like yours. Let’s talk!