Hire the engineers you can't find locally, employed in India from the Gulf
Gulf companies hire in India because the people are there and the working day is shared — India has one of the deepest engineering and finance talent pools in the world, 1½ hours behind Dubai. SynkPay becomes the legal employer of that hire, so you need no Indian entity, no residence visa and no relocation: contract, payroll, Provident Fund, tax and compliance run through our own Indian entity for a flat US$349 a month.
- Salary
- US$3,491
- Employer statutory
- US$106
- SynkPay fee
- US$349
- Total this month
- US$3,946
Example: an engineer in Bengaluru on ₹40 lakh a year.
- Contract signed
- Payroll and PF set up
- Ready to start
- Almost the whole day shared
- No visa or relocation
- Onboarding in 1 business day
- Invoiced in USD, no deposit
- Real people, no bots
All prices on this page are US dollars.
Cost
What does a Gulf company pay to employ someone in India?
Once you have found the person, the cost is simple: the employee's salary, the employer contributions Indian law requires, and our fixed fee. No visa, relocation or housing allowance sits on top. Here is what that comes to in US dollars at three common salary levels.
| Annual salary in India | Salary / month | Employer statutory | Total / month, incl. US$349 fee | Total / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ₹20 lakhMid-level engineer (3–5 yrs) | US$1,746 | US$63 | US$2,158 | US$25,896 |
| ₹40 lakhSenior engineer (6–10 yrs) | US$3,491 | US$106 | US$3,946 | US$47,352 |
| ₹60 lakhStaff / Tech Lead (10+ yrs) | US$5,237 | US$149 | US$5,735 | US$68,820 |
Statutory costs (Provident Fund, gratuity accrual and related charges) are at 2026 rates for Karnataka, converted at the rate of 27 August 2026. Try any salary and state in the India employee cost calculator.
Billing
How billing works for a Gulf company
- Your Gulf companyPays one USD invoice
- SynkPay invoiceStart of each month
- SynkPay India entityPayroll, PF and tax
- Your employeePaid in rupees
One USD invoice a month
Salary, employer contributions and the US$349 fee arrive on a single invoice in US dollars at the start of each month. Gulf currencies are pegged to the dollar, so the amount in dirhams or riyals barely moves.
No Gulf VAT added
The invoice comes from SynkPay's Indian entity, so we don't add UAE or Saudi VAT to it. Businesses buying services from outside the country usually account for the VAT themselves under the reverse charge — ask your accountant how that is handled where you are.
Fixed fee, rupee salary
Our fee stays at US$349. Your employee is paid in rupees, so the dollar value of their salary moves with the exchange rate. Agreeing the salary in rupees keeps what they take home steady.
No deposit, no setup fee
Nothing to pay up front and no salary deposit held against the contract. The engagement runs month to month.
Working hours
Working-hours overlap with your India employee
India is 1½ hours ahead of the UAE and 2½ hours ahead of Saudi Arabia, so your employee's day sits almost entirely inside yours. This is the closest overlap of any market we serve — meetings happen live rather than by handover.
| Your time zone | Employee's hours | In your local time | Overlap with 09:00–18:00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat (GST) | Standard India day09:30–18:30 IST | 08:00–17:00 | 8h |
| Later India shift12:00–21:00 IST | 10:30–19:30 | 7.5h | |
| Riyadh, Doha, Kuwait, Manama (AST) | Standard India day09:30–18:30 IST | 07:00–16:00 | 7h |
| Later India shift12:00–21:00 IST | 09:30–18:30 | 8.5h |
Working hours, not support hours. Note the working week: India works Monday to Friday, which lines up with the UAE, while Saudi Arabia's Sunday to Thursday week leaves Sunday uncovered and Friday free. Reach us on WhatsApp, phone or email — real people, no bots.
Contracts
Contracts, IP and data
Indian employment contract
Every hire gets a contract under Indian law covering pay, leave, notice and confidentiality. SynkPay is the legal employer; you direct the day-to-day work.
IP belongs to your company
Every contract assigns the work your employee creates to your company, with confidentiality and non-solicitation terms. How IP protection works.
No visa, no sponsorship
Your hire lives and works in India, so there is no residence visa, sponsorship or Emiratisation or Saudisation quota involved. Those rules apply to staff employed in your own country, not to ours, and your obligations for your own local staff are unchanged.
Roles
Roles Gulf companies hire in India
Gulf companies mostly use SynkPay to build an engineering or back-office team in India while the client-facing side stays local — usually because the role is hard to fill locally, not because it is cheaper.
Software engineers
Developers, QA and DevOps engineers working the same hours as your team in Dubai or Riyadh.
Finance and accounting
Bookkeepers, accountants and audit support for group finance teams.
Customer support and operations
Support, back-office and operations roles covering the Gulf business day live.
Engineering and technical support
Design, drafting, estimation and technical roles supporting contracting and industrial businesses.
Already paying a contractor in India? Moving them onto SynkPay's payroll turns them into a properly employed member of staff, with statutory benefits and a contract that protects your IP. See when to switch a contractor to an EOR, or read how to pay someone in India legally.
How it works
From first call to first payday
- 01
Tell us about the role
Share the role, salary and start date for your India hire.
- 02
We issue the contract
An Indian employment contract with IP assignment to your company.
- 03
Onboarded in 1 business day
Payroll, Provident Fund and tax set up once we have their details. What onboarding needs.
- 04
You manage the work
Your hire works with your team; we run payroll and compliance every month.
Included
What the US$349 fee covers
One fee per employee per month, any salary, no deposit. Full detail on our pricing page.
- Compliant employment contracts
- Monthly payroll processing
- Statutory benefits (PF, ESI, gratuity)
- Tax filing & compliance
- HR documentation & support
- Employee onboarding
- Dedicated HR/payroll specialist
- Human support on WhatsApp, phone and email
Compared
SynkPay compared with global EOR platforms
It's important to know, when building a team in India, that the fee and the deposit are the visible difference — and who actually employs your hire is the one underneath it.
- An Indian company, not a local partner
- SynkPay is an Indian business running its own entity since 2016. Your employee is employed by us directly, so nothing is sub-contracted to a partner we don't control.
- India is the whole job
- Contracts, payroll, Provident Fund, ESI, gratuity, TDS and state-level registrations are run in-house by people who do only Indian employment law.
- People on the ground
- You and your employee reach real people on WhatsApp, phone and email, in the same country as the work and within two hours of your own clock.
| Provider | India EOR fee / month, as published | Salary deposit |
|---|---|---|
| SynkPay | US$349 flat | None |
| Deel | US$599 plus an India surcharge | Usually 1 month's salary |
| Remote | US$599 (annual plan) or US$699 | Case by case |
| Multiplier | From about US$400 | Not published |
Provider prices from each provider's public pricing page, checked July 2026.
Fit
Who this is for
A good fit
Gulf companies hiring one or more full-time people in India.
Group finance, engineering and support teams building a back office in India.
Founders who want India hires without setting up an Indian entity.
Not a fit
Staff who live and work in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Gulf.
Visa, sponsorship or PRO services in your own country.
Short freelance projects that don't need an employee.
We employ people in India only. We don't employ, pay or run compliance for staff based in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or anywhere else in the Gulf, and we don't arrange visas or sponsorship.
Questions Gulf companies ask
Do you employ staff in the UAE or Saudi Arabia?
No. SynkPay employs people in India only, through our own Indian entity. We don't employ, pay or run compliance for anyone based in the Gulf, and we don't handle visas or sponsorship.
Why hire in India rather than locally in the Gulf?
Usually availability rather than cost. Gulf labour markets are small and heavily expatriate, so specialist engineering, finance and technical roles can take months to fill locally, and filling them means a residence visa, relocation and often housing. India has one of the world's deepest pools for those same roles, 1½ hours behind Dubai, so the person starts where they already live and works your hours.
Which currency is the US$349 price in?
It is US dollars (USD). US$349 per employee per month is the price every other country's fixed local price is set from, and Gulf customers are invoiced the US$349 itself. Gulf currencies are pegged to the dollar, so the dirham or riyal amount barely moves.
How much does it cost a Gulf company to employ someone in India?
The employee's salary, the employer contributions Indian law requires, and SynkPay's flat US$349 a month per employee. For a ₹40 lakh salary in Karnataka that comes to about US$3,950 a month all-in. The India employee cost calculator works it out for any salary and state.
Is UAE or Saudi VAT charged on your invoice?
No. The invoice is issued by SynkPay's Indian entity, so we add no Gulf VAT. Businesses buying services from abroad usually account for the VAT themselves under the reverse charge, so ask your accountant how that works where you are.
Does our India hire need a visa or sponsorship?
No. Your hire lives and works in India and is employed by SynkPay there, so no residence visa, sponsorship or nationalisation quota applies to them. This doesn't change your own nationalisation obligations, which are counted on the staff you employ locally.
How many working hours will our India employee overlap with our day?
On a standard 09:30–18:30 India day, about 8 hours with a UAE day and 7 hours with a Saudi one — nearly all of it, with no special shift needed. A later India start lifts the Saudi overlap to about 8.5 hours, though it trims the UAE overlap to about 7.5 hours.
How does the working week line up?
India works Monday to Friday. That matches the UAE exactly. In Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, where the week runs Sunday to Thursday, your India hire is off on Sunday and working on Friday — worth planning around when the role covers a live process.
Is there a deposit or setup fee?
No. There is no salary deposit and no setup fee, and the engagement runs month to month.
Who owns the work our India employee creates?
Your company. Every SynkPay employment contract assigns the employee's work product to you and includes confidentiality and non-solicitation terms.
How quickly can someone start?
Onboarding takes one business day once we have the candidate's details.
Hiring in India from the Gulf?
Book a free call. We'll talk through your role, the monthly cost in US dollars and how quickly your hire can start.