The salary is Indian, the quota is not. A rep in Bengaluru selling US ACV costs a fraction of a US hire but is working against US deal sizes, so the usual quota to OTE multiple of four to six stops being a useful control and the number looks absurd on paper. For India based teams selling into other geographies, measure conversion rates through the funnel rather than leaning on the quota to OTE ratio. India based SDRs are typically held to a pipeline number in the range of 500 to 600 thousand dollars regardless of ACV. Pay variable in rupees on a rolling monthly or quarterly cycle, keep the mix more base heavy than a US plan, and be explicit about the odd hours that selling into US time zones actually costs.
4 hand-picked resources, 4 India-specific, 4 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
Why we picked it Written for Indian SaaS founders by the Everstage CEO, ex Freshworks. It gives the working numbers: quota period must be at least the sales cycle, quota to OTE around 5 to 6x, and two thirds of reps landing between 80 and 100 percent attainment.
From SaaSBoomi by Siva Rajamani 10 min read
Open saasboomi.org →Why we picked it The POSist co-founder on how sales hiring differs between India, MENA and the West, when an inside sales team in India is enough versus when you need people on the ground, and her hit rate of roughly one good rep for every seven hired.
From SaaSBoomi by Sakshi Tulsian 10 min read
Open saasboomi.org →Why we picked it Actual rupee bands for junior, mid and senior SDRs in India, the cost comparison against a US hire, and a hiring process built on live mock calls. The most concrete India SDR numbers we could find in one place.
From Wisemonk 16 min read
Open wisemonk.io →Why we picked it 77 percent of Indian SaaS leaders name ramping critical talent as their biggest challenge, and the piece quantifies how much the GTM talent pool has to grow. Useful context for why your hiring feels harder than the US blogs suggest.
From SaaSBoomi 9 min read
Open saasboomi.org →How comp, quotas and territory reads from a different seat.
The same ground, over in Co-founders, team & legal, our Starting Up track.
