How do I set up basic HR and statutory compliance in India without a full HR hire?
Get the legal floor right early: proper appointment letters, PF and ESI registration once you cross the thresholds, professional tax where applicable, TDS on salaries, and POSH compliance (an Internal Committee is mandatory at 10-plus employees, no exceptions). Use a payroll provider (RazorpayX Payroll, Zoho, Keka) to automate PF/ESI/TDS filings so you are not doing it by hand. You do not need an HR manager yet, but you do need these boxes checked before an audit or an exit forces the issue.
Go deeper
3 resources, 3 link-checked.
📄 Article
✓ Link checkedIndiaFreeIntermediate
Before you shop for a payroll provider, this tells you which compliance obligations that provider has to cover: PF at 20-plus employees, ESI at 10-plus (state-varying), TDS and Professional Tax, plus a monthly/quarterly/annual filing calendar. It is the buyer's checklist for choosing between RazorpayX Payroll, Zoho Payroll, or Keka, because the only payroll tool worth paying for is the one that files all of these on time.
PF kicks in at 20 employees and ESI at 10 (state-dependent), so your payroll tool must handle both thresholds automatically
Payroll and wages are the most audited and litigated area of Indian labour law, so timely PF/ESI/TDS filings matter more than any feature
Two offices in different states can carry very different obligations, which is a real reason to run one compliant payroll system rather than spreadsheets
This breaks down the four things you will run monthly (TDS under Section 192, PF via UAN, ESI for sub-21,000 wages, PT capped at 2,500 a year) and ties each to what a payroll provider actually automates, so you can decide what to hand to RazorpayX Payroll, Zoho, or Keka instead of filing 24Q by hand. It answers the exact 'do I need an HR hire yet' question: no, you need TAN, TRACES, and a payroll tool.
POSH is the compliance founders skip until a complaint or a diligence checklist forces it, and this is a clean, dedicated explainer of the one thing you cannot postpone: an Internal Committee is mandatory the day you cross 10 employees, no exceptions. It spells out the committee makeup (a senior woman as Presiding Officer, an external NGO member) and the policy, training, and display obligations that come with it.
An Internal Committee is legally required at 10+ employees, must be chaired by a senior woman, and must include one external member from an NGO or legal background
Beyond the committee you owe a written POSH policy, regular training, a defined complaint procedure, and posted POSH information at the workplace
Complaints must be filed within three months of the incident, and non-compliance risks fines up to 50,000 plus possible license cancellation
