Article · 10 min read

Recruiting Your First Few Employees

ClearTax Free Beginner India

This is the India-specific pre-day-one checklist you actually run down: it names the offer letter and employment contract (with downloadable samples that already fold in the NDA, non-compete, and indemnification clauses), spells out enrolling for EPF and ESI when they apply to your company, and points at TDS deduction and payroll setup under the Income Tax Act. It maps one-to-one onto the paperwork you need locked before a start date, from a tax-and-compliance source founders already trust for filings.

  • A compliant offer letter plus employment contract (carrying NDA and confidentiality clauses) is the first document to get signed, before anything else
  • If EPF and ESI apply to your company at your headcount and wage levels, you must enrol the company, not just intend to
  • TDS deduction and payroll are Income Tax Act obligations from the first paycheck, not a later cleanup
Open on cleartax.in ↗

The question it answers

  1. What paperwork and compliance do I need in place before my first employee's start date in India?

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