Payroll Outsourcing Cost in India: 8 Things That Decide What You Pay
Payroll outsourcing pricing in India looks simple on a website and gets complicated the moment your headcount, entities or integrations change. Most vendors quote a starting price and leave the rest to a sales call.
This guide breaks down the eight variables that actually move your monthly bill, with real rupee ranges, so you can estimate your own cost before you pick up the phone.
- 1
The base-plus-per-employee model
₹5,999–₹11,999/moMost payroll outsourcing pricing in India runs on two layers. A base monthly fee covers a set headcount, usually up to 30 employees. Every employee beyond that is billed at a flat per-employee rate on top.
On the 247HRM platform, the base starts at ₹5,999 a month for Startup, ₹8,999 for Professional and ₹11,999 for Enterprise, each covering up to 30 employees. The per-employee rate above 30 runs roughly ₹100 to ₹260 a month depending on the plan. All prices are exclusive of applicable taxes.
- 2
Headcount, the single biggest lever
120 employees ≈ ₹26,549/moHeadcount decides most of your bill because it drives the per-employee add-on. A 30-employee company pays only the base plan price. Add 90 more employees on the Professional plan and you add 90 × ₹195, about ₹17,550 a month, on top of the ₹8,999 base.
That puts a 120-employee company on Professional at roughly ₹26,549 a month before tax. Run the same math against your own headcount and plan tier to get a realistic number instead of relying on the starting price alone.
- 3
Number of companies or legal entities
Every plan includes payroll processing for one company by default. If your group runs payroll for more than one legal entity, say a manufacturing arm and a services arm under separate PANs, each additional company is quoted and billed separately.
This matters for holding structures and franchise setups where headcount looks small per entity but the entity count itself adds cost. Ask for a per-entity quote upfront if you run more than one company.
- 4
Number of locations
More locations usually means more compliance work. Professional Tax slabs vary by state, Shops & Establishments renewals are state-specific, and PF and ESI sub-codes multiply with each new branch office.
Base plans are built around a single-location setup. Multi-location payroll, especially across states with different PT and S&E rules, is scoped and quoted separately because the compliance workload genuinely goes up with each new state.
- 5
Integrations: biometric and accounting
One biometric attendance integration is included by default on every plan, so a standard punch-in device or app feeding attendance data is covered. A second biometric brand, a custom accounting sync to Tally or an ERP, or an HRMS-to-payroll bridge is quoted separately.
Integrations are one of the most common reasons a quote moves up from the base price, mostly because every accounting stack and device vendor needs its own mapping work done once at setup.
- 6
One-time setup versus the monthly fee
Live in 7–14 daysGetting live involves a one-time setup effort: employee master data migration, salary structure configuration, opening balances for PF and gratuity, and mapping your existing attendance source. 247HRM turns this around in 7 to 14 days.
The monthly plan fee is separate from this onboarding effort. Ask any vendor to break the two out clearly. A low headline monthly price sometimes hides a steep one-time setup charge that only shows up at contract stage.
- 7
What is not charged per payslip
The monthly fee is not multiplied by the number of payslips you run. Statutory filings, PF ECR, ESI, Professional Tax, Labour Welfare Fund, ETDS/24Q and Form 16, are bundled into the plan, not billed as separate line items each cycle.
Salary structure design, full and final settlement processing, appointment and relieving letters, and monthly MIS reports are also part of the plan, not add-ons charged per document. Off-cycle runs and one-off corrections are the more typical exception worth confirming with any vendor.
- 8
The in-house cost you are really comparing against
₹80,000+/mo in-houseThe number that matters is not the outsourcing fee in isolation. It is that fee against what an in-house payroll desk actually costs. A loaded payroll executive salary, a payroll software licence, and a realistic buffer for compliance penalties add up fast, often ₹80,000 or more a month for a mid-sized company.
Outsourcing on 247HRM typically runs about 60% lower than that in-house cost, because the base-plus-per-employee model spreads software, compliance expertise and filing accuracy across many clients instead of one in-house headcount. Annual billing brings the cost down further, and there is no lock-in if the arrangement stops making sense.
See what this costs for your headcount
A fixed price and a go-live date, on your own numbers. No lock-in.
Payroll outsourcing cost in India comes down to plan tier, headcount, number of entities and locations, and the integrations you need. Everything else, filings, letters, settlements and MIS, sits inside the monthly fee.
The fastest way to see your real number is to run it against your own headcount. Get a quote from HR Payroll Outsourcing or use the ROI calculator to compare your current in-house cost against a 247HRM-managed plan.