Employer of Record for BFSI Companies in India

Build Your India BFSI Team While Your Entity Is Still in Approval with Tankhapay EOR. ISO 27001 Certified. Trusted by Bank of Baroda. Zero Compliance Penalties Since 2000. First Hire on India Payroll in 2 to 3 Days.

Employer of Record for BFSI companies India — ISO 27001 certified RBI SEBI IRDAI compliance Bank of Baroda approved TankhaPay

Before Your First India Hire, You Need a Registered Indian Employer. Before Your Entity Is Approved, That Is TankhaPay.

An Employer of Record for BFSI companies in India solves one structural hiring problem at scale: India's financial services sector hosts 47 foreign bank branches, 9,000+ NBFCs, 1,700+ Global Capability Centers, and the world's third-largest insurance market by policy count. Each foreign bank setting up in India, each fintech assembling its pre-licence team, and each global insurance company creating its presence must have an Indian legal employer in place before a single individual joins. Foreign entities cannot be considered the employer for India-based employees according to Indian labour laws. With no Indian employing entity in place, there is no compliant employment. This is offered by TankhaPay for a registered employer within 24 hours, 12-24 months ahead of receiving any regulatory approval.

TankhaPay offers the Employer of Record services for BFSI companies that become the registered employer under Indian labour law, managing employment contracts; INR payroll; Provident Fund under the EPF and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952; ESI under the ESI Act 1948; and TDS under Section 192 of the Income Tax Act 1961. Your India team works entirely under your direction. TankhaPay absorbs every employment obligation. Bank of Baroda, India's second-largest PSU bank under daily RBI supervisory oversight, is a confirmed TankhaPay payroll client. TankhaPay is ISO 27001 certified and has maintained a zero compliance penalty record since 2000 across 500+ client companies.

TankhaPay EOR for BFSI companies India — RBI SEBI IRDAI compliance Bank of Baroda ISO 27001

Five Compliance Realities That Make TankhaPay the First-Choice BFSI EOR in India

RBI branch approval takes 12 to 24 months. NBFC registration takes 6 to 12 months. IRDAI entity formation takes 12 to 24 months. TankhaPay puts your first BFSI professional on India payroll in 2 to 3 days, while every approval timeline runs its mandatory course
TankhaPay is the registered employer under Indian labour law. If your foreign bank, fintech entity, or insurance company has zero direct employment relationship in India, that eliminates the permanent establishment risk under Section 9 of the Income Tax Act 1961 read with Article 5 of applicable Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements and FEMA 1999
The Bank of Baroda is operating under daily RBI supervisory oversight, and the annual CAG audit cleared TankhaPay through its vendor due diligence process. When India's second-largest PSU bank's legal and compliance team approves a payroll partner, that approval is the highest available third-party validation of EOR compliance standards in India's banking sector
ISO 27001-certified, ISO 9001-certified, and CMMI-appraised, these three independently audited certifications answer the data security and process reliability questions every BFSI compliance head asks before signing an EOR agreement. All payroll data stored on India-resident servers satisfying RBI's April 2018 circular on storage of payment system data
Nationwide network starting from the Mumbai BKC banking clusters up to Bengaluru fintech GCCs, Hyderabad BFSI operations centers, Gurugram capital markets groups, Chennai banking technology centers, and GIFT City IFSCA mainland employees, all under one compliance system; nothing state-wise is needed. See also EOR for IT and fintech tech teams

Twenty-six years of exclusive India EOR and payroll operations. Zero compliance penalties — no PF default under Section 14B of the EPF Act 1952, no ESI penalty under Section 85 of the ESI Act 1948, and no TDS interest under Section 201 of the Income Tax Act 1961 — across 500+ client companies. For BFSI organizations evaluating vendor risk, this is the benchmark.

RBI outsourcing guidelines vs EOR employment distinction Bank of Baroda TankhaPay BFSI India

The RBI Outsourcing Distinction That Every Foreign Bank Must Understand Before Hiring in India

The counsel for all banks in their India operations asks the very same question prior to signing off on the EOR agreement — would the use of an EOR bring RBI's outsourcing guidelines into play? The answer is no — but that's not the point here. TankhaPay EOR is an employment model. The RBI outsourcing guidelines apply to the delegation of banking functions such as credit assessment, risk assessment, and due diligence, among others, from the bank to third parties and were issued under the Banking Regulation Act 1949. TankhaPay does not carry out any banking functions. You will be carrying out your banking functions through your staff based in India under your supervision.

Bank of Baroda is India's second-largest PSU bank, with over 8,200 branches under daily RBI regulatory supervision and quarterly board audits. It uses TankhaPay for payroll and compliance management. When Bank of Baroda's legal and compliance teams cleared TankhaPay through vendor due diligence, they applied the same standard that RBI applies to any Bank of Baroda counterparty. This means any incoming foreign bank evaluating TankhaPay has a direct, active banking precedent to cite internally. Not a testimonial. A live payroll relationship between TankhaPay and one of India's most scrutinised banking institutions.

What TankhaPay Manages for Your India BFSI Team

RBI and Banking Compliance

The RBI's supervisory system entails duties on the employment side that are beyond the capabilities of many EORs. TankhaPay's proven track record in complying with regulations in India for the past 26 years, coupled with ISO 27001 certification and proof of association with Bank of Baroda, gives precisely the guarantee that banking industry vendor assessment panels demand.

As a registered employer, TankhaPay escapes any possibility of Permanent Establishment liability according to Section 9 of the Income Tax Act 1961 and FEMA 1999, as the foreign bank does not have any employment presence within India and thus neither Article 5 nor RBI outsourcing risk
Contributions to PF at 12% through Employer Contribution Receipts (ECR), ESI contributions at 3.25%, tax deductions from salary under Section 192 of the Income Tax Act 1961 with Quarterly 24Q form filing and Annual 16A form preparation, without having any registration as an Indian entity from the foreign bank
Documents in relation to RBI fit and proper criteria of Key Management Personnel - Criminal history statement, declaration of financial integrity and fitness and propriety confirmation as per Section 35B of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 – Prepared prior to employment
RBI compliance EOR banking teams India TankhaPay permanent establishment risk FEMA 1999

SEBI Compliance for Capital Markets and Investment Roles Hired via EOR in India

In regard to employees working under SEBI-regulated professions like investment banking, capital markets, equity research, asset management, and alternative investments, TankhaPay contracts for employment come equipped with duties imposed under the Prevention of Insider Trading Regulations 2015 and LODR Regulations 2015 of SEBI. These aren't added clauses but are part of the standard employment contract from day one.

Insider trading guidelines within SEBI's Prevention of Insider Trading Regulations 2015 and LODR Regulations 2015 were incorporated in employment agreements for all front-office employees, along with pre-employment disclosure of securities holdings that can be considered unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI).
Compliance with SEBI KYC Registration Agency (KRA) regulations was included as part of the background verification process before signing of employment agreements in investment advisory, portfolio management, and research analyst positions
The Conflict of Interest statements, restrictions on conducting other business activities, and the SEBI Research Analyst Regulations 2014-based Independence terms formulated based on the Indian Contract Act 1872 can be legally binding even without having the client registered with SEBI as an intermediary
SEBI compliance capital markets EOR India TankhaPay insider trading policy KYC norms

PMLA Section 12, KYC, and Five-Layer BFSI Background Verification

Section 12 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 mandates that all banking companies, financial institutions, and intermediaries have proper record-keeping mechanisms and reporting of suspicious activities to the Financial Intelligence Unit of India. The FIU-IND regulations make it mandatory to provide training on AML for all employees at the time of joining. TankhaPay ensures the creation of Section 12-compliant PMLA documentation in EOR for all BFSI hires.

Confirmation of PMLA Section 12 training, Approval of KYC Policy, Establishment of AML escalation chain, Requirement to submit STR in writing – All these documented in employment file on hiring date and retained for at least seven years as per regulatory requirement
A five-tiered process includes a CIBIL credit report for banking and treasury positions, a criminal background check from courts' records, verification of professional certification from ICAI, CFA Institute, Institute of Actuaries of India, and GARP, employment history of the last seven years, and references for CXOs designated before employment is entered into.
Fit and Proper Criteria in Support of Key Management Personnel under Section 35B of the Banking Regulation Act 1949 of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – Declaration of fitness and propriety before recruitment, disclosure of criminal records, and verification of financial integrity before employment begins
PMLA KYC AML background verification BFSI EOR India TankhaPay compliance RBI SEBI IRDAI

BFSI Payroll Architecture — Variable Pay, Commission, and Equity Compensation

The fixed salary payroll is a rarity in BFSI, not a common occurrence. The people working in the BFSI sectors have different salaries. For instance, bankers have a performance-based salary, depending on the quarterly targets set. The insurance workers receive commission based on the number of policies they sell. The fintech workers receive ESOP, while the actuaries have retention bonuses.

Bonus on-cycle and off-cycle process based on TDS revised as per Section 192 of the Income Tax Act 1961 for the month of receipt of such income – avoids TDS deficiency and correction charges due to erroneous bonus payment process at the end of the year based on accrued Salary CTC
ESOP Perquisites Tax under Section 17(2)(vi) of the ITA 1961 at time of vesting: FMV on vesting date less exercise price, less from payroll at the time of vesting; update of Form 16, Part B, with breakup of perquisites; Form 24Q quarterly, Section 192(1C) tax deferment applicable for DPIIT-recognised fintech companies
Insurance commission payroll correctly structured: The payroll system for insurance commission is well-designed: Section 194H TDS on commissions of insurance policy distributors rather than Section 192 TDS on salary of employees – the difference which stops the problems related to IRDAI license classifications for insurance professionals and agents
BFSI payroll ESOP variable pay TDS Section 192 India TankhaPay EOR fintech banking

ISO 27001 Certified Financial-Grade Data Security

While looking at top EOR service providers in india for BFSI organizations and internal auditors considering such EOR services, there can only be one question, and that is, 'Can they manage employee salary and compensation information with the same level of compliance and security that their systems have?' ISO 27001 is an internationally recognized standard for certifying a company's cybersecurity measures, and TankhaPay has been certified for the same.

ISO 27001 certified: security policies, access controls based on roles, encryption of data in transit and at rest, incident handling mechanisms, and yearly audits conducted by an authorised certification body. BFSI payroll data is hosted only on India-resident servers as per RBI guidelines DPSS.CO.PD No. 1810/02.14.008/2017-18 regarding payments system data storage and DPDP Act 2023 localisation standards
NDA, Information Barrier and Confidentiality provisions within all BFSI employment agreements which secure salary benchmarking, regulatory roles' compensation frameworks and individual bankers' compensation packages from any external interference and breach consequences which can be enforced through the Indian Contract Act of 1872, without India legal entity requirements on the client side
In accordance with the In accordance with the DPDP Act 2023, Section 4: Data collection is solely for the purpose of employment or payroll, and data minimization and purpose limitation apply. The ISO 27001 provides the independent proof needed to assess third-party payroll service providers by BFSI audit committees
ISO 27001 data security financial grade EOR payroll India TankhaPay DPDP Act BFSI RBI localization
BFSI Country Heads Fintech Founders GCC Setup Leads using TankhaPay EOR India banking compliance

Three BFSI Leaders Who Call TankhaPay Before Their India Hire Starts

The decision to use TankhaPay EOR in BFSI comes from different roles in the organization — but the outcome is always the same: a compliant India team on payroll before any other structure would have cleared its first approval milestone.

Country Heads and India Entry Leaders: Your board approved the India expansion. Your general counsel flagged that a local entity takes 18 months. TankhaPay starts your first hire in 2 to 3 days under a fully compliant employment structure. Bank of Baroda chose TankhaPay. You have a direct banking sector precedent.
Fintech Founders & CTO India Leadership: The NBFC application for your company is submitted. Your Payment Aggregator licence is being reviewed by the RBI. Your product team can't afford to wait 9 months. TankhaPay hires your engineers, compliance officers, and ops experts until the licence is issued. On issuance, the team shifts to TankhaPay. No delay in hiring at all.
GCC Leads & CFOs: Your BFSI GCC company is incorporated. The first 20 to 50 hires – quants, risk managers, operations leads, and technology architects – cannot be left on standby for 12 months. TankhaPay supports your GCC team through the process of entity formation. ISO 27001 certification, Bank of Baroda's reputation, and 26 years of no-penalty history pass every internal vendor board scrutiny.

The Three Verifiable Proofs BFSI Organizations Use to Clear TankhaPay in Vendor Due Diligence

Bank of Baroda Has Cleared TankhaPay's Vendor Due Diligence. So Has Every Government of India Body on This Platform.
Bank of Baroda has more than 8,200 branches and has assets worth Rs. 13.2 lakh crore and is under daily RBI supervision along with an audit conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India once a year. While the legal and compliance department of Bank of Baroda approved TankhaPay for payroll services, they conducted vendor analysis for TankhaPay at its best level possible within the Indian banking industry. TankhaPay managed to pass that test. Any foreign bank, fintech company, or insurance company that wishes to evaluate TankhaPay can see how TankhaPay already works with Bank of Baroda.

ISO 27001 certification is independently audited every year, not self-declared.
An independent, accredited certification body audited TankhaPay's information security management system against the ISO 27001 standard and found it compliant. The certification is renewed annually; there is no legacy validity. It covers access controls, encryption for data at rest and in transit, incident response procedures, business continuity planning, and supplier security management. All BFSI employee payroll data is stored on India-resident servers, satisfying the RBI's April 2018 circular on storage of payment system data (DPSS.CO.PD No.1810/02.14.008/2017-18) and the DPDP Act 2023 localization mandate. TankhaPay is also ISO 9001, ISO 20000, and ISO 14001 certified and CMMI appraised.

A 26-Year Zero-Penalty Compliance Record and Government of India Clients, No Other India EOR Has Both.
TankhaPay has operated exclusively in India since 2000. Twenty-six years. 500+ client companies. Zero compliance penalties and not one PF default under Section 14B of the EPF Act 1952, not one ESI penalty under Section 85 of the ESI Act 1948, not one TDS interest charge under Section 201 of the Income Tax Act 1961. Government of India bodies whose payroll runs through TankhaPay include the National Informatics Centre, National e-Governance Division, Software Technology Parks of India, Ministry of Ayush, Karmayogi Bharat, Digital India Programme, and Aadhaar UIDAI, everyone operating under India's highest available data security and compliance framework. When India's government trusts TankhaPay with payroll, financial sector organizations have a data point no sales claim can match. TankhaPay is developed and operated by AKAL Information Systems Ltd, CMMI-appraised, ISO 9001, 27001, 20000, and 14001 certified.

Your First India BFSI Hire Should Be on Payroll This Week, Not After Entity Approval

RBI branch office approval: 12 to 24 months. NBFC registration: 6 to 12 months. IRDAI insurance entity: 12 to 24 months. TankhaPay EOR: 2 to 3 days.. While every regulatory timeline runs its mandatory course, your India BFSI team can be on compliant payroll, delivering against your strategic objectives, and building your GCC foundation. Bank of Baroda cleared TankhaPay. ISO 27001 certifies TankhaPay data security. Twenty-six years and zero compliance penalties guarantee the standard.

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India BFSI EOR — Every Compliance Question Answered

01.Can an EOR hire employees for a foreign bank in India without RBI branch approval?

Yes. TankhaPay EOR allows a foreign bank to hire relationship managers, credit analysts, compliance officers, and operations staff in India before any RBI branch approval, Representative Office registration, or Liaison Office establishment. TankhaPay becomes the registered employer under Indian labour law. The foreign bank retains full operational direction. Because TankhaPay is the legal employer, the bank has no direct employment relationship in India — eliminating permanent establishment exposure under Section 9 of the Income Tax Act 1961, applicable DTAA Article 5 provisions, and FEMA 1999. First hire is on India payroll within 2 to 3 days of offer acceptance.

TankhaPay EOR is not an outsourcing activity but an employment model. RBI outsourcing rules, which have been framed under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act 1949, pertain to outsourcing of any kind of banking activity such as credit evaluation, risk assessment, and customer due diligence. However, TankhaPay does not engage in any banking activity. TankhaPay specializes in managing employment contracts, payroll, PF, ESI, and TDS management. Your India-based banking experts take care of all your banking activities under your supervision. This fundamental difference between the outsourcing and employment models makes TankhaPay exempt from RBI outsourcing guidelines. Bank of Baroda, which is a public sector undertaking, has already tested TankhaPay for this purpose.

Yes. TankhaPay EOR allows fintech companies to hire product engineers, data scientists, compliance officers, and operations teams in India before any RBI licensing is granted — whether NBFC registration, payment aggregator licence under RBI's 2020 framework, or any other RBI-authorised entity status. TankhaPay is the legal employer from Day 1. The fintech company retains full operational control. When the licence is obtained, the workforce transfers to the client entity. The first hire is on payroll within 2 to 3 days. Compliance gaps found during due diligence delay rounds; EOR from Day 1 prevents them.

During the onboarding process, TankhaPay verifies and records the acknowledgement receipt of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, section 12 training on AML awareness; signature of acknowledgement regarding the KYC and customer due diligence policy; verification of STR reporting duties to FIU-IND; and AML escalation chain acknowledgement. This information is recorded within the employee file for FIU-IND review for a statutory 7 years under PMLA. TankhaPay ensures that this is included as a standard part of the onboarding process for all BFSI sector employees and not as an extra requirement from the investor. The response to this process from investors is much better compared to situations where there are unaccounted liabilities.

Yes. Bank of Baroda, one of India's largest public sector banks operating under full RBI supervision, is a confirmed TankhaPay client. TankhaPay also manages payroll and compliance for Government of India bodies, including the National Informatics Centre, National e-Governance Division, Software Technology Parks of India, Ministry of Ayush, Karmayogi Bharat, Digital India Programme, and Aadhaar. Entities that operate under India's strictest data security and compliance standards. Bank of Baroda's decision to work with TankhaPay is the clearest available signal that TankhaPay's compliance infrastructure meets banking-sector vendor diligence requirements.

Yes. TankhaPay complies with the ISO 27001 standard for information security management systems. The ISO 27001 certificate is independently issued by an accredited third-party body and involves all the following security controls: documented policies, role-based access control, data at rest encryption, data-in-motion encryption, incident response management, business continuity management, and annual surveillance audits. Employee payroll data of all BFSI sector employees is stored on India-hosted servers, complying with the RBI's circular dated April 2018 on storage of payment system data (DPSS.CO.PD No.1810/02.14.008/2017-18). The certification does not involve self-declaration and is independently audited annually.

Yes. Financial organizations working within IFSCA rules in GIFT City are considered to be separate from India proper by virtue of law. In case an employee working for a GIFT City company has to operate in India proper, then such an individual must have a proper employer in India proper, as per the rules. TankhaPay EOR serves as the mainland India employer for all companies that are registered in GIFT City, thereby taking care of all labor laws in India proper, i.e., PF (under EPF Act 1952), ESI (under ESI Act 1948), and TDS (under Section 192).

On the vesting of an ESOP issued by any fintech company, a perquisite is treated as taxable under Section 17(2)(vi) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The calculation of perquisite value is done by TankhaPay based on the difference in fair market value of the share on the vesting date and the price paid for its acquisition. The amount is added to the gross total income of the employee under Section 17(2)(vi) of the Income Tax Act, 1961; TDS will be deducted as per Section 192; the form 16B perquisite break-up will be filed in the month of vesting; and the amount will be shown in the quarterly Form 24Q return. If the startup qualifies under DPIIT, then TankhaPay files under Section 192(1C) of the ESOP tax deferral rules.

Five-tier verification is done by TankhaPay for BFSI recruitment processes prior to signing the employment agreement. First tier: CIBIL credit report verification for job positions which involve credit decision-making, treasury and money-handling responsibilities. Second tier: criminal record background verification from all state- and national-level judicial records. Third tier: professional qualification verification from the concerned institute for CA (ICAI), CFA (CFA), Actuary (IAI), FRM (GARP) and insurance designations from the Insurance Institute of India. Fourth tier: verification of last seven years of employment from each previous employer. Fifth tier: reference verification for CXO, managing director and key management personnel designations under RBI's Fit & Proper criteria.

There are three factors that are likely to cause a switch from EOR to entity status within BFSI companies operating in India. Firstly, the number of people in the team – when India BFSI employment is always higher than 50 people, it makes sense to have a cost competition between internal entity operation costs and the flat fees for EOR services. Secondly, licensing issues – when the RBI branch license, NBFC certificate, IRDAI entity license, or SEBI AIF license becomes active, it may require hiring permanent workers according to the Bank Regulations Act, FEMA, or SEBI AIF Regulations 2012. Thirdly, governance issues – when investors require ownership of the India subsidiary. Before reaching those critical levels, it is quicker, more affordable, and safer to be EOR. TankhaPay handles all of the payroll migration and compliance transfers for you.