How to choose a hiring partner for IT resources in Gurugram

A good hiring partner gets you vetted people quickly and takes contracts, payroll and compliance off your desk. A poor one sends CVs that miss, loses people mid-project and leaves you exposed on PF. Here is how to tell them apart.

Updated 9 October 20267 min readBy Effred editorial team

Staffing, recruitment or outsourcing: what you are buying

Gurugram firms use “IT staffing”, “manpower supply”, “contract resources” and “recruitment” loosely. Before you compare quotes, agree which of these you are actually buying.

Model	Who employs the person	Who directs the work	How you usually pay
Recruitment (permanent hire)	You	You	A one-time placement fee per hire
Contract staffing (staff augmentation)	The partner	You, day to day	A monthly rate per person
Contract-to-hire	The partner, then you	You, day to day	A monthly rate during the trial, then your own payroll
Project outsourcing	The partner	The partner, against an agreed scope	A fixed price per milestone, or time and materials

Recruitment suits permanent roles you can wait for. Contract staffing suits skills you need now, for months rather than years. Outsourcing suits work you can write down and test. Our guide to staff augmentation, dedicated teams and outsourcing compares them in more depth.

What a good partner does

Vets before you see anyone. Technical tests, live coding or portfolio reviews, and reference checks. You should receive test results with each profile, not just a CV.
Checks the basics, with the candidate’s consent: identity, past employment and education, and anything extra your clients require.
Shortlists in days. A handful of strong profiles beats twenty weak ones. At Effred, a 30-minute brief usually leads to three to five vetted profiles within three working days, and a start within one to two weeks, depending on seniority and notice periods.
Replaces people who are not working out, at no extra cost, and manages the handover so knowledge is not lost.
Employs people properly. Written contracts, salaries paid on time, PF and other statutory contributions deposited, and filings done.
Signs NDA and IP assignment before access to your code, systems or data.
Sends one clear invoice with GST shown correctly, in the currency you agreed.

The compliance you should check

When people work for you through a partner, some legal risk can come back to you as the principal employer. Ask for evidence, not assurances.

Contract labour

Under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, the contract labour provisions apply to establishments that had 50 or more contract workers on any day in the previous 12 months. A contractor employing 50 or more contract workers needs a licence. If a contractor fails to pay wages on time, the principal employer must pay them, and the principal employer is also responsible for certain welfare facilities. Whether your arrangement counts as contract labour depends on how it is set up, so ask your adviser.

PF for contract staff

Under the EPF Scheme, 2026, if a contractor is not registered with EPFO on its own, the principal employer pays PF for people engaged through it in the first instance. Even when it is, the principal employer must declare every contractor it engages on the EPFO portal, the contractor must report each contract employee’s UAN, wages and contributions to it every month, and the two are jointly and severally liable for the contributions. The PF wage ceiling rose from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 a month from 17 September 2026, so more contract staff are now covered.

ESI and Haryana labour welfare fund

ESI covers employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month, with contributions of 3.25% from the employer and 0.75% from the employee. Many experienced engineers earn more than that, but support and junior roles may not. If people are on a payroll in Haryana, the Haryana Labour Welfare Fund also applies: from January 2026, 0.2% of salary from the employee, capped at ₹35 a month, and twice that amount from the employer.

GST on the invoice

The partner’s tax invoice should carry its GSTIN and address, your GSTIN, the SAC code, the taxable value, the tax rate and amount, and the place of supply (rule 46 of the CGST Rules). Check the partner’s GSTIN on the GST portal before the first invoice.

NDA, IP and data

Under the Copyright Act, 1957, an employer owns what its employees create in the course of their work, unless they agree otherwise. People placed through a partner are the partner’s employees, so the partner owns their code unless it assigns it to you. An assignment is valid only in writing and signed; if it states no period it lasts five years, and if it states no territory it covers India only. Ask for a worldwide assignment for the full term of copyright. If the people will handle personal data, the DPDP Act, 2023 lets you use a data processor only under a valid contract (section 8).

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Have your adviser check the contract before people start.

Questions to ask before you sign

How do you vet people?Ask to see a sample test, a scored interview and a reference check for a recent hire.
How soon will we see profiles, and how many?Days, and a few good ones, with test results attached.
Who employs them, and on what contract?The partner should, with written contracts and salaries paid on time.
Can we see your EPFO and ESIC registrations and recent challans?A real partner shares them without fuss.
What happens if someone is not a fit or resigns?A replacement at no extra cost, an overlap for handover, and your approval of the replacement.
How are IP and confidentiality handled?NDA and IP assignment signed before access, with the assignment flowing from the employee to the partner to you.
What exactly is in the monthly rate?Salary, statutory contributions, insurance, equipment, replacement and margin, with GST shown separately.
What are the notice and conversion terms?How much notice either side gives, and what it costs to move someone to your payroll.

Red flags

A rate far below everyone else’s with no clear reason. Often someone is missing out on PF, insurance or salary.
No EPFO or ESIC registration to show, or a request that you pay the workers directly.
Twenty CVs in a day with no test results, or the same CVs every other agency sent.
Candidates who were never told they would be on a contract, or who are asked to pay a fee to be put forward.
No replacement clause, no IP assignment, or a contract that keeps the work with the partner until the final payment.
Invoices without a GSTIN, or a GSTIN that does not match the company name on the contract.

How the cost is built up

Compare what each partner includes, not just the headline rate. A monthly rate per person typically bundles:

Salary for the person, which depends on role, seniority and skills.
Statutory costs: the employer’s PF, ESI where it applies, labour welfare fund, and gratuity, which a fixed-term employee earns after one year of service under the Code on Social Security.
Insurance and benefits, if the partner offers them.
Equipment and workspace: laptop, backup internet, and an office or home set-up.
Recruitment and replacement: the partner’s cost of finding and vetting people, and of replacing them.
The partner’s margin.

GST is added on top. Recruitment agencies charge a one-time placement fee instead, and contract-to-hire comes with conversion terms, which may include a fee or a minimum term. At Effred, staff augmentation is a fixed monthly rate per person, based on role and seniority, with no placement fee, billed in INR, USD, AED, GBP or EUR.

Make the first month work

Most staffing problems show up in the first few weeks. Agree these with the partner before day one:

Access on day one, and only what is needed. Accounts through your single sign-on, the repositories and tools for the role, and no production data unless the work needs it.
A named buddy on your side who answers questions in the first two weeks and reviews early work.
A check-in at two and four weeks with the partner’s account manager, so a poor fit is caught early and replaced quickly.
Clear working hours and leave rules, including Indian public holidays and how cover works when someone is away.
A written offboarding routine: handover notes, code and documents in your systems, access removed on the last day and equipment returned to the partner.

If you plan to keep someone for the long term, raise contract-to-hire early. Conversion is easier when the person, the partner and your HR team have agreed the terms from the start.

Next steps

Write a short brief before you call anyone: the skills, seniority, hours, budget and start date. Our guide on how to brief a staff augmentation partner has a template. Then ask two or three partners the questions above and compare the answers side by side.

Effred is based at Suncity Success Tower on Golf Course Extension Road, Gurugram, and provides engineers, QA, data and other specialists from Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and beyond. See how our talent service works or tell us who you need.

Common questions

What is the difference between a staffing company and a recruitment agency?

A recruitment agency finds people for your own payroll and charges a one-time fee. A staffing company employs the people itself and supplies them to you for a monthly rate, handling contracts, payroll and compliance while you direct the work.

Who pays PF for contract IT staff in India?

The contractor that employs them deducts and deposits PF. Under the EPF Scheme, 2026, the principal employer pays in the first instance if the contractor is not registered on its own, must declare every contractor on the EPFO portal, and is jointly and severally liable with the contractor.

How quickly can a staffing partner in Gurugram provide developers?

It depends on the role and on notice periods. At Effred, a shortlist of three to five vetted profiles usually arrives within three working days, and people usually start within one to two weeks.

Who owns the code written by contract developers?

The partner employs them, so it owns their work unless it assigns it to you in writing. Make sure the contract gives you a signed, worldwide assignment for the full term of copyright.

Sources

Ministry of Labour & Employment — Compliance Handbook for Employers under the Four Labour Codes (contract labour, OSH Code ss. 45, 47, 55; gratuity) (opens in a new tab)labour.gov.in
Gazette of India — Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, G.S.R. 525(E), paras 20 and 27 (opens in a new tab)egazette.gov.in
PIB — EPFO wage ceiling raised to ₹25,000 from 17 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)pib.gov.in
ESIC — Coverage and wage limit (opens in a new tab)esic.gov.in
ESIC — Contribution rates (opens in a new tab)esic.gov.in
Labour Department, Haryana — Haryana Labour Welfare Board contribution rates (opens in a new tab)hrylabour.gov.in
CBIC — CGST Rules, 2017, rule 46 (tax invoice) (opens in a new tab)taxinformation.cbic.gov.in
GST portal — search taxpayer by GSTIN (opens in a new tab)services.gst.gov.in
The Copyright Act, 1957, sections 17 and 19 — Copyright Office, Government of India (opens in a new tab)copyright.gov.in
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, section 8 — MeitY (opens in a new tab)meity.gov.in

Spotted something out of date or unclear? Email info@effred.com and we will look at it.