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Building remote teams in India

Expansion of business services through remote working

Over the years, India has emerged as a land of opportunities for business establishments and expansion of foreign companies, especially for small & medium enterprises. There are several reasons why the country is preferred as a key destination for building remote teams.

A strong economy, political stability, and emerging market opportunities due to the changing market landscape in the post-pandemic can be highlighted as primary reasons. However, looking from the perspective of overseas businesses aiming to establish remote teams in India, we can discuss the two most crucial factors — the availability of highly qualified resources and the cost benefits of hiring Indian talent.

This blog explains, by choosing India as a key destination for your remote team building, you can effectively address these two concerns. From this blog, you will understand the key factors why you should consider building a remote team in India at reduced costs. Also, you will get a detailed picture of India as a global destination for highly-skilled professionals and the underlying costs of hiring remote workers in the country. 

India is a global hub for a highly-skilled remote workforce

India represents a crucial workforce in running the global economy as many multinational corporations (MNCs) rely on a large portion of Indian talent pools. With the increasing concerns of a looming recession in major economies in the West, especially Europe, many business analysts see India as a hope for leading the future global economy.

The bright spot of India’s role in the global economy is mainly because of the surplus talent and rising numbers of highly skilled tech professionals. Let’s discuss this in detail.

  • Availability of skilled tech workers: Nearly 1.5 million technical students graduate from engineering colleges annually in India. However, only about 3% of engineering graduates could get high-quality tech jobs in India. According to the India Skills Report 2021, 46.82% of students pursuing a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) and Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) were found to be the most employable. Similarly, the employability of MBA students in India was 46.59%.
  • Academic institutions: As of January 2023, India has many world-class institutions, and among them, 166 academies are recognized as Institutes of National Importance (INI). The INI plays a pivotal role in producing skilled professionals across fields such as science & medicine, research, design, architecture, and other specialized areas. The country has many premier institutions including 23 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), 20 Indian Institute of Management (IIM), and 20 All India Institute of Medical Science. Also, India has 33 National Skill Development Institutes and other specialized institutes to develop vocational and industry-oriented skills among workers.
  • English-speaking population: As per several reports, India has the highest number of universities worldwide, followed by the US. With the increasing number of universities, the former country has more than 265 million English-speaking population in 2022, as per the World Population Review. India has the largest number of English speakers among the countries considering English as a second language. The number of English-speaking Indians is projected to quadruple in the next decade.
  • Youth population: India has a large and dynamic young population, which is one of the reasons why the country’s economy is considered bullish in the coming years. More than 65% of the Indian population is under 35 years old and with an average age of below 29. India has around 254 million in the 15-24 year age group and nearly 600 million in the 18-35 age group. Compared to India, China is facing a shrinking youth workforce. As analyzed by Business Standard, around 18% of the Chinese population represents the age of 10-24 year group while India has nearly 26% in the same category.
  • Future workforce: As per the analysis of EY India, India has a relatively high young population with a median age of 28.4 years, which shows the competitive advantages of the global workforce in the future. The service consulting firm further states that India is likely to produce an increment of around 24.3% global workforce in the coming decades. By 2030, the country will have a nearly 1.04 billion working population.

Why entering the Indian market is cost-beneficial?

Another critical aspect of why India is a preferred market destination for building remote teams is that the country offers cost-benefit operations. Reduced labor costs and lower hiring costs are the main factors driving remote teams’ establishment in India. let’s discuss the two themes here – the cost of resources and the cost of operation.

Cost of resources:

Understanding the cost of living and the cost of labor in a country can help a business determine wages, labor taxes, and various indirect costs. 

  • Low labor costs: The costs of the labor force in India vary depending on the different cities within the country. However, compared to the West, the average labor costs in India are significantly low and easily affordable for a foreign company. It means it’s easily affordable for overseas companies to hire a larger workforce in India for the same budget that could afford a few workers in their home countries. For instance, the average monthly wage for contractors in some prominent cities of India is USD 472, which is equivalent to USD 668 in Beijing, China.
  • Low cost of living: Knowing the cost of living of a country and different cities within a country is helpful for the cost evaluation of hiring resources remotely. The cost of living in India is comparatively low among major global economies. For instance, as per livingcost.org, the average cost of living in India (USD 420) is 81% lower than that of the US (USD 2213) and nearly 44% less than China (USD 754). However, the cost of living in India differs from one city to another and some of the top cities in India are Mumbai (USD 625), Bangalore (USD 482), Pune (USD 469), Delhi (USD 468), Hyderabad (USD 442), and Chennai (USD 415).

Cost of remote team operation:

The operational cost of a remote team in India can be assessed in two ways – direct and indirect. 

Direct costs refer to the expenses incurred by an employer in employee salary and benefits payment. The direct costs are associated with hiring resources and managing them. On the other hand, indirect costs are the additional expenses of an employer that incur in providing infrastructure or tools, especially technology to employees. The indirect costs are based on operational aspects to facilitate the smooth functioning of the team.

  • Direct costs: Overseas companies can hire remote workers in India at the most comparative costs. The direct costs will vary depending on factors such as the job positions, areas of expertise and experience requirements, industries, and locations (cities). 

However, the direct cost of a company hiring Indian remote workers will certainly be meager as compared to their counterparts in many countries of Europe, Canada, and the US. For instance, according to the analysis of AmbitionBox, the salary of an Indian freelancer ranges from INR 100,000 to INR 1,470,000 per year as per the different levels of experience and industries. It has an average salary of INR 400,000 (USD 4,878.04) per annum. 

If you look at the comparative study of the hourly cost of freelancers in many European countries and the US, these countries have an average cost of USD 55 per hour. In Asia, the average hourly rate of freelancers is USD 25, with Malaysia (USD 30) and China (USD 25) being some major economies having relatively high costs in the region. 

  • Indirect costs: In India, you can build a remote team through different routes like outsourcing, freelancing/contracting, subsidiary formation, and working with an employer of record (EOR). You can choose your route depending on your needs, time requirements, and business goals. Indirect costs will differ significantly according to the type of remote business model you choose to work with.

For instance, in some remote business models, employees may require using specific software and tools from companies. The software installation may incur some additional costs for companies. Meanwhile, you may save this expense if you hire the outsourced team as they might already have the same tools or software. 

Among the remote business models, freelancing may offer the cheapest cost to you, and opting for subsidiary formation can be the costliest option. Meanwhile, taking the route of EOR for hiring remote talent can be an ideal option here as EOR services offers the most cost-effective remote operations in India. 

Remuance’s cost-effective approach to building remote teams in India

As a leading EOR service provider in India, Remunance offers a cost-effective way of building remote teams for overseas businesses. By partnering with Remunance, you can be assured of minimal operation risks and highly-skilled Indian talent selection as per your business requirements and goals.

Remunance has served more than 85 clients from 16 countries across the globe. We are also very proud of our achievement of hiring over 800 Indian employees situated in 34 cities for our foreign clients.  

At Remunance, we charge a flat rate service fee per employee or a minimal percentage of their total salary. There is no provision for bundled charges or hidden costs associated with us. As we also know the value and advantage of employee retention in an organization, you need to consider providing basic employee benefits to your employee including medical care and insurance. 

We know the recruitment process and take a major responsibility in the selection of top Indian talents who will rightly fit your projects. Also, Remunance has a wide range of expertise in handling compliance risks to ensure that you and your employees are safe from legal liabilities working in India. You may face a heavy financial penalty if you fail to comply with Indian regulatory compliance.

In the long run, working with Remunance will reduce the overall costs and risks at the time you wish to scale up your operations and expand your remote team in India. Also, you can reduce your budgeting significantly if you opt for customized services from Remunance. So, we ensure that your remote teams are managed and aligned as per your requirements with minimal costs.

Disclaimer

This blog is made for information purposes. Everybody is requested to get advice from an expert before making a decision based on the information given in the blog. Remunance disclaims any liability/loss or damage caused by using the information, directly/indirectly, given in this blog.

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Roshan Mayanglambam

He is the senior specialist of Remunance’s content writing team. His expertise lies in meticulous research and developing authentic ideas to showcase the uniqueness of addressing clients’ pain points through blogging. As a seasoned content writer with 4 years of experience, he delivers excellence in content curation, review, and editing. With nearly a year of experience in the PEO/EOR industry, he’s mastered his knowledge on subject matters like employer of record, professional employer organization, remote work, freelancing, outsourcing, etc. He also loves reading books, watching movies, and playing guitar whenever he gets free from his writing engagements.

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