Build Operate Transfer India
without the compliance burden.

Under the Employer of Record model, TFT is the legal employer of record for staff placed on your team. TFT holds the employment contracts, manages statutory filings (PF, ESI, TDS, professional tax, gratuity), and carries full compliance liability. Your company directs the work, sets priorities, and selects candidates — but carries zero employer liability under Indian law.

TFT structures its EOR engagements to manage permanent establishment (PE) exposure — including separation of employer-of-record status, directional control clauses, and service agreement structuring. However, permanent establishment risk is a fact-specific legal and tax question that depends on your corporate structure, the nature of the work, and applicable tax treaties. We strongly recommend that each client obtains independent tax and legal advice for their specific situation before and during the engagement. TFT's structuring does not constitute a legal or tax guarantee.

At the agreed transfer trigger, employees resign from TFT and receive a fresh offer of employment from the client's Indian entity. Under Indian employment law, the treatment of continuity of service, gratuity eligibility, earned leave balances, and notice periods is addressed in the transfer documentation and the BOT contract. The specifics — including how gratuity liability is apportioned between TFT and the client — are agreed contractually before the Build phase begins, so there are no surprises at the Transfer point.

Transfer triggers are defined in the BOT contract before the engagement begins. Common triggers include a fixed calendar date (typically 24–36 months from Build start), a headcount threshold being reached, the client completing Indian entity registration, or a mutual milestone decision. The client is not obligated to trigger a Transfer — they may elect to continue the Operate phase instead, or exit the engagement under the agreed notice provisions.

Exit before the Transfer phase is governed by the BOT contract, which specifies notice periods, settlement of TFT's operational costs and committed expenditure, handling of any client-owned assets deployed in the centre, and employee notice obligations under Indian law. TFT manages the operational wind-down and completes all statutory filings. The precise terms depend on engagement size and the phase at which exit occurs — these are discussed and documented during scoping.

Yes. The engagement agreement includes mutual non-solicitation provisions covering personnel introduced through the EOR or BOT relationship. These provisions are time-limited and scoped to personnel who have worked on the engagement. Details, including duration and carve-outs for the Transfer itself, are negotiated during contracting.

TFT can support EOR engagements from a single hire. For a BOT with a dedicated physical centre — including dedicated office fit-out, IT infrastructure, and security controls — a commercially sensible minimum team size applies to make the fixed overhead viable. For Operate Support on an existing entity, there is no minimum team size. Specific thresholds are discussed during the scoping call.

For EOR engagements, TFT can typically onboard the first hire within 4 to 6 weeks of contract execution, subject to candidate availability and notice periods. For BOT engagements where the Build phase includes office fit-out and infrastructure setup, the first operational hire timeline depends on workspace readiness, security requirements, and role seniority. TFT provides a detailed timeline estimate during the scoping call.