India's rules change every week across 30-plus jurisdictions. Paalan connects to your HRMS and payroll, works out exactly what applies to every entity and state, prepares every filing, watches every change and answers your employees in their language — and a named professional signs every output before it leaves. Nothing to log into. Nothing to re-key. If we miss a filing, the penalty is ours.
Four steps. No platform to adopt. The work arrives where your team already is.
Read-only connectors to Keka, greytHR, Darwinbox, Zoho People, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday — or a monthly file. We take only the fields we need; DPDP-compliant by design.
Arjun prepares filings and challans. Kavya watches every change. Dev chases documents and licences. Priya verifies every contractor. Meera answers your employees. Anand runs the assurance audit.
Every liability-bearing output is reviewed and signed by a named professional at Paalan. You get the signature, the evidence and the accountability.
Every filing, challan, register and response is written to your signed assurance ledger — the record an inspector, an auditor or your parent company asks for.
Everything an organised compliance provider does, delivered by agents and signed by professionals — across every state and Union Territory.
Shops and Establishments registration and renewal in every state and location; LWF and PT; national and festival holidays; leave and working-hours rules; women's night-shift safeguards; statutory registers, abstracts and displays; annual returns.
Factories Act and OSH Code: licence and renewal, building plan and stability certificates, hazardous-process obligations under Chapter IVA, safety committees and officers, annual and half-yearly returns, accident notification, registers of workers, wages, leave and accidents.
Principal-employer registration (Form V), contractor licences (Form IV), monthly verification of every contractor's wage registers, PF/ESI challans, attendance and licence validity; half-yearly and annual CLRA returns; ISMW and BOCW obligations; per-vendor compliance score and joint-and-several liability exposure.
PF ECR and ESI contributions by the 15th, PT and LWF by state, TDS interface; pre-filing validation of UAN, KYC and wage bases; challans prepared, client pays; half-yearly ESI returns; international-worker PF; employee query desk in Indian languages.
Quarterly or half-yearly audit of every establishment and contractor against the statutory checklist; findings graded High, Medium, Low with owner and closure; board-ready assurance report signed by a professional; due-diligence packs for M&A, PE and IPO.
Factory licence, CLRA registration and licences, Shops and Establishments, BOCW registration and cess, PSARA, apprenticeship portal registration, trade and professional-tax registrations; renewals tracked and drafted 60 days ahead.
PF 7A inquiries, 14B damages and 7Q interest, ESI C-18 and D-18, inspection memos, minimum-wage claims: notices read in any language, deadlines extracted, responses drafted with citations and signed by a professional; representation through panel counsel where required.
Wage restructuring to the new definition of wages (basic at least 50% of remuneration), PF, gratuity and bonus impact modelling, standing orders and HR policy rewrites, appointment letters under the OSH rules, state-by-state migration from legacy rules to Code-based single registration and consolidated returns.
POSH: ICC constitution, training, annual report to the District Officer; Maternity Benefit and creche; Rights of Persons with Disabilities equal-opportunity policy; Transgender Persons Act obligations; Apprentices Act engagement and returns; Equal Remuneration.
Consent, notice and retention for employee data under the DPDP Act and Rules (full obligations from 14 May 2027); field-level minimisation in every integration; audit logs; breach-reporting readiness; DPDP-compliant handling of PF, ESI and payroll data by us and by your contractors.
PF, ESI, gratuity, nominations and claims explained to employees in Tamil, Hindi and English, online or on site, scheduled by department; reduces queries and prevents the documentation gaps that turn a death claim into a two-year ordeal.
Through IMC: monthly payroll in India, Dubai and Singapore, with post-payroll compliance handled by Paalan under one engagement.
Act by act: who it applies to, what to register, what to file and when, what to keep and display, and what it costs to get wrong. The four Labour Codes are in force from 21 November 2025 with central rules from 8 May 2026; legacy rules continue under repeal-and-savings until each state notifies its rules — we run both tracks for you.
All employees; bonus for establishments with 20-plus (factories 10-plus) and employees up to Rs 21,000 a month
None separate; wage structure must satisfy the 50% definition of wages
Bonus annual return (Form D) after payment within 8 months of year end; wage-related returns as prescribed by state
Registers of wages, fines, deductions, overtime; Forms A, B, C for bonus; wage slips; display of minimum-wage notices
Up to Rs 50,000 first offence; Rs 1 lakh and imprisonment on repeat
20-plus employees; international workers on full salary without ceiling unless covered by an SSA
PF code; UAN for every member
Monthly ECR and payment by the 15th; annual account reconciliation
Form 2 nominations; wage and contribution records
7Q interest 12% a year; 14B damages 5-25% a year capped at 100%; 7A determination; 8F recovery
10-plus employees; wages up to Rs 21,000 a month
ESI code; sub-codes per location
Monthly contribution by the 15th; half-yearly return (Form 6) for Apr-Sep and Oct-Mar
Accident register; inspection book; contribution records
Interest 12% and damages 5-25%; C-18 and D-18 notices; medical cost of unregistered employees
10-plus employees; payable after 5 years (fixed-term: pro rata after 1 year under the new rules)
Notice of opening; nominations (Form F)
None periodic
Nomination records; display of abstract
Interest on delay; penalties on non-payment
10-plus employees
None
Annual return as prescribed by state
Muster roll (Form A); display of abstract; creche at 50-plus employees
Fine and imprisonment on contravention
Employees not covered by ESI
None
Report of fatal accidents
Accident records
Compensation with interest and penalty on delay
10-plus workers with power, 20-plus without
Factory licence and renewal; building plan approval; hazardous-process approvals
Annual return (Form 21/22) by 31 Jan (some states 15 Jan); half-yearly by 31 Jul
Registers of adult workers, wages, leave, accidents; notice of periods of work; abstract; safety committee at 500-plus
Rs 50,000 for register and return failures; Rs 2-3 lakh general; minimum Rs 5 lakh where failure causes death
Principal employer with 20-plus contract workers (Codes: 50-plus); contractors with 20-plus
Principal employer registration (Form V); contractor licence (Form IV) with security deposit
Contractor half-yearly returns 30 Jul and 30 Jan; principal employer annual return by 15 Feb
Forms XII, XIII, XVI, XVII, XXIII; display of licence and wage rates
Imprisonment up to 3 months or fine (Rs 25,000 under the Codes); Rs 100 a day continuing; principal employer liable for contractor wage default (s.21)
Establishments employing inter-state migrant workers (Codes: 10-plus)
Registration; contractor licence
Annual return
Registers of migrant workers; passbooks; displacement and journey allowances
Fine and imprisonment
Construction with 10-plus workers (residential exemption raised to Rs 50 lakh under the SS Code)
Registration within 60 days of start
Cess return (Form I); annual return
Registers of workers; welfare measures on site
Cess 1% of construction cost; interest about 2% a month; penalty up to 100% of cess; imprisonment up to 3 months
300-plus workers (raised from 100)
Certification of standing orders
None periodic
Display of certified standing orders
Up to Rs 2 lakh for failure to certify; Rs 1 lakh general; Rs 2-4 lakh repeat
All industrial establishments; committees by headcount
Works committee at 100-plus; grievance redressal committee
Notices of change; retrenchment and lay-off filings; prior permission at 300-plus
Registers and notices as prescribed
Fines up to Rs 1 lakh; higher on repeat
Where unions exist
Union registration; negotiating union or council
Annual returns by unions
Recognition records
As prescribed
30-plus workers must engage apprentices as prescribed
Registration on the apprenticeship portal
Returns on the portal
Apprentice records and contracts
Fine per apprentice short
25-plus employees
None
Quarterly ER-I; biennial ER-II
Vacancy records
Fine
All establishments
None
None
Age records; display of notice
Imprisonment 6 months to 2 years; fine up to Rs 50,000
10-plus employees
Internal Committee constitution
Annual report to the District Officer
Policy display; training records; complaint register
Up to Rs 50,000; doubled and licence cancellation on repeat
20-plus employees (private)
Equal-opportunity policy registered with the state commissioner
Records as prescribed
Policy display; grievance officer
Fine up to Rs 5 lakh
All establishments
Complaint officer
None
Non-discrimination policy
As prescribed
All commercial establishments; thresholds vary by state
Registration within 30 days; renewal per state (Maharashtra lifetime, Karnataka 5-year, Delhi annual, Tamil Nadu self-declaration)
Annual or combined returns where required (Karnataka by 31 Jan)
Registers of employment, leave, wages; abstract display in local language; working hours 9 a day, 48 a week
State fines and prosecution
Applicable in about 16 states and UTs; thresholds vary (Karnataka now 10-plus)
LWF registration
Annual or half-yearly by state (see state table)
Contribution records
Interest and penalty by state
Employers in TN, KA, MH, GJ, TS, AP, WB and others; none in Delhi, Haryana, UP
PTRC and PTEC
Monthly, half-yearly or annual by state (see state table)
Deduction records
Interest and penalty by state
All establishments
Holiday list submission where required
Annual holiday list display
Display of holidays
Fine
Sector-specific, now under the OSH Code
Sector registrations and licences
Sector returns
Sector registers
As prescribed under the Codes
Aggregators and platforms
Registration; upload of gig workers within 45 days; real-time onboarding and exit
Contribution 1-2% of turnover capped at 5% of payouts; state overlays (Rajasthan, Karnataka)
Worker database; e-Shram linkage
As prescribed
All employers processing employee data; full obligations from 14 May 2027
Consent managers where applicable
Breach reporting
Notices, consents, retention schedules, audit logs
Penalties up to Rs 250 crore
| State | Professional tax | Labour welfare fund | Shops and Establishments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | Half-yearly; up to Rs 2,500 a year | Employee Rs 20, employer Rs 40 a year; due 31 Jan | Self-declaration and auto-renewal on e-Sevai |
| Karnataka | Monthly by the 20th; exemption for wages up to Rs 25,000 (Apr 2025); Rs 2,400 a year | Employee Rs 50, employer Rs 100 a year; due 15 Jan; threshold now 10-plus employees | 5-year registration; combined annual return by 31 Jan; abstract in Kannada |
| Maharashtra | Monthly (annual if liability up to Rs 50,000); Rs 2,500 a year | Employee Rs 25, employer Rs 75 per half-year; due 15 Jul and 15 Jan | Gumasta; lifetime registration |
| Gujarat | Monthly by the 15th; Rs 2,400 a year | Employee Rs 6, employer Rs 12 per half-year; due 15 Jul and 15 Jan | Annual |
| Telangana | Monthly by the 10th; Rs 2,400 a year | Employee Rs 2, employer Rs 5 a year; due 31 Jan | 1-5 year |
| Andhra Pradesh | Monthly by the 10th; Rs 2,400 a year | Employee Rs 30, employer Rs 70 a year; due 31 Jan | 1-5 year; Codes commenced Apr-Jul 2026 |
| Delhi | No PT | Employee Rs 0.75, employer Rs 2.25 per half-year; due 15 Jul and 15 Jan | Annual renewal via eShopmitra |
| Haryana | No PT | Wage-linked 0.2%; cap disputed across 2026 sources (Rs 31/62 or Rs 35/70 a month) | As prescribed |
| Uttar Pradesh | No PT | No LWF | 1-5 year |
| West Bengal | Monthly by the 21st; annual return 31 Jul; Rs 2,400 a year | Employee Rs 3, employer Rs 30 per half-year; due 15 Jul and 15 Jan | 1-5 year |
All states and UTs are covered; the ten above are shown as examples. Figures change with each gazette — the change monitor keeps your calendar current.
| Frequency | Item | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | PF ECR and payment | 15th |
| Monthly | ESI contribution | 15th |
| Monthly | Professional tax (most states) | 10th, 15th, 20th or month-end by state |
| Monthly | TDS deposit | 7th (March: 30 Apr) |
| Quarterly | TDS return (24Q) | 31 Jul, 31 Oct, 31 Jan, 31 May |
| Half-yearly | ESI return (Form 6) | About 11-12 May and 11-12 Nov |
| Half-yearly | LWF (MH, GJ, DL, WB) | 15 Jul and 15 Jan |
| Half-yearly | CLRA contractor returns | 30 Jul and 30 Jan |
| Annual | LWF (KA, TN, AP, TS) | 15 or 31 Jan |
| Annual | Factory annual return (Form 21/22) | 31 Jan (some states 15 Jan) |
| Annual | S&E annual return where required (e.g. Karnataka) | 31 Jan |
| Annual | CLRA principal employer annual return | 15 Feb |
| Annual | Bonus payment; Form D return | Within 8 months of year end (by 30 Nov); return after payment |
| Annual | POSH annual report to the District Officer | About 31 Jan |
| Annual | Maternity Benefit annual return | State-specific |
| Annual | Form 16 | 15 Jun |
| Annual | Apprentices returns | On the portal as prescribed |
| Failure or notice | Trigger | Typical consequence |
|---|---|---|
| PF 7A inquiry | Under-reporting or wage structuring | Determination of dues plus interest and damages; ex-parte order if no appearance |
| PF 14B damages and 7Q interest | Delayed contributions | Damages 5-25% a year by delay band, capped at 100% of arrears; interest 12% a year |
| ESI C-18 and D-18 | Contribution default | Interest 12% plus damages 5-25%; medical cost of unregistered employees |
| Contractor default recovered from principal employer | Contractor fails to pay wages, PF or ESI | Principal employer directly liable under s.21 |
| Missing registers and abstracts | Inspection finding | Independent penalty even if contributions are paid; Rs 10,000-50,000 under the Codes |
| Factory licence lapse | Non-renewal or operating without | Up to Rs 1 lakh; minimum Rs 5 lakh where failure causes death |
| S&E non-renewal | Lapsed registration | State fine and prosecution |
| POSH non-constitution | No ICC or annual report | Up to Rs 50,000; doubled and licence cancellation on repeat |
| CLRA licence lapse | Operating without licence | Imprisonment up to 3 months or fine; Rs 100 a day continuing |
| BOCW cess default | Non-payment of 1% cess | Interest about 2% a month; penalty up to 100% of cess |
Each use case names the work the agent does, the outcome you get, and the professional who signs. This is what lets your organisation do business confidently.
Reads headcount, wages, locations and establishment types from your HRMS and payroll and derives every act, threshold, registration, register and return that applies to each entity and state.
Builds and maintains the live calendar for every entity across PF, ESI, PT, LWF, S&E, factory, CLRA, bonus, POSH and state returns, with penalty exposure estimated for every date at risk.
Watches central and state gazettes, EPFO and ESIC circulars, labour department notifications and portal changes; classifies each change; writes an impact note per client entity.
Tracks which states have notified rules under each Code, maps legacy rules to Code provisions for each of your establishments, and sequences the migration to single registration and consolidated returns.
Detects every state minimum-wage and dearness-allowance revision, matches it to your categories and locations, and quantifies the payroll and arrears impact.
Tests every salary structure against the Code on Wages definition (basic at least 50% of remuneration), the PF non-reduction rule and bonus and gratuity effects; proposes compliant structures at held CTC.
Checks the ECR and ESI files before upload: UAN and KYC mismatches, wage-base errors, missing joiners and leavers, ESI threshold crossings and contribution-period rules, international-worker treatment.
Verifies every contractor's wage registers, PF and ESI challans, attendance and licence validity each month against the contract and the law, for dozens of vendors and thousands of workers.
Scores every contractor and site by default history, wage gaps, licence status and headcount, and projects the section 21 exposure in rupees.
Audits statutory registers, abstracts, notices and displays for every location against the state's requirements; generates missing registers from payroll data.
Tracks factory licences, CLRA licences, S&E registrations, BOCW, PSARA and apprenticeship registrations; drafts renewals 60 days ahead; monitors headcount and horsepower triggers for amendments.
Reads any notice or inspection memo in any Indian language, extracts the demand and the deadline, retrieves the relevant records, and drafts a response with statutory citations.
Computes damages and interest on any delayed PF or ESI payment by delay band, tests the department's computation, and drafts waiver or reduction applications where grounds exist.
Answers employees' PF, ESI, gratuity, nomination, KYC and claim questions on WhatsApp in Tamil, Hindi and English from the knowledge layer and the employee's own record; escalates cases.
Guides nominees through EDLI, PF and ESI claims; lists documents, spots gaps (missing marriage or death certificates, name mismatches) and prepares the alternative-evidence route.
Computes allocable surplus, set-on and set-off, eligibility and the 8.33-20% band from the accounts and payroll; prepares Forms A, B, C and the Form D return.
Maintains service records and nominations, prepares actuarial inputs, reconciles group-gratuity policies with LIC or insurers, and computes settlements on exit including fixed-term pro rata.
Computes the 1% cess from project cost with the correct exclusions, prepares cess returns, and maintains migrant-worker and site registers per project and state.
Generates S&E, LWF, PT, factory and CLRA returns for every state and location in the prescribed forms, with the evidence attached, ready for filing.
Checks ICC constitution against the law, tracks training and awareness, maintains the complaint register, and drafts the annual report to the District Officer.
Tests night-shift, transport, creche, maternity and hostel obligations for women employees against state rules for every site — built for EMS and IT operations.
Executes the quarterly assurance checklist across establishments and contractors, grades every finding High, Medium or Low, assigns owners and drafts the board report.
Reconstructs historical compliance for a target or for your own company — contributions, filings, licences, notices, contractor exposure — and quantifies the liability for M&A, PE or IPO.
Collects and validates every new contractor's licences, PF and ESI codes, wage undertakings and worker lists before they set foot on site; sets up their monthly verification.
Maps every flow of employee data (yours, ours, your contractors'), checks consent, notice, minimisation and retention against the DPDP Rules, and maintains the audit log.
Built for the places where compliance is hardest and the liability sits with you.
Tens of thousands of contract workers through vendors; women-heavy night shifts; hostels and canteens; brand audits (RBA).
Multi-plant, multi-state; unions and standing orders; tiered supplier compliance.
Hazardous processes under Chapter IVA; safety officers, emergency plans, medical surveillance.
BOCW registration and 1% cess; migrant workers; every site its own jurisdiction.
Multi-state S&E; women's night-shift compliance; POSH; international workers under EPF.
Aggregator obligations under the Code on Social Security; warehouse S&E and factory rules.
Multi-state S&E, LWF and PT; high churn; holiday and working-hours rules.
S&E or Clinical Establishments; POSH; biomedical waste; contract housekeeping and security.
Buyer social audits (SMETA, BSCI, WRAP) on top of statute; plantations now under the Codes.
Branch-level S&E and PT; vendor compliance for outsourced IT, security and facilities.
CLRA licensee and PSARA; very high headcount; the classic 7A defendant.
The reason a board can rely on us.
Every filing, response, audit and certificate carries the name of the professional accountable for it. AI does the work; a person answers for it.
Filings we prepare on time, or the penalty is ours — attached to every retainer once your baseline is established.
We never negotiate, collect, carry or deliver anything to any department, and never accompany a client to do so. That is a condition of working with us.
We generate challans. You pay. No statutory payment ever passes through us.
Consent, minimisation, retention limits and audit logs on every integration — the May 2027 standard, applied now.
Filings, registrations, workings, audits and responses within the engagement. Matters that need a legal opinion go to panel counsel; we say so in writing.
Professional services since 1979 in India, Dubai and Singapore. Andersen Global's network in 180-plus countries stands behind every foreign-owned client.
Per employee per month, banded by the states you operate in. Registrations, audits and Labour Code projects on order. A 500-person, three-state company typically pays less than one compliance executive — and gets a firm, six agents and a signature.
Offices and multi-state establishments: S&E, PF, ESI, PT, LWF, registers, returns, employee desk.
Minimum monthly retainer applies.
Adds Factories Act and OSH Code obligations, safety committees, hazardous-process compliance, annual and half-yearly returns.
Banded by hazardous status.
Monthly verification of every contractor with a signed compliance certificate; liability heat map; CLRA returns.
Added to any establishment or factory plan.
Registrations and licences, assurance audits, Labour Code transition projects, due-diligence packs, awareness sessions, notice defence.
Quoted in writing before work starts.
Fees are set on liability and complexity, not hours. Every quote states what is in scope, what is excluded and who signs.
Kept current by Kavya, the change-monitor agent, and approved by our legal lead before publication.
All four Codes in force from 21 November 2025. Central rules for Wages, Social Security, Industrial Relations and OSH notified 8 May 2026. Apply where the Centre is the appropriate government.
State rules being notified through 2026 on staggered dates. Until then, legacy rules operate under repeal-and-savings; where inconsistent, the Codes prevail. Ask for your states' current position.
Single registration and consolidated returns; the 50% definition of wages; standing orders at 300-plus; contractor thresholds at 50-plus; appointment letters for every employee; higher penalties with compounding.
Tell us your entities, states and headcount. Within two working days you will have an obligation register, the dates at risk and the exposure in rupees — signed.
The form below feeds directly into our applicability engine — the same agent that builds your obligation register. A named professional reviews and signs before anything reaches you.
A named Paalan professional will review your details and reach out within 48 hours. We've also sent a confirmation to your email.