International
Singapore
Singapore is where a great many companies base their Asian headquarters, and India is usually where the headcount actually sits. I work on the India side of that arrangement.
What makes the Singapore market different
The typical pattern is a lean Singapore entity holding regional leadership, with engineering, operations or shared services scaling in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune or Delhi NCR. The India headcount usually grows faster than anyone planned, and the HR foundation does not keep up.
Singapore employment practice is comparatively straightforward. Indian practice is not. Salary is structured from components rather than stated as a single figure, statutory registrations trigger at thresholds that will not be obvious, and employment contracts written under Singapore norms do not achieve the same effect under Indian law — particularly around notice, termination and post-employment restraints.
Companies running their India team through an Employer of Record often reach a point where the per-head cost stops making sense and the lack of control over terms and culture starts to matter. Deciding when to move to your own entity, and executing that transition without disrupting the team, is a common and genuinely delicate engagement.
There is also a management-distance problem. A Singapore leadership team managing an India team of forty through one local manager usually has very little visibility of engagement, performance distribution or retention risk until someone senior resigns.
My scope is Indian employment practice. Singapore-side employment matters need local advice.
What I do for Singapore employers
- India-side employment setup — contracts, salary structuring, statutory registration
- Employer of Record to own-entity transition, planned and executed without disrupting the team
- Global Capability Centre org design and talent strategy
- Leadership hiring for the India centre head and functional leads
- Fractional CHRO retainer providing India-side visibility to Singapore leadership
- Compensation benchmarking against the correct Indian peer set rather than a currency conversion
Most relevant here
India Entry — HR & Employment Setup
For overseas companies hiring their first employees in India. Entity-side HR, contracts, payroll structure and compliance, advised online.
Global Capability Centre — HR Setup
People infrastructure for multinationals standing up a captive GCC in India.
Fractional CHRO
CHRO-grade judgement on a part-time retainer, for companies that need the thinking without the salary.
Leadership & Specialist Hiring
Retained search for the senior and hard-to-fill roles, run by someone who has hired over a thousand people.
HR in Singapore — common questions
When should we move from an Employer of Record to our own Indian entity?
Usually somewhere between ten and twenty-five people, though headcount is the weaker signal. The stronger ones are wanting direct control over employment terms and equity, wanting to build a culture rather than administer a payroll, and the per-head EOR cost overtaking what your own entity plus compliance support would cost.
How do we benchmark Indian salaries from Singapore?
Against the Indian peer set for that role and city, not by converting a Singapore salary. Currency conversion produces numbers that are simultaneously uncompetitive for scarce roles and needlessly expensive for common ones, because the two markets price skills quite differently.
Elsewhere
International