Why your best hire takes 90 days, and how to keep them.
The biggest operational surprise for companies hiring in India for the first time is not compensation, not sourcing, and not the interview loop. It is the notice period.
A 90-day contractual notice is standard at most Indian tech companies, and many enforce it. This guide explains how the system works, why candidates drop out during notice, and how to manage it.
If you have ten minutes before a hiring review, read only this.
How notice periods work in India.
Employment contracts in India typically include a 30, 60, or 90 day notice period. At senior levels, 90 days is standard. Employees who leave without serving the full period may owe the employer a buyout, usually equivalent to the remaining salary for the unserved days. Some companies enforce this strictly; others negotiate.
Planning a hire like this? Tell us the role and we will map the right approach within a week.
Book a consultation →Why candidates drop out during notice.
The 60 to 90 day gap between offer acceptance and joining is the highest-risk window in Indian hiring. Current employers use it to counter-offer, and roughly 20 to 30% of accepted offers in the Indian tech market are lost to counteroffers during the notice period. The candidates most likely to drop are those who accepted but remained emotionally uncommitted. Active engagement through the notice period reduces this significantly.
How to manage it.
start sourcing 90 days before the actual need. The notice period is not a surprise; build it into the hiring plan.
ask the candidate to negotiate a shorter notice. Some employers agree if the transition is managed well.
for critical hires, offer to cover the buyout cost. At ₹50L CTC a 30-day buyout is roughly ₹4L, far less than another month of a vacant senior role.
weekly touchpoints during notice prevent drift. Share team updates, project context, and pre-onboarding materials.
discuss counter-offer scenarios with the candidate at the offer stage, not after the counter lands.
The India team build practice builds notice-period management into every search from the start, not as an afterthought.
The companies that hire well in India treat the notice period as a phase of the search, not the aftermath. Building the 90-day window into the timeline, staying engaged through it, and preparing for counteroffers turns the biggest operational risk in Indian hiring into a manageable one. The guide to how US companies hire in India covers the wider hiring process this sits within.
Where a specialist partner changes the outcome.
The decisions that make or break an India team are made in the first ninety days. A partner who has built teams before prevents each mistake from being discovered the expensive way.
City strategy → Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad compared on depth, cost and attrition for your roles.
Leadership first → The India lead is hired through executive search before any pod.
Operating model → EOR, entity or both, sequenced to headcount. See India team build.
Notice and retention → Candidates are managed through 60 to 90 day notice periods, with counter-offers mapped early.
Discuss a mandate →Real mandates, real numbers.
A first technology team in Mumbai with no prior operating footprint and sourcing restrictions that ruled out several obvious talent pools.
Planning your India team?
If you are hiring your first India employees, choosing a city or moving from an EOR to your own entity, we can map the right sequence for your stage before any commercial conversation.
A senior team member responds within one business day. No pitch deck, no obligation.