The India Employee Benefits Stack for Canadian companies

What changes when you come from Canada

What you call it in Canada, and what it is called in India

Canadian employers build on a public base: provincial health plans pay for medically necessary hospital and physician care, and the group benefits plan adds drugs, dental and vision. India has no such base for salaried staff. Above ₹21,000 a month an employer's statutory health obligation is zero, and Group Health Insurance carries the hospital risk a province would carry at home. The statutory money goes elsewhere: EPF at 12% of basic from the employer and 12% from the employee, gratuity after five years and 26 weeks of employer-paid maternity leave.

Canada and India have had a social security agreement since 1 August 2015, so CPP-covered staff seconded for up to 60 months can stay in CPP. This guide maps each Canadian benefit to its Indian counterpart, then covers what Canadian companies most often get wrong and where they build in India. Plum administers benefits for 500+ MNC entities in India.

What Canadian companies get wrong when they set up in India

None of these is a knowledge gap. Each is a reflex from home, applied to a country that works differently.

1. 01

   What they assume: The province pays for hospitals, so our plan only needs drugs and dental.

   What India doesIndia has no provincial plan. Above ₹21,000 a month an employer's statutory health obligation is zero, and Group Health Insurance is what pays for hospital care. Candidates hired at ₹8 LPA and above expect it; global startups in India carry ₹10,00,000 sum insured.

2. 02

   What they assume: EI pays for maternity and parental leave, so the cost is small.

   What India doesThe Maternity Benefit Act requires 26 weeks of full pay for the first two children and 12 weeks from the third, paid by the employer (ESI covers it for ESI members). There is no public insurer to claim from, and no statutory paternity leave under central law.

3. 03

   What they assume: All our Canadian staff are covered by the social security agreement.

   What India doesThe 2015 agreement covers CPP-covered staff seconded for up to 60 months, with a certificate of coverage. Quebec employees are on the QPP and need Quebec's separate arrangement, so confirm it with Retraite Québec. Without a certificate, foreign nationals join EPF from day one on full salary.

4. 04

   What they assume: Budget EPF like CPP: about 6% from each side.

   What India doesEPF is 12% of basic plus DA from the employer and 12% from the employee. Since 21 November 2025, allowances above 50% of total remuneration are added back into wages for EPF and gratuity, so a low-basic structure no longer cuts the bill.

5. 05

   What they assume: Exit costs follow provincial standards and common-law notice.

   What India doesIndia adds a statutory exit payment owed on any exit, including resignation: gratuity of 15 days' last drawn salary per year of service after five continuous years, capped at ₹20 lakh. Fixed-term staff earn it after one year. Provision it from the first payroll.

6. 06

   What they assume: Dental and vision belong in the core health plan.

   What India doesIndian GHI is built around hospitalisation; routine dental and vision sit outside it, in an optional outpatient add-on. Put the budget into sum insured and parental cover first: parents account for about 40% of claims by relationship in Plum's data.

7. 07

   What they assume: Our provincial vacation policy can apply in India.

   What India doesLeave comes from state Shops and Establishments Acts: earned leave is typically 12 to 18 days a year plus casual and sick leave, and public holidays vary by state, with three national holidays. Each Indian state is its own leave regime, much like each province.

Canada vs India, benefit by benefit

Benefit	Canada	India
Statutory health cover	Provincial plans cover medically necessary hospital and physician services for residents.	ESI for employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month. Nothing statutory above that line.
Employer health levy	Some provinces levy payroll tax; Ontario's Employer Health Tax is up to 1.95% above a $1 million exemption.	ESI at 3.25% from the employer below the ceiling. Above it, a voluntary GHI premium.
Pension	CPP: 5.95% each up to $74,600, plus CPP2 at 4% each up to $85,000 (2026).	EPF and EPS: 12% of basic plus DA from employer and employee.
Unemployment insurance	EI: 1.63% from the employee and 1.4 times that from the employer, up to $68,900 (2026).	None. Exit costs sit in contractual notice and gratuity.
Maternity	EI: 15 weeks at 55% of earnings, up to $729 a week.	26 weeks of full pay from the employer for the first two children; 12 weeks from the third.
Parental leave	EI: up to 35 weeks standard or 61 weeks extended per parent.	No statutory paternity or parental leave under central law.
Vacation	Set by province; Ontario gives two weeks and 4% pay, three weeks and 6% after five years.	Earned leave typically 12 to 18 days plus casual and sick leave, set by state law.
Supplementary health	Extended health and dental plans cover drugs, dental and vision.	GHI covers hospitalisation; outpatient, dental and vision only through an add-on.
Exit payment	Ontario: up to eight weeks' notice; severance of a week per year, up to 26, after five years at larger employers.	Gratuity on any exit after five years: 15 days' last drawn salary per year, capped at ₹20 lakh.
Seconded staff	CPP-covered staff stay in CPP for up to 60 months with a certificate of coverage.	Exempt from EPF for that period with the certificate; otherwise EPF on full salary.
Life and disability	Group life and long-term disability are standard parts of a benefits plan.	EDLI up to ₹7 lakh through EPFO; GTL at 3 to 5 times CTC and GPA are common.

What MNCs and GCCs offer their teams in India

From The Standard of Employee Benefits 2026–27, Plum's report on 15,312 benefit plans, 5,20,100 claims and 74,543 checkups from Plum's FY26 book.

• 1.6×MNC and GCC benefits spend per employee in India, against a funded Indian startup (nearly 3× a local Indian business).
• 43%of MNCs and GCCs in India are Holistic Leaders: deep insurance plus real breadth of healthcare beside it.
• ₹7,50,000median MNC/GCC sum insured, covering parents or in-laws, with ₹1,00,000 maternity cover and no copays or sub-limits.
• ~2%of payroll buys India's top-quartile plan, against roughly 15% in the US, 10–25% across Europe and 8–15% across APAC.

Staff seconded from Canada

CPP-covered assignees can stay in CPP for up to 60 months under the 2015 agreement with a certificate of coverage, which exempts them from Indian EPF. Without one, they join EPF from day one on full salary. Quebec-based staff need Quebec's separate arrangement, so confirm it first. Check provincial health eligibility for long absences, keep an international medical plan, and add the assignee to the India GHI for cashless network admission.

Where Canadian companies set up in India

Hospital networks, claim costs and state leave rules differ by city. These are the places Canadian companies concentrate.

• Bengaluru

  Karnataka

  Technology centres for CGI, Thomson Reuters, OpenText and lululemon. Highest GHI adoption of any city in Plum's benchmark, so candidates compare offers against global plans.

• Hyderabad

  Telangana

  OpenText and CGI delivery centres in a dense GCC market. Highest average maternity claim of any city in Plum's benchmark; set the maternity sub-limit with that in mind.

• Mumbai

  Maharashtra

  Brookfield's India real estate business and Fairfax-backed companies such as Thomas Cook India. Highest average claim size of any city in Plum's benchmark.

• Mehsana

  Gujarat

  McCain Foods' potato processing plant. Factory workers earning up to ₹21,000 a month fall under ESI, and leave follows the Factories Act rather than a Shops and Establishments Act.

Canadian companies with operations in India include CGI, Thomson Reuters, OpenText, Brookfield, Fairfax Financial, Sun Life, McCain Foods, CAE, lululemon.

Everything else applies to every foreign employer

Statutory benefits, group insurance, tax, leave and CTC work the same whichever country you come from. Each part is covered in full in the India guide.

1. Part 1 – Employee BenefitsWhat employee benefits are legally mandatory in India?These are not optional.
2. Part 2 – Group Health InsuranceGroup health insurance for MNCs in IndiaNone of these are legally required.
3. Part 3 – Business Insurance (Non-EB)What business insurance does a new India entity need?This stack is separate from EB and is often the one India-entry teams leave until last.
4. Part 4 – Beyond InsuranceThe benefits your team will actually noticeInsurance is the foundation, not the programme.
5. Part 5 – Setup StageIn what order should a new India entity buy insurance?The most expensive insurance mistake isn't buying the wrong policy.
6. Part 6 – Sector NotesWhat your sector adds to the universal stackThe policies in Parts 1–3 apply to every MNC.
7. Part 7 – City GuideHow do employee benefit benchmarks differ across Indian cities?The same ₹5L GHI plan means different things in different cities.
8. Part 8 – ChecklistThe pre-operations checklistBefore your India entity goes live, each item below should have a policy number, a renewal date, and a named contact.
9. Part 9 – Tax GuideIs group health insurance taxable for employees in India?India runs two parallel income tax regimes simultaneously, and the tax treatment of almost every benefit differs between them.
10. Part 10 – Leave & PoliciesLeave entitlements and what global MNCs typically add on topIndia's statutory leave framework is state-governed and more fragmented than most MNCs expect.
11. Part 11 – Allowances & CTCHow should an MNC structure India CTC under the new labour codes?India's cost-to-company (CTC) structure is more complex than most countries your payroll team has operated in.

Questions Canadian HR teams ask about India

More from Plum for Canadian companies in India

• How MNCs structure health insurance for Indian subsidiariesGlobal programmes, local policies and who signs what.
• Do you need to match headquarters' benefits in India?Where to mirror the parent plan, and where India needs its own design.
• Insurance for expatriate employees in IndiaCovering seconded staff alongside the local plan.
• Group insurance vs ESI: a guide for employersWho must be in ESI, and where group health insurance takes over.
• How to calculate gratuity in IndiaFormulas, worked examples and a free calculator.
• The Standard of Employee Benefits 2026–27Benchmarks from 4,500+ Indian employee health plans.