The India Employee Benefits Stack for Kenyan companies

What changes when you come from Kenya

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

Every Kenyan payslip carries three statutory deductions: SHIF at 2.75% of gross pay for health, NSSF at 6% from each side up to the upper earnings limit, and the Affordable Housing Levy at 1.5% from each side. India's provident fund (EPF) is larger, and its health scheme (ESI) stops at ₹21,000 a month. Above that line, health cover is a voluntary employer benefit, and there is no housing levy at all.

Few Kenyan companies run Indian operations: Craft Silicon and Techno Brain have offices in Bengaluru, and Kenya Airways flies to Mumbai. More often the reader is an HR or finance lead at a company moving staff between Nairobi and India, in either an Indian or a multinational group. This edition maps each Kenyan benefit to its Indian counterpart and flags the assumptions a Kenya-based team carries into India.

What Kenyan 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: Health insurance is a statutory payroll deduction, like SHIF.

   What India doesOnly employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month are in ESI (0.75% from the employee, 3.25% from the employer). Above that line India has no statutory health cover or deduction. Group Health Insurance is voluntary, but candidates hired at ₹8 LPA and above expect it.

2. 02

   What they assume: Retirement contributions stop at a low earnings limit, as with NSSF.

   What India doesEPF is 12% from each side on basic plus DA. The ₹15,000 ceiling applies to Indian staff, but most MNC subsidiaries contribute on full basic, and foreign nationals, Kenyans included, contribute on full salary with no ceiling from day one.

3. 03

   What they assume: Indian payroll needs a housing levy line.

   What India doesIndia has no housing levy. Rent support is paid as House Rent Allowance inside salary. Since 21 November 2025, if allowances excluded from wages exceed 50% of total remuneration, the excess is added back into wages for EPF, gratuity and other statutory calculations.

4. 04

   What they assume: No long-service payment is due unless we make staff redundant.

   What India doesIndian gratuity is statutory in establishments with 10+ employees: 15 days' last drawn salary per year of service on any exit after five continuous years, one year for fixed-term staff, capped at ₹20 lakh. Provision it from the first payroll and insure it.

5. 05

   What they assume: Three months' maternity leave is the benchmark.

   What India doesThe Maternity Benefit Act gives 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). A crèche is required at 50+ employees. India has no statutory paternity leave, unlike Kenya's two weeks.

6. 06

   What they assume: Kenyan staff posted to India can stay on NSSF alone.

   What India doesIndia and Kenya have no social security agreement. A Kenyan national employed in India is an International Worker who joins EPF from day one on full salary, and can generally withdraw it only at 58 or on permanent incapacity.

7. 07

   What they assume: A medical scheme for the employee alone matches the market.

   What India doesIn India, family cover is what candidates compare, and parents are the largest claims category by relationship, about 40% of claims in Plum's data. The India median sum insured is ₹5,00,000; global startups in India carry ₹10,00,000.

Kenya vs India, benefit by benefit

Benefit	Kenya	India
Statutory health cover	SHIF for everyone: 2.75% of gross pay from the employee, minimum KES 300 a month.	ESI for employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month. Nothing above that line.
Employer health cost	No employer SHIF contribution; the employer deducts and remits.	ESI: 3.25% employer below the ceiling. Above it, a voluntary Group Health Insurance premium.
Pension	NSSF: 6% each from employer and employee, on pay up to KES 108,000 a month.	EPF and EPS: 12% each from employer and employee on basic plus DA.
Maximum pension contribution	KES 6,480 a month each from employer and employee since February 2026.	No cap for International Workers; ₹15,000 wage ceiling for Indian staff, though most MNC subsidiaries contribute on full basic.
Housing	Affordable Housing Levy: 1.5% employee plus 1.5% employer on gross pay.	None.
Work injury	WIBA: the employer must insure its liability.	Employees' Compensation Act, insured by the employer, or ESI where covered.
Long-service payment	Severance on redundancy: at least 15 days' pay per completed year.	Gratuity on any exit after five years: 15 days' last drawn salary per year, capped at ₹20 lakh.
Maternity	Three months with full pay.	26 weeks of full pay for the first two children, paid by the employer.
Paternity	Two weeks with full pay.	No statutory paternity leave under central law.
Annual leave	At least 21 working days after 12 months' service.	Earned leave of 12 to 18 days plus casual and sick leave, set by state law.
Sick leave	Seven days on full pay and seven on half pay a year.	Set by state law, alongside casual leave.

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 Kenya

Staff seconded from Nairobi often keep a Kenyan private medical scheme that reimburses after treatment. Add them to an India-admitted GHI for cashless care at network hospitals. With no India–Kenya social security agreement, a Kenyan national on Indian payroll joins EPF from day one on full salary and can generally withdraw it only at 58 or on permanent incapacity. Decide in writing whether NSSF and SHIF contributions continue in Kenya.

Where Kenyan companies set up in India

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

• Bengaluru

  Karnataka

  Craft Silicon's India offices and Techno Brain's shared services centre. Both software companies are headquartered in Nairobi.

• Ahmedabad

  Gujarat

  Craft Silicon Software Services' second Indian office. Gujarat has long family and trade ties with Kenya.

• Mumbai

  Maharashtra

  Kenya Airways' India gateway, with flights to Nairobi.

Kenyan companies with operations in India include Kenya Airways, Craft Silicon, Techno Brain.

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 Kenyan HR teams ask about India

More from Plum for Kenyan 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.