The India Employee Benefits Stack for Saudi companies

What changes when you come from Saudi Arabia

What you call it in Saudi Arabia, and what it is called in India

A Saudi employer pays GOSI for every employee, but for expatriates only the occupational hazards branch applies, at 2% of wages; pensions are for Saudi nationals. The same employer must insure staff and their dependants under the cooperative health insurance law. India reverses both habits. Foreign nationals employed in India join the provident fund (EPF) from day one on full salary, while health insurance above ₹21,000 a month is voluntary in law and bought as a benefit. That gap explains most first-year questions from a Riyadh HR team.

This edition maps each Saudi benefit to its Indian counterpart, flags the assumptions Saudi parents commonly carry into India, and covers secondees. Staff seconded from Riyadh, Jeddah or Dammam are often third-country nationals or Indians, so nationality, not the home contract, decides how each one is treated in Indian payroll. It closes with the questions finance teams ask when they budget the first year.

What Saudi 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: Expatriates cost only the 2% occupational hazards rate, as with GOSI.

   What India doesIn India, foreign nationals are International Workers. They join EPF from day one on full salary, with no ₹15,000 ceiling: 12% from the employer and 12% from the employee. With no India–Saudi social security agreement there is no exemption, and withdrawal is generally possible only at 58 or on permanent incapacity.

2. 02

   What they assume: Health insurance for staff and families is compulsory in India too.

   What India doesOnly employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month have statutory cover, through ESI. Above that line the employer's statutory health obligation is zero, and no law requires dependants' cover. Group Health Insurance is voluntary, but candidates hired at ₹8 LPA and above expect it.

3. 03

   What they assume: The end-of-service award builds from year one, so short-service leavers get something.

   What India doesIndian gratuity is payable only after five continuous years (one year for fixed-term employees), at 15 days' last drawn salary per year, capped at ₹20 lakh. Unlike the Saudi award, nothing is owed to a permanent employee who leaves after three years.

4. 04

   What they assume: There is no tax on salaries, so offers can be quoted net.

   What India doesIndia taxes salaries and the employer deducts tax at source each month, so offers must be built as gross cost to company. Employer GHI premiums are deductible under Section 36(1)(ib), are not a taxable perquisite under Section 17(2), and carry 18% GST.

5. 05

   What they assume: Our standard Gulf salary structure will work in India.

   What India doesSince 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. A package with a modest basic and large housing and transport allowances raises the Indian statutory bill.

6. 06

   What they assume: Twelve weeks' maternity leave is the benchmark to budget for.

   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. There is no statutory paternity leave under central law, unlike Saudi Arabia's three days.

7. 07

   What they assume: Work injuries are a social insurance matter, as with GOSI.

   What India doesOutside ESI, India has no work-injury fund. The employer is liable under the Employees' Compensation Act 1923 and must insure that liability itself. Group Personal Accident and Group Term Life, often at 3 to 5 times CTC, are the usual add-ons.

8. 08

   What they assume: Parents fall outside dependants' cover, so they can be ignored.

   What India doesParental cover is a common ask in India, and parents are the largest claims category by relationship, about 40% of claims in Plum's data. Covering them is a deliberate pricing decision against an India median sum insured of ₹5,00,000.

Saudi Arabia vs India, benefit by benefit

Benefit	Saudi Arabia	India
Statutory health cover	Employers must insure Saudi and expatriate employees and their dependants.	ESI for employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month. Nothing above that line, and no dependants' rule.
Pension for nationals	GOSI annuities: 9% employer plus 9% employee; rising to 11% each for Saudis first insured from July 2024.	EPF and EPS: 12% employer plus 12% employee on basic plus DA.
Foreign staff	Occupational hazards branch only: 2%, paid by the employer.	International Workers: full EPF from day one on full salary, with no ₹15,000 ceiling.
Contribution base	Basic wage plus housing allowance, capped at SAR 45,000 a month.	Basic plus DA. ₹15,000 statutory ceiling for Indian staff, though most MNC subsidiaries contribute on full basic; none for International Workers.
Work injury	GOSI occupational hazards branch, 2% employer-paid.	Employees' Compensation Act, insured by the employer, or ESI where covered.
Unemployment insurance	SANED: 0.75% employer plus 0.75% employee, Saudi nationals only.	None.
End-of-service lump sum	Half a month's wage per year for five years, a full month per year after; reduced on resignation.	Gratuity: 15 days' last drawn salary per year after five years, capped at ₹20 lakh.
Maternity	12 weeks on full pay since February 2025.	26 weeks of full pay for the first two children, paid by the employer.
Paternity	Three days, taken within a week of the birth.	No statutory paternity leave under central law.
Annual leave	21 days; 30 days after five years with the employer.	Earned leave of 12 to 18 days plus casual and sick leave, set by state law.
Income tax on salary	None on employment income.	Salaries are taxed, and the employer deducts tax at source every month.

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 Saudi Arabia

Secondees from Saudi Arabia usually keep a home or international medical plan, which reimburses later. Add them to an India-admitted GHI for cashless treatment at network hospitals. India and Saudi Arabia have no social security agreement, so a foreign national on Indian payroll joins EPF from day one on full salary and can generally withdraw it only at 58 or on permanent incapacity. Indian nationals returning from the Kingdom are not International Workers.

Where Saudi companies set up in India

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

• Delhi NCR

  Delhi and Haryana

  Aramco Asia India's office in New Delhi, SABIC's corporate and business office in the capital region, and Saudia's office in Connaught Place.

• Bengaluru

  Karnataka

  SABIC's Research and Technology centre, one of the group's technology centres worldwide, with more than 300 scientists.

• Vadodara

  Gujarat

  SABIC's manufacturing site. Plant staff earning up to ₹21,000 a month fall under ESI; above that line, group health and personal accident cover are the employer's choice.

• Mumbai

  Maharashtra

  Bahri's branch office in Powai and flynas's city office, serving shipping and the Gulf travel corridor.

• Ranjangaon, near Pune

  Maharashtra

  Zamil Steel's pre-engineered buildings plant. A factory workforce where ESI, the Employees' Compensation Act and accident cover matter most.

Saudi companies with operations in India include Saudi Aramco, SABIC, Ma'aden, Zamil Steel, Bahri, Saudia, flynas, Petromin.

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 Saudi HR teams ask about India

More from Plum for Saudi 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.