HR software built for Indian startups — founder self-onboarding, no setup fee, day-1 PF/ESI compliance, built-in CRM for sales, and scaling from 5 to 500 employees without re-platforming. Free to start.
Early-stage startups in Bangalore, Delhi, or Mumbai cannot afford the ₹50,000–₹2,00,000 implementation fees that enterprise HRMS vendors like Darwinbox charge. Avani is designed for founder self-onboarding. Sign up free, add your company, import your team from a CSV, configure salary structures in minutes using templates (standard startup CTC structure: Basic + HRA + allowances), and run your first payroll on day one. No sales calls, no demo gatekeeping, no consultant.
Many Indian startups delay PF and ESI registration — thinking compliance can wait until they're bigger. EPFO and ESIC inspectors regularly audit startups, especially those that have taken VC funding. Penalties for delayed PF registration include compound interest at 12–25% and a penalty of ₹5,000–₹50,000 per violation. Avani makes compliance effortless from your first hire: PF is calculated at 12% of basic, ESI is computed for employees ≤ ₹21,000/month, and monthly filings are generated automatically.
Startups have too many SaaS tools and too few rupees. A typical early-stage startup pays for Keka or greytHR for HR (₹5,000–₹15,000/month), Zoho CRM or Salesforce for sales (₹3,000–₹20,000/month), Jira or Asana for projects (₹2,000–₹10,000/month), and something separate for expense tracking. Avani replaces all four with one platform at a fraction of the combined cost. For a 20-person startup, switching to Avani typically saves ₹15,000–₹40,000 per month in SaaS spend — money better spent on growth.
The biggest hidden cost for startups is switching HR tools as you grow — migrating from Excel to greytHR at 20 employees, from greytHR to Keka at 100, and so on. Each migration costs time, money, and payroll disruption. Avani scales with you. The same platform that works for a 5-person team handles 500 employees without re-configuration. Add departments, branches, and reporting hierarchies as you grow. Your payroll history, leave records, and employee data stay intact.
Sales-led startups — B2B SaaS, fintech, edtech, healthtech — need a CRM from day one. Avani's CRM module includes lead management, call logging, numbered follow-up tracking, pipeline stages, and conversion analytics. Your sales team works in the same platform as your HR and finance teams — no data silos, no extra subscription. Sales performance data (calls made, leads converted, revenue closed) feeds directly into the KPI and performance ranking module.
Startups run on performance, but tracking it is usually an afterthought — a monthly review call with no data. Avani's KPI module lets founders and managers set monthly targets for every team member: sales targets for the CRM team, task completion rates for the tech team, and attendance-weighted scores for support staff. The platform auto-generates employee rankings every month based on KPIs, task completion, and attendance — giving founders an objective, data-driven view of team performance without bias.
PF (EPFO) registration is mandatory when an establishment has 20 or more employees. However, voluntary registration is possible from the first employee. ESI (ESIC) registration is mandatory when you have 10 or more employees in most states (20 in some). Given that EPFO and ESIC audits are increasingly common for funded startups, it's best to register early. Penalties for delayed registration include compound interest (12–25% per annum on outstanding dues) and fines. Avani makes compliance effortless once you register — all calculations and filings are automated.
Keka and greytHR are strong HR and payroll tools, but they're HR-only. Startups typically also need CRM (for sales), project management (for product and engineering), and finance tracking (for invoices and expenses). Paying for Keka + Zoho CRM + Jira easily reaches ₹30,000–₹60,000/month for a 30-person startup. Avani includes all of these in one platform, has zero setup cost, and is designed for founder self-onboarding. For startups that need to move fast and keep costs lean, Avani is the natural choice.
Avani handles standard salary components (Basic, HRA, allowances, bonuses, and special pay) fully. Variable pay (performance bonuses, commissions, incentives) can be added as a one-time payment in any payroll month. For ESOPs, the TDS implications on vesting (Section 17(2) perquisite tax) are a more complex area — Avani handles the regular payroll TDS under Section 192, and ESOP perquisite tax can be added as a manual TDS adjustment. Statutory compliance for PF, ESI, and PT is fully automated regardless of pay structure.
Avani is built to scale without re-platforming. As you grow, you add departments and reporting hierarchies in the same system. Payroll automatically handles new employees with the correct statutory deductions. The CRM scales to more leads and more sales reps. Project management handles more teams and projects. Performance rankings scale to the full headcount. You don't need to migrate to a new system at 50 employees or 150 — Avani handles it all, and your historical data stays intact.
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