Zoho People's pricing can be a bit steep for small to medium-sized businesses in India, with costs starting at ₹50/user/month for the basic plan. While it may seem affordable, these costs can quickly add up, especially for larger teams. Furthermore, the basic plan lacks key features like GPS attendance and advanced leave management, which can be a major drawback for many Indian businesses.
So, how does Zoho People stack up against other HR management software in India? When comparing Zoho People vs AnudaHRM, it's clear that both platforms offer a range of features to streamline HR tasks. However, AnudaHRM stands out with its affordable pricing (just ₹30/employee/month), GPS attendance, and payroll automation features. Additionally, AnudaHRM's user-friendly interface makes it easy for employees to mark attendance, apply for leaves, and access their personal details.
While Zoho HR is a popular choice for many Indian businesses, it may not be the best fit for small businesses or startups. With its robust feature set and higher pricing, it can be overwhelming for smaller teams. In contrast, AnudaHRM is designed with small businesses in mind, offering a scalable and affordable solution for HR management. For example, let's say you're the owner of a small manufacturing firm in Mumbai, with 20 employees. With AnudaHRM, you can easily track attendance, manage leaves, and automate payroll, all at an affordable price point.
Take the case of GreenTech, a renewable energy company based in Bengaluru. With a team of 50 employees, they were struggling to manage attendance and payroll using manual systems. After switching to AnudaHRM, they were able to streamline their HR processes, reduce errors, and save significant time and resources. Today, GreenTech uses AnudaHRM to manage all its HR tasks, from employee onboarding to leave management and payroll automation.
If you're looking for a Zoho People alternative in India, consider trying AnudaHRM. With its affordable pricing, robust features, and user-friendly interface, it's the perfect solution for small to medium-sized businesses. Sign up for a free 5-employee setup today at anudahrm.com and discover how AnudaHRM can help you streamline your HR processes and take your business to the next level.
Before automation, an HR manager’s monthly payroll run was a frantic race against time. The typical sequence in a 50‑employee Indian firm goes like this: On the 25th, the manager collects physical attendance registers from shop floors or department heads. Next, they sort through a pile of handwritten leave applications — a few are missing, others have smudged dates. They then manually transfer attendance codes, half‑days, and overtimes into an Excel sheet. Reconciliations eat up the next two days as mismatches between gate records and leave requests surface. Finally, the salary sheet is shared with a payroll vendor who applies statutory components and generates payslips. One small slip — say, forgetting to record the overtime of three machine operators — means the entire batch gets delayed, sometimes pushing payday beyond the expected date.
Switching to AnudaHRM transforms this chaos into a linear, one‑click process. GPS‑enabled attendance feeds directly into the system, leave requests are approved online with audit trails, and overtime is auto‑calculated. When the salary cycle opens, HR simply reviews auto‑populated data and hits ‘Process Payroll’. Errors vanish, payroll is always on time, and the HR team gets back to strategic work instead of fire‑fighting month‑end data entry.
The full rollout of India's four labour codes — the Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Social Security Code, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code — has fundamentally changed how HR departments operate in 2026. Key implications include a single registration for multiple compliances, mandatory digital maintenance of registers, and a unified definition of wages that affects PF, ESI, and bonus calculations. For a business still using manual processes or legacy software like Zoho People, these changes create new risks: mismatched wage definitions leading to incorrect statutory deductions, scattered digital records that fail e‑inspections, and missed deadlines for online returns.
By choosing a platform built for 2026’s regulatory environment, you avoid costly penalties and focus on growing your business. AnudaHRM’s built‑in compliance engine ensures that every payroll run, leave approval, and attendance record aligns with the latest central and state‑specific rules — something generic tools often struggle to deliver.
Beyond attendance and payroll, Indian HR software must nail the monthly statutory compliance cycle. For most private-sector employers, this means correctly handling Provident Fund (PF), Employee State Insurance (ESI), Professional Tax (PT), and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) — each with its own calculation logic, employer/employee shares, and return formats. The new labour codes have only tightened these requirements, as the unified wage definition directly affects PF and ESI contributions, and e-inspections make accurate, timestamped records non-negotiable.
A typical statutory compliance workflow for an HR manager using manual or semi-automated tools looks like this: After payroll is calculated, the HR manager must manually split each employee’s salary into components to determine PF and ESI applicability. They then log into separate government portals — EPFO, ESIC, state PT departments, and the income tax TRACES site — to generate challans, remit dues, and file returns. This often involves uploading bulk data files, reconciling payment reference numbers, and tracking due dates in a spreadsheet. One missed deadline or data mismatch triggers show-cause notices, interest penalties, and avoidable stress. The new e-inspection regime means an inspector can access data anytime, so a disorganised HR department faces real legal exposure.
By automating the entire statutory cycle, AnudaHRM turns a high-risk, repetitive chore into a background process. HR managers can finally stop worrying about the next compliance deadline and focus on employee engagement, talent retention, and business strategy — the work that actually drives growth.
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GPS attendance, payroll, leave management & KYC — all in one platform. ₹30/employee/month. No credit card required.
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