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Payroll

Payroll Software India: One Run, From Attendance Lock to PF, ESI and TDS

For HR and finance teams who run payroll every month: statutory work done by rule, payslips out on time, and the run posted to the ledger.

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An HR executive handing a folded payslip to a worker beside a tray of identical slips

Payroll is where small mistakes become visible to everyone. A wrong attendance day, a missed PF ceiling or a TDS declaration nobody updated turns into a queue of unhappy employees on salary day. Payroll software for India has to get the statutory detail right every month, not most months.

Apragya runs payroll from locked attendance and approved leave, applies PF, ESI, Professional Tax, Labour Welfare Fund and TDS by rule, and posts the result to the books.

The difference employees notice is fewer surprises. The difference finance notices is that payroll stops being a separate world: the cost lands in the right cost centre, statutory dues appear as liabilities the day they arise, and the bank file matches the payslips because both came from the same approved run.

What a shaky payroll costs

Trust

Employees check every payslip because last month was wrong.

Penalties

Late or wrong statutory deposits attract interest.

Time

HR spends three days reconciling attendance with Excel.

Leakage

Loans and advances are not recovered on time.

An example: a 120-person plant in Hosur

Take an illustrative auto-parts plant with three shifts, workers across two states and a payroll consultant who needs attendance by the 25th. The first week of every month is spent answering salary questions.

What has to be true before the run is released

  • Attendance lockedNo edits once the run starts.Done
  • Loss of pay settledAgreed with each manager.Done
  • PF and ESI computedOn the wage definitions you use.Done
  • Professional Tax by stateDifferent slabs for different states.Done
  • TDS on salaryTwo regime choices still to confirm.Pending
  • Loans and arrearsRecovered on the same payslip.Done
  • Ledger postingAfter approval, not before.Pending
A payroll run is a checklist, not a button.

With attendance locked from biometric data and overtime approved weekly, the run was ready on the 28th, and salary-day questions dropped to a handful.

A folded payslip seen from above with four stacks of coins of different heights arranged around it
Gross, deductions, statutory dues and take home. Every run has to explain all four.

How payroll software with PF and ESI works in Apragya

Step 1 of 5

Lock attendance

From biometric devices, the app and approved leave.

  1. Lock attendance: From biometric devices, the app and approved leave.
  2. Apply structures: Salary components and structures per grade.
  3. Statutory by rule: PF, ESI, PT, LWF and TDS under the old or new regime.
  4. Approve: The run is reviewed before anything is released.
  5. Pay and post: Payslips, challans, bank files and ledger postings.

Why payroll belongs on the same platform as HR

Most payroll errors start upstream: an attendance exception nobody resolved, a transfer nobody told payroll about. When HR and payroll share one record, those changes arrive by themselves.

Outsourced or standalone payroll, against Apragya

FeatureStandalone payrollApragya
AttendanceExported from another toolLocked from the same records
Transfers and incrementsEmailed to payrollDated lifecycle changes
Statutory workDepends on the operatorApplied by rule
PostingA journal typed laterPosted to the ledger
ExitsHandled separatelyGratuity and full and final in the run

Checked against public information on 16 September 2026.

What sets Apragya apart

Indian statutory depth

PF, ESI, PT, LWF, TDS old and new regime, Form 24Q.

Challans and files

PF and ESI challans and bank payment files.

Loans and advances

Recovered automatically on payslips.

Full and final

Gratuity and settlement handled in the same system.

Privacy

Salary fields visible only to the right roles.

Books updated

Payroll posts to the ledger by cost centre.

Payroll reads from attendance, overtime and lifecycle changes.

Moving payroll across

  1. Set up salary components and structures.
  2. Import employees with PAN, UAN and bank details.
  3. Connect attendance and approve leave for the month.
  4. Run payroll in parallel with the old process once.
  5. Release and post when the two agree.

One parallel month is usually enough to trust the numbers.

What it costs to start

INR 3,999
Starter, a month
Up to 10 users, CRM and HR plus Payroll
2,000
AI Credits
Included on Starter
Free
Up to 3 users
CRM, HR and any 1 Additional App

Payroll software, answered

Does it handle both TDS regimes?
Yes. TDS on salary is computed under the old or new regime according to each employee's choice.
What about Form 16?
Apragya prepares Form 24Q and keeps the salary TDS records that Form 16 is based on.
Can it handle workers in several states?
Yes. Professional Tax and Labour Welfare Fund follow each employee's state.
Can employees see their own payslips?
Yes, in the app, along with their leave balances and tax declarations.
How are loans and salary advances recovered?
Instalments are set on the loan and deducted automatically on each payslip until it is cleared.
What happens when someone leaves mid-month?
Their full and final settlement, including gratuity where it applies, is computed in the same system.
Is payroll on the free plan?
Payroll is available from the Starter plan, INR 3,999 a month for up to 10 users, which includes CRM and HR plus a choice of enterprise apps and 2,000 AI Credits. Pro, at INR 7,999 a month, covers 25 users and every enterprise app.

Make salary day boring

Lock one month of attendance and run payroll in parallel with your current process.

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