Placement agencies in India: list, rules and how to choose

The quick answer

Placement agencies in India are private firms that find candidates for employers: placement consultancies, recruitment and executive search firms, staffing companies that put contract workers on their own payroll, and overseas recruiting agents. There is no single official list of all of them, because a domestic placement agency needs no special recruitment licence; only agents who recruit Indians for jobs abroad must register with the Ministry of External Affairs under the Emigration Act, 1983. In Starleads' data there are 49,464 placement and recruitment agencies in 26 states and 140 cities (count on 29 October 2026), and Mumbai alone has 14,147 of them.

This guide is for three kinds of reader. Employers want to find a placement agency or recruitment agency in India and check it before they sign. Job seekers want to know whether an agency is genuine and what it may charge. And businesses that sell to recruiters (job portals, applicant tracking software, background verification, training) want a list of placement agencies they can reach. It explains who does what, which laws apply, how many agencies there are and where, how to choose one step by step, how agencies charge, how to spot a fake one, and how to approach agencies as customers within TRAI's rules. The Starleads figures are counts of contacts in Starleads' data, not an official census, and the official sources were read on 29 October 2026.

Placement agency, recruitment firm, staffing company: who does what

People search for "placement agency", "placement consultancy", "manpower consultancy" and "recruitment agency" as if they were one thing. They overlap, but the business model behind each name is different, and so are the contract and the law that apply.

Type	What it does	Who pays	What to check
Placement consultancy	Finds and screens candidates for permanent roles; the employer hires them directly	The employer, usually a fee per successful hire	Company or firm registration, GSTIN, references from employers it has filled roles for
Recruitment or executive search firm	Searches for senior or specialist roles, often approaching people who are not looking for a job	The employer, sometimes with a retainer paid in stages	Track record in your industry, how it handles confidentiality, a written fee and replacement clause
Staffing or manpower supply company	Employs workers on its own payroll and deploys them at the client's site (contract or temporary staffing)	The client pays a monthly rate per head; the agency pays wages, PF and ESI	Labour code registration and licence where required, PF and ESI challans for the deployed staff
Payroll outsourcing firm	Runs payroll and compliance for people the client has chosen itself	The client, a fee per employee per month	Statutory filings it makes in its own name, data security
Overseas recruiting agent (RA)	Recruits Indian workers for employers abroad	The foreign employer, and within a legal cap, the worker	A Registration Certificate from the Protector General of Emigrants, displayed in its office
Online job portal or campus platform	Sells job listings and database access; the employer does the hiring	The employer, by subscription	Not an agency at all; read its terms

Many Indian firms do two or three of these at once. A placement consultancy in Pune may fill engineering roles for a manufacturer, supply 200 contract workers to the same plant, and run their payroll. Ask which service you are buying, because each has its own contract and its own risks.

The rules that apply to placement agencies in India

There is no national licence for a domestic placement consultancy. The firm registers like any other business (as a proprietorship, partnership, LLP or company, with GST once its turnover crosses the limit, and under the state's shops and establishments law). Two sets of rules matter more.

Overseas recruitment: the Emigration Act, 1983. The Ministry of External Affairs' page on recruiting agents says that Section 10 of the Act requires anyone who wants to recruit Indian citizens for jobs abroad to register with the Protector General of Emigrants. The page sets out what that involves:

Requirement for an overseas recruiting agent	What MEA's page says (read 29 October 2026)
Registration fee	Rs. 25,000 (Rule 7); the Registration Certificate is initially valid for five years
Security	A bank guarantee of Rs. 50 lakh
Checks before registration	An inspection of the proposed office by the Protector of Emigrants and a police verification of the applicant
Office	At least 50 square metres of built-up area, a waiting hall for at least 30 people, an interview room, and a signboard showing the name, registration number and year of registration
Display	A copy of the certificate displayed prominently in the office; the original produced on demand
Sub-agents	Not allowed
Charges to the worker	No more than 45 days' wages under the employment contract, up to a maximum of Rs. 20,000, with a receipt; repatriation costs may not be charged to the worker
Records and returns	Registers of charges, visas, contracts and compensation claims; a monthly return in Form IV by the 10th of the next month

MEA's page says the list of registered agents on its official website is updated daily, and that is the place to check whether an agent is registered and active. The National Career Service portal links to eMigrate, the government's overseas employment system, and carries advisories for people looking for jobs abroad. Fee caps can be revised by amendments to the Emigration Rules, so confirm the current figure on the official site before you pay or quote one.

Contract staffing: the labour codes. According to the Press Information Bureau's release, the four labour codes (the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020) were made effective from 21 November 2025, replacing 29 central labour laws. The release lists changes that matter to anyone using a staffing company: a single registration, a pan-India single licence and a single return in place of many; mandatory appointment letters for all workers; and the principal employer providing health and social security benefits to contract workers. In practice, a company that takes workers from a manpower agency cannot treat compliance as the agency's problem alone. Ask for the agency's registration and licence under the codes, and for proof each month that wages, PF and ESI were paid for your deployed staff. State rules under the codes are still being finalised in places, so check your state labour department's notifications too.

Job seekers and fees. For domestic jobs, no central law fixes what a placement agency may charge a candidate, but the norm in organised hiring is that the employer pays. The NCS portal says it charges no fee at any stage and that "Jobseekers should not pay fees to employers". An agency that asks a candidate for a "registration fee", "training deposit" or "uniform charge" before any interview is a warning sign, as the job seeker section below explains.

How many placement agencies are there in India?

Nobody publishes an official count, because domestic agencies do not need a recruitment licence. What can be counted is how many such firms appear in business data. Starleads' all-India list of placement and recruitment agencies has 49,464 contacts: 99% with a mobile number, 87% with an email address and 63% with the contact person's name. The three biggest states hold 64% of them.

State	Agencies in Starleads' data	Main city in the list
Maharashtra	18,195	Mumbai (14,147), Pune (3,105)
Karnataka	7,606	Bengaluru (7,397)
Delhi	5,691	Delhi (5,654)
Telangana	5,351	Hyderabad (5,323)
Tamil Nadu	3,609	Chennai (3,262)
Haryana	1,567	Gurugram (1,192)
West Bengal	1,562	Kolkata (1,485)
Gujarat	1,537	Ahmedabad (829), Vadodara (477)
Uttar Pradesh	1,530	Noida (1,090)
Rajasthan	558	Jaipur (433)

Three things stand out. Mumbai is in a class of its own, with almost twice as many agencies as Bengaluru, so a Mumbai list needs more filtering by speciality than any other. Hyderabad (5,323) comes close to Delhi (5,654) and is well ahead of Chennai (3,262) and Pune (3,105). And the National Capital Region is split across three states: Delhi, Gurugram in Haryana and Noida in Uttar Pradesh together hold close to 8,000 agencies in this data.

The quality of the contact details differs by city too. In Delhi all rows have a mobile number and 92% an email address; in Mumbai 97% have a mobile number but only 75% an email address, and 49% name the contact person. In Chennai 97% have an email address but only 26% a street address. Each list page shows these figures and 60 sample rows before you buy.

Starleads' placement agency lists

Our Placement & Recruitment Agencies list has 49,464 contacts in 140 cities. 63% of rows name the contact person, 99% have a mobile number and 87% an email address. Most contacts are in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. A city or state list costs ₹499 and the all-India file ₹1,999, with 60 contacts free to check first; you can buy one of 15 cities instead of all of India.

Placement agencies by city

• Mumbai 14,147 contacts · 75% email · 97% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 7,397 contacts · 84% email · 100% mobile ₹499
• Hyderabad 5,323 contacts · 97% email · 99% mobile ₹499
• Chennai 3,262 contacts · 97% email · 99% mobile ₹499
• Pune 3,105 contacts · 85% email · 98% mobile ₹499
• Kolkata 1,485 contacts · 99% email · 99% mobile ₹499
• Gurugram 1,192 contacts · 91% email · 100% mobile ₹499
• Noida 1,090 contacts · 93% email · 99% mobile ₹499
• Ahmedabad 829 contacts · 97% email · 99% mobile ₹499
• Vadodara 477 contacts · 93% email · 92% mobile ₹499
• Jaipur 433 contacts · 75% email · 98% mobile ₹499
• Agra 374 contacts · 45% email · 100% mobile ₹499

HR managers and other related lists

Recruiters sell to HR teams, and many HR heads in turn pick the agencies. In Starleads' data there are 18,055 HR professionals across India, 96% of them with the person's name.

• Placement & Recruitment Agencies 49,464 contacts · 87% email · 99% mobile ₹1,999
• HR Professionals 18,055 contacts · 89% email · 94% mobile ₹1,999

How to choose a placement agency, step by step

For an employer, the cost of a bad agency is not the fee; it is three months lost on candidates who were never right, or a contract labour dispute that lands on your desk. This sequence takes a week or two and avoids most of that.

1. Write down exactly what you are buying. Permanent hires, contract staff on the agency's payroll, or payroll only? How many roles, at what levels, in which cities, by when? An agency that fills 40 warehouse pickers in Bhiwandi is a different firm from one that finds a plant head for Sanand.
2. Make a long list of eight to ten. Ask other employers in your industrial area or industry association whom they use, look at who advertises the kind of roles you need, and use a city list such as Starleads' placement agencies in Bengaluru or Hyderabad to see who operates near you.
3. Check the business behind each name. Look up the company or LLP on the MCA site, the GSTIN on the GST portal, and the Udyam number if it gives one. Our company search guide shows how to do each look-up in a few minutes. A firm that has existed for two months and claims "1,000 clients" deserves a closer look.
4. For overseas hiring, check the Registration Certificate. If the agency will recruit people for jobs abroad, ask for its Registration Certificate number and confirm it on MEA's official list. An unregistered agent recruiting for foreign jobs is breaking the Emigration Act, and the risk falls on the workers you send.
5. For contract staffing, ask for the compliance file. Its registration and licence under the labour codes where required, PF and ESI registrations, a sample appointment letter, and a recent wage register and challan for another client (with names hidden). Agree that it will share these for your staff every month.
6. Give two or three agencies a small trial. Send each the same two roles with a clear job description and salary range. Judge them on how many of the CVs they send are worth interviewing, not on how many they send.
7. Ask for references and call them. Two employers of your size, in your industry, whose roles the agency filled in the last year. Ask how many hires stayed past six months.
8. Sign a written agreement. Fee and when it is due, the replacement period if a hire leaves early, exclusivity (if any), who owns candidate data, a no-poaching clause for staff it places with you, data protection, and for staffing, the monthly rate with its break-up and the agency's statutory duties.

Large buyers often fold these checks into supplier onboarding; our guide to vendor registration explains what that usually asks for.

How placement agencies charge

Agencies do not publish standard rates, and rates differ widely by role, city and volume, so ask each one for its fee in writing. The models themselves are fairly standard:

• Success fee for permanent hiring. A percentage of the hire's annual cost to company, or a fixed amount for junior roles, payable when the candidate joins. Most agreements include a replacement guarantee: if the hire leaves within an agreed period, the agency finds a replacement free or refunds part of the fee.
• Retainer for senior search. Part of the fee is paid at the start, part on a shortlist and the rest on joining. You pay for the search, not only the result.
• Monthly rate per head for staffing. The client pays the worker's gross wages plus the employer's statutory contributions and a service charge. Ask for the break-up: a single lump rate that looks cheap can hide unpaid PF or ESI, which becomes your problem as principal employer.
• Per-employee fee for payroll outsourcing. Charged per head per month, usually with a minimum.
• Charges to candidates. For overseas jobs, MEA's page caps what a registered agent may take from the worker at 45 days' wages, up to Rs. 20,000, against a receipt. For domestic jobs, reputable agencies are paid by employers.

When you compare quotes, compare the total cost of a filled role that lasts a year, not the headline percentage. A slightly higher fee with a three-month replacement period can cost less than a low fee with none.

For job seekers: how to spot a fake placement agency

Most searches for "placement agency" come from people looking for work, and fake job offers are common. These checks cost nothing:

• Upfront fees are the main warning sign. The NCS portal says it never charges a fee and that job seekers should not pay fees to employers. Be very careful with any agency that asks for money before an interview, for a "guaranteed" offer letter, or for "processing" through a personal UPI ID.
• For a job abroad, ask for the Registration Certificate number and check it on MEA's list; the certificate must be displayed in the agent's office, sub-agents are not allowed, and the charge to you is capped as described above. Use the advisories for international jobseekers on the NCS portal.
• Check the company and the employer. Look up the agency's company record and GSTIN, and confirm the job on the employer's own careers page or by calling its official number, not the number on the offer letter.
• Watch for misuse of government names. The NCS portal warns that some websites and people falsely claim association with NCS or the Ministry of Labour and use its logo.
• Insist on a written appointment letter. Under the labour codes, every worker is to get an appointment letter stating designation, wages and social security entitlements, according to PIB.

Starleads sells business contact lists to companies; it does not run job listings or place candidates. A list of placement agency phone numbers is not a shortcut to a job, and calling hundreds of agencies is a poor use of a job seeker's time. Registering on the NCS portal and applying through employers' careers pages works better.

Selling to placement agencies and staffing companies

Placement agencies are customers as well as suppliers. Starleads' list page notes that job portals and applicant tracking software sellers use these lists to pitch recruitment tools. A typical agency spends on:

• Job portal and database subscriptions, and social media job advertising.
• Applicant tracking systems and CRMs, plus calling and WhatsApp tools for screening; see our comparison of telecalling CRM apps.
• Background verification and assessment tests for the candidates they put forward.
• Payroll and compliance software, for staffing firms that carry thousands of workers on their payroll.
• Insurance, such as group health and accident cover for deployed staff.
• Office space, training rooms and skilling partners, especially for overseas recruiters who must run trade tests.

In a small agency the owner decides almost everything; in larger staffing firms, the operations or delivery head chooses tools and HR or finance chooses payroll systems. Start with an email to the owner and keep calls for those who reply. For example: "Hello Ms Nair, we run background checks for staffing firms in Kochi and Chennai and return most reports within five working days. Would a free trial on your next ten candidates help?"

Calls and messages to agencies must follow TRAI's rules even though the person you contact is a business owner:

• The DND register (NCPR). A mobile subscriber can register a preference against commercial calls and SMS by calling or sending an SMS to 1909, among other modes, according to TRAI's preference registration page. Check numbers before a campaign; our DND check guide shows how.
• DLT registration for SMS. TRAI's advice to senders says commercial communication may only go out through registered headers, that principal entities must register their content templates, and that consent must be acquired through a registered process before sending. Our DLT registration guide takes you through it.
• Consent and opt-outs. TRAI defines a promotional message or call as one sent without the recipient's explicit consent. Stop contacting anyone who asks you to, and keep a record.

Email works well for a first approach to agencies, which live in their inboxes; our cold email templates and cold calling tips give you wording to start from.

Where Starleads' data falls short

Know what a contact list can and cannot tell you before you rely on it:

• No licence status. The list does not say whether an agency holds an MEA Registration Certificate or a licence under the labour codes. Check that yourself, as described above.
• Broad categories. Most rows (42,402) sit in the general "Placements Agencies" category. The narrower categories are small: 1,516 under HR and manpower consultants, 1,270 under placement consultancies, 377 under recruitment agencies and 282 under manpower recruitment and outsourcing. The list does not tell you which firms do overseas recruitment, executive search or contract staffing; you will need to read business names or call.
• Some rows are misfiled. The sample for the all-India list includes a courier company and a spy products shop among the agencies. Look at the 60 free sample rows and filter the Excel file before you start calling.
• Uneven geography. The metros dominate. Rajasthan has 558 rows and Andhra Pradesh 437, so smaller towns are thin.
• Not a ranking. A list tells you who exists and how to reach them, not who is good. References and a trial tell you that.

Questions people ask

What does a placement agency do?

It finds, screens and shortlists candidates for an employer's open roles and arranges interviews. Some also employ contract staff on their own payroll and deploy them at the client's site, or run the client's payroll. The employer usually pays a fee per successful hire or a monthly rate per head for staffing.

How do I check whether a recruitment agency is registered?

For an agency that recruits for jobs abroad, ask for its Registration Certificate number and check it on the Ministry of External Affairs' official list of recruiting agents, which MEA says is updated daily; the certificate must also be displayed in the agent's office. Domestic placement consultancies need no recruitment licence, so check the business instead: its company or LLP record on MCA, its GSTIN, and for contract staffing, its registration under the labour codes. Our company search guide covers each look-up.

How many placement agencies are there in India?

There is no official count. Starleads' data has 49,464 placement and recruitment agencies in 26 states and 140 cities, with the most in Maharashtra (18,195), Karnataka (7,606) and Delhi (5,691). That is the count in Starleads' data, not a census.

Which are the top recruitment agencies in India?

There is no official ranking, and "top" depends on what you need: a firm that is excellent at senior search may be poor at filling 300 contract roles. Large staffing companies publish annual reports and client lists on their own websites, which help you compare scale. For your own shortlist, judge agencies on references in your industry, how many of their hires stay beyond six months, and a small paid trial.

Can a placement agency charge a fee from candidates?

For overseas jobs, a registered recruiting agent may charge the worker no more than 45 days' wages under the contract, up to Rs. 20,000, against a receipt, according to MEA's page; confirm the current cap on the official site. For domestic jobs, reputable agencies are paid by the employer, and the NCS portal advises that job seekers should not pay fees to employers.

Is a manpower agency the same as a placement agency?

Not quite. A placement agency finds people whom the employer then hires directly. A manpower or staffing agency usually keeps the workers on its own payroll and supplies them to the client, which brings in the contract labour provisions of the labour codes and makes the principal employer responsible for checking that wages and social security are paid.

Can I get a list of placement agencies with contact numbers?

Yes. Starleads' placement and recruitment agencies list has 49,464 contacts, 99% with a mobile number, as an Excel file; city lists such as Mumbai and Delhi cost less. Check the 60 free sample rows first. If you want the HR side of the same companies, see our HR database guide.