US big tech: hiring trends in India

India is an important talent hub for US tech majors – they continue to expand in India in their own distinct ways. Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have been scaling headcount at 8-20%CAGR over the last five years. Interestingly, headcount numbers for Google appear to be down (-5.2% CAGR), even as it is amongst the best paymasters amongst these organizations. Meta appears to have the highest average pay.

Thurro maintains a detailed dataset of monthly EPFO records covering ~530 companies, including ~90 Global Capability Centres (GCCs) and ~260 National Stock Exchange (NSE) listed companies, spanning around six years. This powers our understanding of the latest corporate employment trends across companies, sectors, and the economy.

With OpenAI and Tesla setting up entities in India, big tech’s long-term commitment to India is becoming deeper. India has emerged as a strategic global hub for major technology companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft, powered by India’s exceptional talent pool. In the era of tariffs, trade frictions, and now a one-time USD 100,000 H-1B visa application fee for new U.S. work visas, the stakes are even higher. The magnitude of the American corporate integration into India’s ecosystem underscores the deep interconnect between the two nations and their economies, with the recent visa fee hike indicating interesting implications for India’s attractiveness as a talent base.

We analyse workforce and wage dynamics using Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) records for five of these iconic US tech companies in India: Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft. Data was filtered to exclude backdated payments, late filings, and anomalous workforce swings, affecting less than 1% of total records.

Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have expanded rapidly, posting robust EPFO participation growth of 8–20% CAGR over the last 5 years. We note these trends in Exhibits 1 and 2.

• Apple leads in growth with headcount rising from 1,398 employees in July 2020 to 3,372 by July 2025, a CAGR of 19.8%.
• Amazon’s employee numbers are the largest, having grown from 84,114 to 127,409 over the last 5 years. Our classification suggests ~90% of Amazon’s India workforce during this period was in hi-tech subsidiaries rather than retail and logistics.
• Interestingly, Google shows a 5.2% CAGR decline in participation: from 3,324 employees to 2,547 over July 2020 and July 2025. As we note in the Appendix, global organizations sometimes operate with multiple entities: it is possible that Google has more entities that are not immediately apparent. Alternatively, they may have optimised their workforce over the last few years in India, or employees may have opted out of contributing to the EPFO.
• Microsoft is the second-largest employer in this group and also posts the second-fastest growth, with its headcount rising from 12,090 to 22,012 over the same period.
• Meta remains the smallest in headcount but has grown from 261 to 439 employees.

Exhibit 1: Employee count of Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft in India

Exhibit 2: Employee count of Amazon in India

Based on statutory norms, where both employers and employees together contribute 24% of basic wages to EPF, we back-calculate an estimated cost-to-company (CTC) of the employees. We showcase the average payment per employee over time for these companies in Exhibit 3.

• For example, Google’s per employee contribution of INR 46,659 in July 2025 implies an average monthly salary of INR 1.9 lakhs (INR 46,659/24%). This implies an average annual basic pay of ~INR 22.8 lakhs. Typically employees structure basic pay to be a proportion of their overall pay. Including allowance, perquisites, bonusses, and possible stock grants, the average pay will quite likely be substantially higher.
• With the per employee contribution being at comparable levels at Apple, Meta and Microsoft, the jobs at these establishments are indeed premium. We note from the FY2024 income tax statistics that only 41.4 lakh tax filers (5% of tax filers) reported a salary income above INR 20 lakhs a year.
• Amazon’s per employee contribution of INR 10,176 in July 2025 translates to an average monthly salaries of INR 42,400 or ~ INR 5 lakhs annually. These numbers partly reflect its retail and logistics workforce in India in addition to technology employees. Alternatively, it is likely that the salary structure allows for higher levels of allowances, perquisites, bonusses, and possible stock grants.

It is important to note that contributions also include allocations toward the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), and employees may voluntarily contribute more than the statutory 12%. As such, these estimates should be treated as indicative, not exact take-home pay figures.

Exhibit 3: Average EPFO contribution per employee over time for US tech companies  

Appendix

The analysis is based on Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) filings of the following entities and subsidiaries associated with each Multi National Corporation’s (MNC’s) India operations:

• Google India: Google India Limited
• Amazon India (Hi-Tech): Amazon Development Centre (India), Amazon Web Services India, Amazon Smart Commerce Solutions, Amazon Digital Services, Amazon Pay, Amazon Data Services India
• Amazon India (Others):  Amazon Seller Services, Amazon Transportation Services, Amazon Wholesale, Amazon Retail India
• Apple India: Apple India
• Meta Platforms Technologies India: Facebook India Online Services, Meta Platforms
• Microsoft India: Microsoft India R&D, Microsoft Global Service Centre India, Microsoft Research Lab India

The following filters were applied to ensure data quality and comparability:

Per-employee contribution threshold: Records with contribution per employee (contribution per employee) < INR 300 were excluded, as these likely represent backdated or partial payments rather than current-month payroll activity.

Timely remittance: Only contributions remitted within 21 days of the wage month were considered, consistent with EPFO compliance norms.

Sharp drops in employee count: Instances where reported participation fell by >50% from the previous month were excluded, as these typically reflect reporting gaps rather than genuine workforce changes.

Overall, these exclusions account for <1% of records, minimizing their impact on aggregate trends.

As a result, the findings are indicative of relative trends in workforce scale and compensation, rather than precise wage levels. They should be interpreted alongside the broader labour market and corporate disclosures for a complete picture.

Cover photo credit: Parvez Akhtar, Unsplash

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Thurro powers your ability to understand the dynamics in the companies in your sector, or sectors of interest. We also calculate overall trends for various sectors and the economy to get a deeper understanding of the current labour market dynamics. Some of these data points also power our NowCasts which help us understand the revenue and expenditure profile of companies. Reach out to us to know more.