Choosing between recruitment agencies in India: a 12-point checklist

The right agency understands your roles, screens hard before sending anyone and is open about how it charges. Choosing between recruitment agencies in India gets much easier when you compare every firm on the same twelve points, rather than on the promises made in the first sales call.

The choice matters more when talent is scarce. According to the ManpowerGroup Global Talent Shortage Survey India (2026), 82% of Indian employers report difficulty finding the skilled talent they need. In that market, the gap between an agency that finds and qualifies people and one that forwards CVs gets wider.

What types of recruitment agency exist in India?

Most recruitment agencies in India fall into five groups: generalist placement consultancies, specialist boutiques, executive search firms, RPO providers and staffing or payroll firms. They differ in how they are paid. The AESC explains that contingency recruiters are paid after a candidate is hired, while retained search charges a retainer at the start.

If your hiring is steady and high-volume, read about recruitment process outsourcing before signing several agencies. If the role is a senior leadership hire, the trade-offs in executive search vs a recruitment agency are worth a look first.

What should be on your 12-point checklist?

A good checklist tests what an agency does between your brief and the shortlist, which no pitch deck will show you. Score each agency from one to three on the twelve points below and compare the totals side by side. If two firms tie, points 3 and 4 (how they screen and what their shortlist looks like) should break it, because they predict the quality of the profiles you will actually interview.

1. Specialism. Ask which roles they filled recently that look like yours, in your function, seniority and city. "We hire for everything" is an answer, but not a reassuring one.
2. The people on your account. Find out who will actually call candidates, and how many open roles that person is working on.
3. Screening method. Ask what happens before a CV reaches you. A good answer includes a conversation about skills, salary, notice period and why the candidate would move.
4. Shortlist quality. Ask to see an anonymised recruiter note. You want a small number of interviewed, interested candidates with context, not twenty unread CVs.
5. Candidate experience. The agency speaks for your brand. According to the Talent Board 2023 CandE Benchmark, reported by SHRM in 2024, 36% of US candidates had not heard back one to two months after applying. Ask how they close the loop with rejected candidates.
6. Fee model and basis. Ask for the percentage and what it is calculated on: fixed CTC or total CTC.
7. Replacement guarantee. Check the length, what triggers it and what happens if no replacement is found.
8. Exclusivity. Ask whether they need it, for how long and what they commit to in return.
9. Reporting. Ask what you will see each week: candidates approached, screened, submitted and dropped, with reasons.
10. Data protection. Ask how they collect consent, store CVs and delete data, and whether they share your brief with anyone. India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 applies to candidate data, so ask your legal counsel what the contract should say.
11. References. Ask to speak to two current clients who hire similar roles.
12. Red flags. Rule out any agency that charges candidates, sends CVs without speaking to people or cannot explain where its candidates came from.

How do recruitment agency fees work in India?

According to the GoodSpace industry blog (2026), contingency is the default model for permanent hiring in India, so you pay only when someone is hired. Typical fees are 8.33% to 12.5% of annual CTC for junior and mid roles, 15% to 20% for senior and hard-to-fill roles, and 25% to 33% for executive search. Treat these as industry estimates, not a price list.

Two details change the real cost. The Hyring industry blog (2026) notes that 18% GST is added on agency fees. And the base matters: 8.33% of annual CTC is simply one month of CTC.

Fixed CTC or total CTC?

For example, take an illustrative offer of INR 20 lakh fixed pay plus INR 5 lakh variable. At a 10% fee, the agency earns INR 2 lakh if the fee is on fixed pay, or INR 2.5 lakh if it is on total CTC. GST then applies on top. Neither basis is wrong, but you should know which one you are signing. The recruitment fees guide explains the common structures in more detail.

Which questions should you ask on the first call?

Price is the easy part of the first call. The harder questions show how the agency works: ask about recent similar roles, who does the screening, what a shortlist looks like, how fees and guarantees work and how candidate data is handled. Good agencies answer specifically and ask you hard questions back about the role, the pay band and the interview process.

• Which roles like this one have you filled recently, and in which cities?
• Who will speak to candidates, and how many roles are they handling right now?
• What do you check before you send a profile?
• How many profiles do you usually send, and how quickly?
• How do you handle candidates who are serving a notice period or holding counter-offers?
• Is the fee on fixed pay or total CTC, and when is it payable?
• What exactly does the replacement guarantee cover?
• Which of your current clients can I speak to?

Pay attention to what the agency asks you. If nobody asks about the salary band, the notice period you can accept or why the last hire left, expect a shortlist built on keywords.

Which contract clauses deserve a close read?

Four clauses decide most disputes: the replacement guarantee, the payment trigger, the non-solicit or anti-poaching clause and confidentiality. According to the GoodSpace industry blog (2026), replacement guarantees are usually 30 to 90 days. Read the definitions, not just the headline numbers, and have your legal team review the final contract.

What are the red flags in a recruitment agency?

The clearest red flag is an agency that asks candidates for money. Agencies in India are normally paid by employers, and requests for registration, training or processing fees from job seekers point to fraud. Other warning signs include CVs arriving within hours of a brief, no screening notes and no clear answer on where candidates came from.

• Charging candidates any fee, for any reason.
• Sending CVs the same day without speaking to anyone.
• Candidates who did not know their CV was being shared.
• Pushing for long exclusivity with no shortlist commitment.
• Refusing to give references.
• Vague answers on the fee basis or payment trigger.
• Offering confidential information about other clients.

If you are a candidate and an agency asks you to pay, stop contact, keep the messages and report it to the police or the national cybercrime reporting portal. Real employers and real agencies do not charge you to apply or to interview.

How do you brief an agency so it delivers?

A good brief is a one-page role scorecard: must-haves, nice-to-haves, deal-breakers, salary band, notice-period tolerance and the interview plan. Agencies with clear briefs send fewer, better profiles. A vague brief does the opposite, and in a short market it burns through the candidates you most need.

1. Explain why the role exists and what the person must achieve in the first year.
2. Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves, and name the deal-breakers.
3. Share the real salary band, with fixed and variable pay split out.
4. State the notice period you can accept and whether you can buy out part of it.
5. Describe every interview round, who runs it and how fast you will give feedback.
6. Tell the agency about any internal candidates or other agencies working on the role.

Picture this: a Series A fintech in Bengaluru needs a product manager in six weeks. If the brief says "PM, 5 to 8 years, top college", the agency will send exactly that. If it says the person must own a lending product launch, work with a small engineering team and join within 45 days, the shortlist changes completely.

When is a recruitment agency the wrong choice?

Sometimes you do not need one. A company with a strong employer brand and plenty of applicants for common roles may do fine with a good internal recruiter. Steady, high volume usually suits an RPO model better, and contract staff belong with a staffing firm. Confidential leadership roles tend to go better with retained executive search than with contingency recruitment.

Cost is the other honest objection. A fee of one month of CTC or more is real money, especially for a startup. The fair comparison is against your own cost and time to hire, including the hiring manager's hours and the cost of a role sitting empty. The guide to cost per hire and time to fill shows how to work that out.

What is the next step?

Shortlist two or three recruitment agencies in India that specialise in your kind of role, run each one through the twelve points and ask for a sample recruiter note before you sign. Compare how they question your brief as carefully as how they price it. The agency that asks the hardest questions is often the one that delivers.

If you would like Kintra to be one of the firms you compare, share a hiring brief and see how the brief call and shortlist work under its permanent recruitment service.