Quick Answer
Corporate relocation services in India handle employee moves on behalf of an employer, covering household goods shipping, temporary accommodation, home and school search, visa and immigration support, and expense management. Domestic moves typically cost 15,000 to 90,000 rupees per employee depending on grade and household size, while international assignments run 2 lakh to 6 lakh rupees before immigration and accommodation. Genuine transfer expenses supported by bills can be tax exempt under Section 10(14) read with Rule 2BB, while lump sum payments are generally taxed as salary.
Relocation is one of those costs that looks small on a spreadsheet and creates an outsized amount of work. One senior hire moving from Pune to Bangalore can consume a week of HR time across quotes, approvals, reimbursements, escalations, and follow ups. Multiply that across 40 transfers a year and you have a real operational problem.
Corporate relocation services exist to take that work off your team. This guide covers what employee relocation services in India actually include, how a corporate relocation policy in India is usually structured, what companies spend per employee, how relocation reimbursements are taxed, and what to ask before you appoint a vendor.
What Are Corporate Relocation Services in India
Most companies come in needing one of four things. Understanding which one you need is the first step in a useful conversation with a vendor.
| Type | What It Covers | Typical Buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic employee relocation | Household goods move within India, travel, temporary stay, settling in | HR, talent acquisition |
| International assignment relocation | Overseas household shipping, customs, immigration, destination services | Global mobility, HR |
| Office and commercial relocation | Workstations, IT assets, servers, records, furniture, plant equipment | Admin, facilities, IT |
| Group or bulk moves | Multiple employees moving on the same timeline, often for a site shift | Operations, HR, business heads |
The Full List of Employee Relocation Services in India
A complete corporate relocation provider should cover most of the following. Not every employee needs all of it, which is exactly why policy tiers exist.
Before the move
- Pre move survey and cost estimate
- Policy counselling for the employee, so they know what is covered before they ask HR
- Visa, work permit, and immigration support for international moves
- Destination area orientation
The move itself
- Professional packing, transport, unloading, and reassembly
- Customs documentation and clearance for international shipments
- Vehicle and pet relocation
- Storage at origin or destination when dates do not line up
- Transit insurance
Settling the employee in
- Temporary accommodation booking
- Home search and lease negotiation
- Tenancy management and deposit recovery
- School search and admission support for children
- Local registration, bank account setup, utility connections
- Cross cultural and language orientation for international assignments
- Spouse and partner support
Administration
- Expense management and consolidated invoicing
- Reporting and MIS for the HR or mobility team
- Repatriation at the end of an assignment, including lease closure and deposit recovery
The last category is the one companies undervalue at the RFP stage and appreciate most six months in. A single consolidated invoice and a monthly report replaces dozens of individual reimbursement claims moving through your finance team.
Corporate Relocation Policy in India: Common Models
Most Indian companies use one of four structures. There is no universally correct answer, only the right fit for your headcount, seniority mix, and tolerance for administration.
| Model | How It Works | Advantages | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lump sum | A fixed amount paid to the employee, who arranges everything | Simple, predictable cost, minimal admin | Usually fully taxable, employee bears the hassle, poor experience, no vendor control |
| Reimbursement against bills | Employee arranges the move and claims actual expenses up to a cap | Tax efficient when documented, cost control | Heavy admin load, employee funds the move upfront, disputes over what qualifies |
| Managed move with direct billing | Company appoints a vendor who bills the employer directly | Best employee experience, negotiated rates, one invoice | Requires vendor selection and policy discipline |
| Tiered by grade | Different service levels for junior, mid, and senior roles, often with a core set plus flexible options | Spend matches business value, scalable | More policy design work upfront |
What most mid to large companies settle on: a tiered corporate relocation policy in India where the household goods move and travel are directly billed to the company through an appointed vendor, with a smaller flexible allowance for incidentals. It is tax efficient, employees do not fund the move out of pocket, and HR handles one vendor relationship instead of fifty individual claims.
What Corporate Relocation Services Cost Per Employee
Domestic Moves Within India
| Employee Profile | Typical Household | Indicative Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Single, early career | Few items to 1BHK | 15,000 to 35,000 rupees |
| Mid level, small family | 1BHK to 2BHK | 25,000 to 55,000 rupees |
| Senior, family | 2BHK to 3BHK | 40,000 to 90,000 rupees |
| Leadership, large household | 3BHK to villa | 70,000 to 1.5 lakh rupees |
Add to that: employee and family travel, temporary accommodation of 2,000 to 8,000 rupees per night depending on city and grade, brokerage for the new home which is commonly one to two months of rent, and vehicle transport of 6,000 to 25,000 rupees depending on route.
International Assignments and Global Mobility Services in India
| Component | Indicative Cost |
|---|---|
| Household goods, 20 ft container | 1.4 lakh to 3.8 lakh rupees by destination |
| Household goods, 40 ft container | 2.5 lakh to 6.8 lakh rupees |
| Shared container for smaller shipments | From around 90,000 rupees |
| Air freight for essentials | 180 to 600 rupees per kg |
| Customs, documentation, port handling | Add 25 to 30 percent of freight |
| Immigration and visa support | Varies by country and visa type |
| Temporary accommodation | Destination dependent, budget 4 to 8 weeks |
| Home search and school search | Per service, varies by provider |
| Pet relocation | 80,000 to 3 lakh rupees |
A realistic all in budget for a family relocating on an international assignment usually lands well above the shipping figure alone. Companies that budget only for freight are the ones who end up with mid assignment approval requests. This is where working with a provider experienced in global mobility services in India, rather than a freight only operator, makes the biggest difference.
Relocation Allowance Taxability in India
This section shapes policy design more than any other, so it is worth getting right with your tax advisor rather than assuming.
The general principle. Under Section 10(14) of the Income Tax Act read with Rule 2BB, reimbursement of genuine transfer related expenses supported by valid bills can be exempt from tax in the employee’s hands. The reasoning is that these are costs caused by the transfer, not additional income.
What relocation allowance taxability in India looks like in practice:
| Component | General Treatment |
|---|---|
| Packing and moving of household goods against bills | Commonly exempt when properly documented |
| Travel for employee and family against bills | Commonly exempt when properly documented |
| Temporary accommodation for a short initial period | Commonly exempt for a limited period, typically the first 15 days |
| Lump sum relocation payment with no bills | Generally treated as salary and fully taxable |
| Amount reimbursed above actual documented expenses | The excess is generally taxable |
| Long term rent or housing at the new location | Generally a taxable perquisite |
| School admission fees for children | Generally taxable |
Three practical implications for policy design:
- Bill backed reimbursement or direct vendor billing beats a lump sum on tax efficiency. A 1.5 lakh rupee lump sum with no bills can lose a significant chunk to tax, so the employee receives far less value than the company spent.
- Vendor invoices need to be proper GST invoices in the company’s name where you are billing directly, so both the tax treatment and your input tax credit position are clean.
- Set a claim deadline in the policy, commonly 30 to 90 days, and communicate it clearly. Late claims create payroll and Form 16 problems.
GST applies to relocation services. Where the company is the recipient and the invoice is raised correctly, input tax credit is usually available, which changes your effective cost. Confirm the treatment with your finance team.
Tax rules and interpretations change, and individual circumstances differ. Treat the above as an orientation and get your tax advisor to sign off on your policy wording.
Office Relocation Services
Office moves have a different risk profile from employee moves. The cost of the move itself is rarely the issue. The cost of downtime is.
What proper office relocation services cover:
- Site survey of both locations, including access, lift capacity, and loading bay
- Asset inventory and tagging, so nothing goes missing between two buildings
- Phased move planning, usually across a weekend or in stages, to limit business disruption
- Workstation dismantling and reassembly
- IT equipment handling: desktops, monitors, network hardware, and specialist handling for servers
- Server and data centre moves, which need their own plan and often a separate window
- Secure handling of physical records and confidential files
- Furniture, storage units, and pantry equipment
- Plant and machinery for industrial moves, which may need rigging and specialist equipment
- Debris clearance and electronic waste disposal at the old site
- Post move support during the first week, when the snag list appears
The questions that actually determine success:
- What is the maximum acceptable downtime, and does the plan meet it?
- Who is responsible if IT equipment is damaged, and what is the claim process?
- Is there a labelled floor plan for the new site so desks land where they should?
- What happens to assets that are being retired rather than moved?
- Who signs off the asset inventory at each end?
For any office move above about 50 seats, insist on a written move plan with a timeline, a named coordinator, and a defined contact chain for the move weekend.
Certifications Worth Checking
FIDI FAIM is the recognised global standard for international movers and is independently audited. For any company with overseas mobility, this is the fastest way to separate genuine international movers from freight brokers. FAIM Plus is the higher tier.
ISO 9001 covers quality management. ISO 14001 covers environmental management, which increasingly appears in procurement scorecards. ISO 27001 covers information security, which matters more than most companies realise here, because a relocation vendor handles employee passports, visas, addresses, family details, and salary linked policy data. If your vendor cannot describe how that data is protected, that is a procurement risk, not just a service question.
Service Levels Worth Writing Into the Contract
- Survey scheduled within a defined number of working days of request
- Written quote within a defined number of working days of survey
- Confirmed pickup date within a defined window of booking
- Delivery within an agreed transit window, with defined remedies for breach
- Damage claims acknowledged within a set period and settled within another
- Monthly MIS report with spend, volumes, transit performance, and claim status
- Named coordinator with a defined response time
Without these in writing, good service is a matter of opinion at renewal time.
Mistakes Companies Make With Corporate Relocation
- Choosing purely on rate card. The lowest per cubic foot rate means nothing if half the moves generate escalations that consume HR time. Cost the total, including your own team’s hours.
- No written policy. When employees do not know what is covered, every move becomes a negotiation. A one page policy summary given at the offer stage prevents most of that.
- Lump sums by default. They are simple, and they are usually the least tax efficient and worst experience option available.
- Ignoring the destination side of international moves. A great origin service and an unknown destination agent is how shipments end up stuck at a foreign port with nobody accountable.
- No single point of accountability. Using one vendor for household goods, another for immigration, and a third for accommodation means your HR team becomes the integrator by default.
- Forgetting repatriation. Assignments end. Lease closure, deposit recovery, visa cancellation, and the return shipment are all part of the cost, and they are usually budgeted for late.
- Not measuring anything. If you are not tracking cost per move, on time delivery percentage, claim rate, and employee satisfaction, you cannot tell whether your vendor is performing or whether your policy is working.
Metrics Worth Tracking
| Metric | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Average cost per move by grade and route | Baseline for budgeting and vendor negotiation |
| On time delivery percentage | The single best indicator of vendor reliability |
| Damage claim rate and average settlement time | Packing quality and claim honesty |
| HR hours spent per move | The hidden cost that vendor selection actually affects |
| Employee satisfaction score post move | Relocation experience influences early attrition more than most companies assume |
| Policy exception rate | A high rate means the policy does not match reality and needs revising |
Corporate Relocation Services in India With Transworld International
Transworld International has served corporate clients since 1999, from its head office in Bangalore with branches across India and partners worldwide.
For your employees
- Domestic relocation across India with our own branch network
- International relocation to more than 180 countries through 500 plus global partners
- Visa and immigration assistance, home search, school search, orientation, and settling in services
- Tenancy management and deposit recovery
- Pet relocation and vehicle shipping
- Repatriation support at the end of assignments
For your offices and facilities
- Office, plant, and warehouse relocation with phased move planning
- IT equipment and server handling
- Asset inventory, tagging, and reconciliation
- Secure records handling
- Storage in our warehouses, which run to around one million square feet across locations, with CCTV, fire detection, and round the clock security
For your HR and mobility team
- A dedicated account coordinator with a defined escalation path
- Consolidated invoicing rather than individual employee claims
- Reporting on spend, volumes, and transit performance
- Comprehensive insurance with claim support handled by our team
- FIDI FAIM Plus certified, the first such certified company in South India, audited by Ernst and Young
- ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 27001 certified, covering quality, environment, and information security
The ISO 27001 certification is worth a specific mention for procurement teams. Relocation vendors handle a significant amount of employee personal data, and formal information security certification is not common in this industry in India.
To discuss a corporate account or request a rate card, get in touch through our relocation services page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are corporate relocation services in India?
Corporate relocation services manage employee moves on behalf of an employer, covering household goods shipping, travel, temporary accommodation, home and school search, immigration support for international moves, settling in assistance, expense management, and repatriation. Office and plant relocations fall under the same service umbrella.
How much does it cost to relocate an employee within India?
A domestic employee move typically costs 15,000 to 35,000 rupees for a single employee, 25,000 to 55,000 rupees for a mid level employee with a small family, and 40,000 to 90,000 rupees for a senior employee with a larger household. Travel, temporary accommodation, and brokerage are additional.
Is relocation allowance taxable in India?
Genuine transfer expenses supported by valid bills can be exempt under Section 10(14) read with Rule 2BB. A lump sum paid without bills is generally treated as salary and taxed, and any amount reimbursed above actual documented expenses is generally taxable. Confirm the treatment for your policy with your tax advisor.
Should we offer a lump sum or a managed relocation?
A lump sum is simple to administer but usually the least tax efficient option and the weakest employee experience. Direct billing through an appointed vendor generally gives better tax treatment, negotiated rates, one invoice instead of many claims, and a better experience. Most mid to large companies use a tiered corporate relocation policy combining both.
What should a corporate relocation policy in India include?
Eligibility by grade, what is covered and what is not, the approval process, the appointed vendor and how to engage them, claim deadlines, temporary accommodation limits, the tax treatment of each component, and what happens if an employee leaves shortly after relocating.
How do we evaluate a corporate relocation vendor?
Look at India wide coverage through their own branches, FIDI FAIM certification for international moves, whether they control customs clearance and destination delivery or hand it to third parties, information security certification for employee data, defined service levels, reporting quality, and references from comparable clients.
How long does an office relocation take?
It depends on size, but for a typical office move the planning phase is 4 to 8 weeks and the physical move is usually executed across a weekend or in phases to limit downtime. Server and data centre moves need their own plan and window.
Do you handle group or bulk employee moves?
Yes. Group moves for site shifts or campus relocations are planned as a single project with a common timeline, a dedicated coordinator, and consolidated reporting rather than as a series of individual moves.
What is FIDI FAIM certification and why does it matter?
FIDI FAIM is an independently audited global quality standard for international moving companies. For any employer with overseas mobility, it is the clearest way to distinguish a genuine international mover from a broker who subcontracts the work.
What happens at the end of an international assignment?
Repatriation services cover the return shipment, lease closure, and deposit recovery at the destination, visa cancellation formalities, utility disconnections, and delivery back in India. Budget for this at the start of the assignment rather than the end.
