People: Payroll, people records and performance, deep for India.
Employee records, attendance, leave, India payroll with PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS on salary (Section 192), expenses, simple hiring and performance reviews. A person always approves the payroll total, and Kinnow never pays salaries by itself.
What does Kinnow People do? Employee records, attendance, leave, India payroll with PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS on salary (Section 192), expenses, simple hiring and performance reviews. A person always approves the payroll total, and Kinnow never pays salaries by itself. Nothing is filed, paid or posted without a person.
Your payroll week, before and after
Most owners run payroll from an Excel sheet that the accounts executive rebuilds every month, with PF and ESI worked out on the side.
| Job | Today, in a typical Indian SME | On Kinnow |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance to pay | Attendance is counted on paper and loss of pay is argued over on the 28th. | Punches, biometric uploads and leave go into the payroll run, and Kinnow proposes the loss-of-pay days from them. |
| The salary structure | Basic is kept low and a large special allowance makes up the rest. The new wage definition is a surprise. | Before payday, each employee is checked against the Code on Wages, and the extra PF and gratuity cost is shown. |
| Checking the run | The owner scans the sheet for anything odd. | Any cost centre that moves by more than 5%, and any person who moves by more than 10%, is flagged against the last run. |
| Approval | The person who built the sheet also pays it. | Whoever prepared the run cannot approve it or mark it paid. Approval needs a fresh sign-in. |
| The bank file | Account numbers retyped into the bank portal. | Kinnow produces the bank payment file. Anyone with a wrong IFSC code is left out of it, with the reason shown. |
| Exits | Final dues are worked out on the last day, from memory. | Gratuity, leave encashment, notice shortfall and advances come in one statement. The exit cannot close while anything is unsettled. |
See your own payroll month on Kinnow. Send us a month's salary sheet and we will run it.
Walk through one payroll month
A company with eighty employees, an HR executive who prepares payroll, a finance head who approves and a reporting manager for each team.
- Through the month. Employees punch in with a location check, or attendance is uploaded or synced from a biometric device. Leave is applied for and approved by the reporting manager. Overtime on timesheets is paid at twice the ordinary rate. Expense claims are approved by someone other than the claimant.
- Joiners and leavers. Hiring ends with one click on Hire, which creates the employee record. Joining tasks are assigned. For a leaver, an exit record is opened.
- Before the run. The HR executive reviews the loss-of-pay proposals drawn from attendance, and the list of licences and certificates about to expire in 30, 60 and 90 days. Bank details changed since the last run are checked.
- Prepare the run. The HR executive starts the monthly run. Only one monthly run is allowed per month. A separate run for a bonus, an arrear or a settlement needs a stated reason. Kinnow builds basic, HRA and special allowance from each person's CTC structure, then works out PF, ESI, professional tax, labour welfare fund and TDS under Section 192.
- Review. The comparison with last month flags any cost centre that moves by more than 5% and any person who moves by more than 10%. Arrears from backdated revisions are shown separately.
- Approve. The finance head approves, signing in afresh. The person who prepared the run cannot. In the India set-up a run above ₹50,00,000 gross also needs a named person to sign off. Once approved, the payroll entries go to Account.
- Bank file. The bank payment file lists amounts in rupees, with a total that matches the run's headcount. Anyone left out of the file is listed with the reason.
- Pay. After the transfer is made at the bank, the approver marks the run paid. Payslips are made and emailed, and each employee can see theirs.
- Statutory. For the month, Kinnow prepares PF ECR data, an ESI contribution statement, a professional tax statement per state and a labour welfare fund statement. Each quarter it prepares Form 24Q data, and at year end Form 16 data for each employee. TDS deposit and return drafts are prepared in Comply.
- Exits. Each department signs off the leaver's clearance. The full and final statement is checked and the exit is completed.
Ask us to take one month of your payroll through these ten steps.
Payslips, returns and records
| Output | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Payslip | Earnings, PF, ESI, professional tax, LWF and TDS, emailed to the employee and shown in self-service. |
| Salary register and payroll summary | The month's pay by employee and cost centre. |
| Bank payment file | NEFT or RTGS file with the IFSC checked and a total to tally against. |
| PF ECR data | Employee and employer PF, person by person, ready to upload to EPFO. |
| ESI contribution statement | By employee, for the month. |
| Professional tax statement | By state, for the month. |
| Labour welfare fund statement | For states where the fund applies. |
| Form 24Q data | The quarterly salary TDS data, by employee, with quarters following the Indian financial year. |
| Form 16 data | For each employee and financial year. |
| Gratuity register | What you owe, by employee. Seven months of service counts as a full year; exactly six does not. |
| Full and final statement | Gratuity, leave encashment, notice shortfall, advances. |
| Letters | Offer, appointment, confirmation, increment, relieving and experience letters. |
| Workforce reports | Headcount, attrition, leave analysis and training compliance. |
Agents that work in People
Each agent does a piece of the HR desk's work and hands it back. Each is checked with you before it works on your payroll or records, and everything it produces waits for a person.
Payroll Engine
Works out monthly India payroll: PF, ESI, professional tax for five states and Section-192 TDS, for a finance approver to sign off.
KnowPolicy Agent
Answers policy questions from your own handbook text and cites the source.
PeopleCLRA Compliance Planned
Checks PF and ESI cover for contract labour, and whether licences are valid, for site workforces.
Also here: a month-on-month payroll comparison, loss-of-pay proposals, a salary-restructure check for the wage code, reminders for expiring licences and certificates, joiner and exit checklists, attrition risk, review summaries, goal suggestions, rating-fairness advice, candidate matching and CV ranking.
Ask Kinnow, for your people
Ask in plain English. Before it runs, Kinnow shows where the answer will come from and what it will cost, and payroll figures are shown only to people who may see them.
| Question an owner would type | What comes back |
|---|---|
| What will this month's payroll cost, and what changed from last month? | The run total, with the cost centres and people that changed most. |
| Which employees fall short of the new wage definition? | The Labour Codes check, with the extra PF and gratuity cost for each person. |
| What is our gratuity liability today? | Gratuity owed, by employee, with the total. |
| Whose probation ends this month? | The probation list, with dates and decisions due. |
| How many people left this year, and from which teams? | The attrition report by team. |
| Which licences or certificates expire in the next 60 days? | Licences and certificates by days left, for the site or role concerned. |
| Who has been punching in away from the site? | Punches made outside the site boundary, by person and day. |
Bring the people questions you ask your HR executive every month-end.
Controls an owner cares about
- Two people on every payroll. Whoever prepared the run cannot approve it or mark it paid. Both steps need a fresh sign-in. You can also stop anyone who changed an employee's bank details from approving that run.
- Payroll is never auto-disbursed. Kinnow prepares the file. The money moves at your bank.
- Pay figures are private. Pay and salary details are shown only to people whose role allows it, and an agent sees only what the person asking may see.
- Claims. Nobody can approve their own claim. Kinnow also flags people who keep approving each other's claims.
- Hiring. Offers need approval, and you can require a second approver.
- Veil. Bank, tax and ID numbers are held back, and names are swapped for placeholders, before an AI call. It covers Ask Kinnow and most agents today.
Connects to
- Account: the approved payroll and reimbursed claims post to the ledger.
- Comply: TDS deposit and return drafts, and the month-end check on statutory payments.
- Zest and Common: the company chart that decides who signs off.
Questions
Does Kinnow pay salaries automatically?
No. Kinnow works out the pay, someone other than the preparer approves the run, and Kinnow prepares a bank payment file that you upload at your bank. Marking the run paid, which sends the payslips, is a second step by an approver. Nothing moves money by itself.
Which statutory deductions are covered?
PF at 12% each side on basic up to the ₹15,000 wage ceiling, or on full basic if you choose that; ESI where the employee opted in and gross is within ₹21,000; professional tax; Labour Welfare Fund; and Section 192 TDS under the old and new regimes, using the employee's declaration. Professional tax is set up for five states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal), and your payroll adviser confirms the amounts for each state when you set up.
How does the Labour Codes check work?
For each employee, Kinnow works out the wage the Code on Wages counts, which is at least half of total pay. It shows who falls short and what restructuring would add to PF and gratuity, before payday. It changes nothing by itself.
Can we move our payroll across from Excel or another package?
Employees and past payroll runs can be imported. First results take about two weeks.
What happens when someone leaves?
An exit record is opened, with clearance from each department. The full and final statement adds gratuity if vested and leave encashment, and subtracts any notice shortfall and advances. If the net is negative it is shown as a recovery, not rounded to zero. The exit cannot be completed while anything is unsettled.
Can staff see their own payslips and apply for leave?
Yes. Each person sees their own payslips, leave balances and requests, tax declaration and expense claims. Managers see their own team. Nobody can approve their own claim, and Kinnow looks for people who keep approving each other's claims.
What if Kinnow gets a payroll number wrong?
Before the run is approved, Kinnow flags any cost centre that moves more than 5% and any person who moves more than 10% against the last run, so a wrong salary structure shows up before payday. Each agent is checked with you before it works on your payroll, and an approver signs off the total.
See HR & payroll on screen.
Cropped from the live product so you can read it. Tap to enlarge.
Hiring to productive, payroll run to pay, leave to decision. Each comes from your industry's processes, with an owner on every step and a clock on every hand-off. See the processes →
Inside this page
Payroll
Full India payroll, checked against labour law before anyone is paid.
- Payroll Engine: Works out monthly India payroll: PF, ESI, professional tax for five states and Section-192 TDS, for a finance approver to sign off.
HR records & exits
Employee records, letters and full-and-final settlements.
Attendance & shifts
Phone punch-in with a location check, rosters and overtime.
Recruitment
Openings to offers; one click on Hire creates the employee.
Performance & goals
Goals, review cycles and 360 feedback.
Expense claims
Claims with self-approval blocked.
Start with one need. Switch on the next in a day. Same records, same login, no new licence.
Tell Kinnow what slows you down.
Answer three questions. Get the applications, the agents and a two-week plan for your business.