Hiring a developer in India: time zones, payments, and contracts

Hiring in India works well for clients in the US, UK, Europe, Australia, and the Gulf when three things are explicit: when you will actually talk, how money moves, and what the written agreement says. The code is the easy part to discuss. These three are the ones that get skipped.

Time zones

India is IST, UTC+5:30, and it does not observe daylight saving. That means the overlap with the US East Coast is your morning, with the UK and much of Europe your afternoon, and with Australia your evening. It is a real overlap. It is not “they are online whenever I am.”

Book calls in that window. Do not expect a reply at your midnight as a default. Ask for the working hours in writing. Ours are confirmed on the site only once the exact hours are set; until then, plan around the overlap above and confirm on the call.

Async updates matter more than extra meetings. A milestone you can click is worth more than a daily call that repeats the same status.

Payments

Pay in USD unless you have a reason not to. Wise, PayPal, Stripe, and a bank transfer all work. The invoice should name the account. You should not be asked to pay an unnamed personal transfer “because international wires are hard” without it being the invoiced method.

Agree the schedule before work: milestone, hourly with a log, or a monthly block. Currency and method go in the same note as the price.

Contracts

Use the same clauses you would use with a local vendor: scope, ownership of code, confidentiality, a support window, and how either side stops. Distance is not a reason to skip the writing. A practical checklist is in what to put in a contract.

An NDA before you share production data is normal. Ask for it. A serious studio will sign.

Who you are hiring

Ask who writes the code. “A team” is not an answer unless they name the roles. At this studio the founder does the core work and brings a specialist only when needed. That model is described on about. If you need a bench of five disciplines every week, say so early. We will tell you if that is not us.

Start with a scoping call, not a rate negotiation. The rate is meaningless until the scope exists.