Virtual Assistant India—Everything You Need To Know

If you need a Virtual Assistant, India is one of the best destinations for hiring top talent and outsourcing specific tasks that take up too much of your time and resources. 

Indian VAs charge a much lower fee in contrast to VAs based in North America or Europe. This is because the cost of living is significantly lower in India compared to developed countries like the United States. As a result, you don’t have to break the bank when you outsource part of your work to a Virtual Assistant in India for your business needs.

But where can you find the best VAs in India? What factors should you consider before hiring one that fits your needs and budget? And do you compromise quality for the sake of affordability?

In the next 10 minutes, you’ll learn the answers to all these questions, plus we’ll show you how to set up a fully automated hiring funnel and cut hiring costs IN HALF.

Should You Hire an Indian Virtual Assistant?

Contracting a Virtual Assistant who’s based in India is a better, more affordable alternative than hiring a full-time writer or outsourcing tasks to freelancers in Europe or the U.S. 

Whether your VA takes on simple administrative tasks or a high-level job that requires specific skills, your VA will only charge you for the hours that go into completing the task (no additional expenses or overhead costs). 

Owing to the low cost of living, India is one of the few geographic locations where you can find skilled labor at extremely affordable rates! It’s a cheaper option compared to English-speaking countries where the cost of a VA can be up to TEN times higher. 

An Indian VA will also work at your convenience and assist your in-house staff with menial tasks that have been pending or take on role-specific tasks.  

For instance, you can hire a VA experienced in customer service for live chat and email support. Your VA in India will work in the same time zone as your customer base and respond to any queries your clients may have. This way you can ensure the best customer experience to your clientele at a time when your company is incredibly understaffed. 

Other benefits of hiring a VA from India include:

• Scaling your business—VAs from India are highly trained professionals who can handle non-core, repetitive tasks so you can devote your time and energy to business-critical tasks and grow your business effectively
• Getting top quality work—Indian VAs are hardworking, professional, and deadline oriented. They deliver quality work irrespective of their client’s time zone to secure positive reviews because their reputation depends on it
• Accessing a range of skills—Virtual Assistants in India constantly upgrade their skills to become industry experts. Doing so ensures they have the aptitude to take on high-level tasks that require a certain kind of expertise

What Factors Affect the Cost of an Indian VA?

The salary for a VA depends on their scope of work, industry experience, skills, and geographic location (cost of living). For Virtual Assistants in India, the wage typically ranges anywhere between $4 to $20, depending on the kind of work you need help with and the industry they operate in.  

When looking for a VA, you should factor in the:

• Number of tasks you need help with
• Length and duration of the project
• Level of expertise required for the job
• Type of quotation you receive

Scope of Work

Virtual Assistants from India can provide clerical support and handle role-specific tasks, such as content creation, email management, customer service, social media management, programming, bookkeeping, and digital marketing. 

You can hire a VA from India to handle virtually any type of task, as long as you clearly define what their tasks are and what skills and competencies are required to perform them well. For instance, when looking for a VA to manage administrative work, you should list out the responsibilities clearly in your ad, such as:

• Scheduling appointments with your clients
• Managing and updating your calendar
• Keeping track of business transactions
• Organizing your weekly emails and messages
• Corresponding with your customer base

Duration of the Project

Besides listing the responsibilities for your VA in a job ad, you should also consider the time it will take to complete the tasks. Any estimate you make depends on the complexity of the job and its duration. 

If you’re only looking for a Virtual Assistant to handle a one-off task or project with a clear deadline in mind, you’ll find that they’re mostly unwilling to adjust their rates. Most VAs will include their hourly rates in the job application and give you a rough ETA for the task/project. 

However, if you’re planning on contracting a VA for a longer period of time, and will have recurring weekly or monthly tasks to outsource to them, they might be a lot more open to negotiation regarding their rates. From their perspective, a long-term contract means stability and security since they’re guaranteed to be paid for a certain amount of hours, so they don’t  have to constantly worry about looking for new clients and securing future business.

Experience and Skills

The last thing you want to do is hire a candidate who needs constant supervision. To avoid micromanaging a VA, you need to determine the work experience and the type of skills you’re looking for from the VA in India. 

The only way you can leverage the skills of an experienced candidate is by specifying your requirements. Say you’re looking for a technical Virtual Assistant to maintain your brand website. In this case, you’re looking for a VA who has:

1. Credible qualification in a specific technical field
2. The ability to create and manage a website
3. Excellent data entry and problem-solving skills
4. Knowledge of one or more CMS (WordPress or Shopify)

But top-performing VAs in India will charge you a hefty sum for their expertise. If you’re only looking for a VA to do a menial task, such as updating a blog, you should hire someone with less experience to reduce the cost. 

Type of Quote

Virtual Assistants in India set their own rates—this depends on the industry they operate in and the scope of work. 

Your VA’s quotation can be:

• Time-based—Hire a Virtual Assistant for repetitive tasks and pay the agreed upon hourly rate once the job is complete, e.g., creating blog posts for your website
• Task-based—Onboard a VA from India to perform a role-specific task that needs some expertise when you’re understaffed, e.g., a cold calling VA for a real estate agency
• Project-based—Assign a project to your VA with a clear deadline and pay a fixed sum irrespective of how fast they complete the task, e.g., a VA for event planning
• Subscription-based—Contract an ecommerce VA for specific services every month, e.g., PPC advertising for your Amazon seller account

How Can You Pay Your VA in India?

Rather than handing everything on their own, many businesses turn to Virtual Assistant companies in India because they have the right tools to facilitate international payments. While this seems like a faster and easier option, it’s also more expensive since you’re paying for the agency’s cut as well. On top of that, VA companies rarely give you control over which Virtual Assistant is assigned to you.

If you want to hire an independent VA and have full control over the relationship with your remote assistant, you’ll have to directly transfer money to your Indian VA using other methods. You can either send money to their Indian bank account or use a borderless multi-currency account for a smoother process.

Two popular modes of payment with Indian VAs are:

• PayPal
• Payoneer

Keep in mind that Skrill and Transferwise do not work in India, so these payment options aren’t available. 

Where Can You Find Qualified VAs in India?

As we mentioned, most businesses go through an intermediary company when they’re looking for a remote Virtual Assistant who’s based in India. This is because hiring an Indian VA can be tricky when you’re not in India yourself. 

Some common issues that arise are:

• Language barriers can cause miscommunication issues
• Complications or issues with the mode of payment that may lead to mistrust 
• Time zone differences make it hard to set up meetings

According to HubStaff, here are the top rated companies in India that provide skilled, affordable VAs for a range of tasks to global entrepreneurs and businesses:

1. Hubstaff Talent
2. GetFriday
3. Brickwork India
4. Acelerar Technologies
5. Ossisto
6. WERVAS

Whether you’re going through a VA agency based in India or plan on posting a job ad on an online job board, your hiring process will still be exhausting and troublesome—especially when you’re looking for outstanding talent. 

For one, not every candidate you come across is going to be top-notch. They may showcase great portfolios but without personally evaluating their skills, how can you be sure they’re the right fit for the jb?

Secondly, when you’re dealing with multiple applicants, it’s hard to keep up with their progress through the different stages of your hiring funnel. You’ll be swarmed with applications and emails, so you might lose a great candidate just because you didn’t follow up on time.

To find a reliable, competent VA faster, you need an automated system that simplifies your hiring process—Workello is exactly what you’re looking for.

Onboard Virtual Assistants from India With Workello

Set up your account on Workello now—an applicant tracking system that automates every stage of your recruitment funnel (interviews, screening tests, follow-ups, and more). 

You’ll see all applications in one place—your unique Workello dashboard—regardless of what job board the VA applied from. Candidates are sorted by their status in your hiring funnel, and you can move them through different stages by selecting the appropriate option from a drop-down menu. For example, if you select “invite for testing,” the candidate will immediately receive an email inviting them to complete a short test, so you can assess their abilities more accurately.

This allows you to make an informed decision about which Virtual Assistant you want to hire, and it simultaneously saves you a ton of time since you don’t have to manually respond to emails, track candidates in spreadsheets, and check for incoming applications on half a dozen different job boards.

When you register with Workello, you’ll immediately be able to:

1. Add a link to your unique Workello application form to your job ad and post it on as many job boards as you like
2. Review the status of all your applicants from a single, unified dashboard
3. Assess and interview hundreds of candidates 10x times faster
4. Filter out unqualified candidates with great looking portfolios
5. Keep unnecessary transactional questions to a minimum
6. Hire a qualified Virtual Assistant from India who fits your business requirements

Sign up for Workello and get instant access to 5 Virtual Assistant tests for free!