Payroll Software Textile Garment Shops India 2026

For a textile or garment business in India, the right payroll software is one that tracks piece-rate wages for karigars, calculates overtime at double the regular rate (as the Factories Act requires), handles daily-wage and monthly-salary staff in the same system, and keeps PF/ESIC deductions accurate across changing state minimum wages. Most tools built for IT companies or retail chains don’t cover even half of that.

After comparing six options, Petpooja Payroll came out ahead for businesses with 15 to 80 staff. greytHR works for smaller shops on fixed salaries. PagarBook is the go-to if you need a free mobile app and nothing else.

How Do These 6 Payroll Tools Stack Up?

Feature	Petpooja Payroll	greytHR	PagarBook	Zimyo	SalaryBox	Zoho Payroll
Biometric hardware included	Yes (lifetime warranty)	No	No	No	No	No
Piece-rate / per-unit pay	Via custom components	Manual setup	Work-basis tracking	Custom fields	Basic	Custom component
Overtime calculation (2x)	Via shift rules	Via custom setup	No	Yes	No	Via Zoho People
PF/ESIC/TDS compliance	Full	Full	Basic	Full	Basic	Full
Multi-location dashboard	Yes	Yes	Limited	Yes	Limited	Yes
WhatsApp payslips	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Pricing model	Flat annual fee	Free tier + paid	Free + paid	Per employee (min 50)	Free + paid	Per employee
Regional language support	Yes (11 langs)	Limited	10+ languages	Limited	Yes	Limited

Petpooja Payroll

A garment business in Surat running a workshop and a retail showroom under the same owner is a common setup. Petpooja Payroll handles both from one dashboard. The biometric face scanner installs at each site. Piece-rate pay for karigars goes in as a custom variable component. Overtime gets calculated against configured shift rules. PF, ESIC, and TDS deductions apply the correct brackets.

Salary advances (common in textile workshops where workers ask for ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 mid-month) get auto-deducted. Payslips go out on WhatsApp, which is the only channel that works for a workforce where most don’t have email addresses. Pricing is a flat annual fee regardless of headcount. Explore features on Petpooja Payroll or read about how it works for manufacturing setups.

greytHR

The free tier covers up to 25 employees with PF, ESIC, PT, and TDS compliance, leave management, and self-service payslips. Compliance is where greytHR earns its reputation. Statutory updates show up promptly when new minimum wage notifications are issued.

No biometric hardware, though. Piece-rate tracking isn’t native. Communication relies on email and a web portal that tailors won’t open. greytHR is a solid pick for a garment retail showroom in Dadar, Mumbai with 15 salaried salespeople. It’s a harder sell for a manufacturing unit with varied pay structures.

PagarBook

Built for India’s informal workforce. The app supports daily-wage, weekly, monthly, and work-basis tracking from a mobile interface. Selfie plus GPS attendance. WhatsApp payslips. Over 10 Indian languages, which matters when your workforce includes migrant workers from UP, Bihar, or Odisha.

Trade-offs: PF/ESIC compliance is basic. No overtime calculation. Limited multi-location reporting. Works for a small workshop in Bhiwandi with 12 to 18 workers on mixed pay. Doesn’t scale past 25 to 30 staff with complex structures.

Zimyo

HRMS for mid-sized businesses. Payroll, attendance, leave, performance, expense management. Overtime calculation supported. Custom pay fields for piece-rate. Requires minimum 50 employees to start. Base plan at ₹4,000/month. Makes sense for a mid-sized manufacturer in Ichalkaranji or Erode with 50 to 200 workers, not for a neighbourhood tailor shop.

SalaryBox

Mobile-first, selfie attendance, WhatsApp payslips, advance tracking. Covers the basics for free. No piece-rate tracking, no overtime calculation, basic PF/ESIC. Works for a garment retail shop with 10 salespeople on fixed pay. Doesn’t go deep enough for workshops with per-piece workers.

Zoho Payroll

Makes sense if you already use Zoho Books or Zoho Inventory. PF/ESIC/TDS handled. Attendance needs Zoho People (separate subscription). Piece-rate as a custom component. No WhatsApp payslips, no biometric hardware. Per-employee pricing. Worth it only inside the Zoho ecosystem.

How Do You Pick the Right Tool?

Garment retail showroom, under 25 salaried staff. greytHR’s free tier. Fixed salaries, PF/ESIC compliance, leave management. That’s all you need.

Small workshop or karigar unit, under 15 workers on mixed pay. PagarBook or SalaryBox. Free, mobile-first, regional language support. A workshop in Bhiwandi with 12 karigars on daily wages can track attendance and payments without spending on software.

Workshop plus showroom, 15 to 80 staff, piece-rate and overtime. Petpooja Payroll. Biometric hardware at each location, piece-rate as a custom component, overtime via shift rules, PF/ESIC, flat annual fee. A garment business in Surat with a 40-person workshop in Sachin GIDC and a 10-person showroom in Sahara Darwaja gets both on one dashboard without per-head charges.

Mid-to-large manufacturer, 50+ employees. Zimyo for HRMS depth. The 50-employee minimum makes it a poor fit for anything smaller.

Already on Zoho? Stay with Zoho Payroll. Ecosystem integration outweighs the limitations.

If you’re still running payroll in Excel, this guide on switching from Excel to payroll software walks through the transition. For multi-location businesses, there’s a separate guide on managing payroll across branches.

Conclusion

Textile and garment businesses deal with payroll complexity that most software wasn’t built for. Piece-rate wages, 2x overtime under the Factories Act, state-wise minimum wage revisions, and a mix of daily-wage, monthly-salary, and per-piece workers all running through the same system. For shops and workshops in that 15-to-80 staff range, Petpooja Payroll’s flat fee and bundled biometric hardware give you the most coverage without per-head costs eating into your margins.

Frequently Asked Questions