Factory Act, labour returns, CCTV + biometric DPDP consent, cost accounting, GST, statutory audits for Indian manufacturers. Named CA + CS on your account. One retainer across all pillars.
Indian manufacturing sits at the intersection of five regulators and ten state governments. The Factories Act 1948, state labour departments, GST, Income Tax, Pollution Control Board, Fire Safety, Factory License, Shops & Establishment, Contract Labour, PF, ESI, PT, LWF — every one of these has forms, fees, inspections and a different due-date logic.
A single missed Pollution Control Board filing can shut your plant. A single uninformed CCTV camera, under the new DPDP Act 2023, can trigger a worker-rights complaint. A single cost-accounting mistake can inflate your GST by lakhs across SKUs. The margins are thin; the compliance surface is enormous.
Most manufacturers either keep a stressed in-house accountant plus a part-time CA plus a labour-law consultant plus a factory-licensing agent — four vendors, four invoices, zero co-ordination — or they outsource to a traditional CA firm that files GST and nothing else. Neither works at scale.
Cosmoura runs the full manufacturing back-office as one retainer. Named CA and named CS on your account. Factory, labour, DPDP, GST, cost accounting, statutory audits, licence renewals — one calendar, one contact. Decipher Consultancy Services (our sister concern) builds the automation that keeps CCTV consent, biometric attendance and cost reconciliation running without a human chasing every signoff.
Trigger moment: You just received a PCB consent-to-operate renewal notice, a labour inspection letter, a DPDP CCTV complaint and a GST notice — in the same week. That is a normal week for an Indian factory doing ₹10+ crore revenue. We are built for that week.
Who this is for
The retainer is tuned to your stage. If you do not fit cleanly, we scope a custom pack.
20–150 workers, mix of contract and permanent. Needs the full compliance stack but cannot afford a full-time compliance officer. Factories Act plus state labour laws plus GST plus statutory audit — all on calendar.
Multiple states, multiple PFs, multiple PCB consents, multiple fire NOCs. Needs consolidated reporting plus plant-level compliance tracking. Centralised ROC, decentralised labour.
SEIS claims, SOFTEX filings, EOU bond management, SEZ developer compliance, STPI returns. Export incentives claimed properly, FEMA reconciled, forex positions tracked.
What this industry faces
Factories Act 1948, Shops & Establishment, Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, PF, ESI, PT, LWF, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act. State rules change every budget cycle — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka each have their own quirks.
DPDP Act requires explicit informed consent for CCTV monitoring and biometric attendance of workers. Non-compliance can trigger worker complaints and penalties. We draft the Hindi / English / regional consent notices, employee communication, grievance redressal and retention policies.
Multi-SKU costing, inventory valuation (FIFO / weighted average), scrap and by-product accounting, GSTR-1 / 3B / 9 with input tax credit reconciliation across raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods. Mismatched ITC is the #1 leak in Indian manufacturing books.
Consent to Operate (PCB), Fire NOC renewals, Factory License renewals, trade licences, Weights & Measures. Calendar-driven, zero last-minute scrambles. Non-renewal can trigger plant shutdown within 48 hours of expiry.
Pre-built packs
Each pack pulls from the right pillars. Pick one or bundle all four.
Hero · Compliance
Factories Act, state labour returns, CCTV and biometric DPDP consent, Pollution Control Board consent-to-operate renewals, fire NOC, factory licence, worker safety training.
Finance
Cost accounting with multi-SKU costing, inventory valuation across raw / WIP / finished, scrap accounting, GST ITC reconciliation, statutory audit prep, monthly MIS with plant-level P&L.
Secretarial
Annual ROC filings, board resolutions, related-party transaction disclosures, auditor appointments, CSR committee setup, CSR-2 annual filing, CSR implementation partner coordination.
IP
Brand trademark registration and watch, product design registration under the Designs Act, enforcement against counterfeits in B2B distribution channels, GI protection where applicable.
How we onboard
Most new manufacturing clients come to us mid-mess. Clean-up is a one-time cost; everything else is monthly cadence.
Week 1
We visit (or video-walk) the plant, review the last 12 months of statutory filings, inspect your statutory registers, pull your GST and PF/ESI history, and check your pollution and fire NOC positions. Written gap report with risk heat-map.
Week 2–3
Overdue filings regularised. Statutory registers brought current. DPDP consent templates deployed for CCTV and biometric. GST ITC reconciled against last 3 months. Pollution and fire NOC gap-filled before next inspection window.
Week 3
12-month compliance + finance calendar delivered. Named CA and named CS assigned. Monthly cadence agreed with your plant manager and finance head. Dedicated WhatsApp group opened with your team.
Ongoing
Monthly close by day 5, GST filed before due date, PF/ESI challan on time, labour returns on time, licence renewals filed in the renewal window — not the extension window. Quarterly review call with your plant head.
How we compare
Honest comparison on cost, coverage and the parts most firms quietly skip.
| Generic CA firm | Self-run team | Cosmoura retainer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named CA + CS on account | Partner on paper only | Depends on your hire | Named CA + CS, direct contact |
| DPDP CCTV + biometric consent | Not offered | Nobody built it | Templates deployed, consent captured |
| PCB + Fire NOC + Factory Licence | Separate licence agent | Last-minute scramble | Calendar-driven, zero gap |
| Multi-plant / multi-state coverage | Each plant is a project | Consolidation is painful | Plant-level + consolidated reporting |
| Multi-SKU cost accounting | Rare capability | Excel usually | Automated via Decipher tooling |
| Monthly cost (full stack) | ₹8–15L/yr + hourly | ₹18–30L/yr fully loaded | ₹3–8L/yr fixed retainer |
| Inspection + notice response | Added billing | In-house panic | Included in retainer |
What's included
FAQ
Yes. State-specific labour and factory rules are mapped per plant. We maintain separate compliance calendars per location and consolidate at the entity level. Priced per plant, not per entity. Multi-state GST registrations handled centrally.
DPDP Act requires explicit, informed consent before processing biometric or CCTV data. We draft consent forms (Hindi + English + regional languages), employee notices, grievance redressal and retention policies. Rights requests go to our Virtual DPO service. Consent capture templates are deployed on your HR portal.
Yes. We take over the operational and compliance side; your existing CA can continue to sign the statutory audit. We coordinate end-to-end so there is a single point of contact for you. Most clients keep their existing CA for signature-only and move operational work to us.
Flat retainer regardless of SKU count. We tune the chart of accounts and costing templates in month one; after that it is automated via your ERP (Tally, SAP B1, Zoho). Scrap and by-product accounting included from Growth tier.
We handle the response end to end — document pack, written submission, inspector meeting attendance if required. Included in the retainer; no extra billing. Historical inspector action trail maintained for future inspections.
Yes. Different PCBs (CPCB, MPCB, GPCB, TNPCB, KSPCB) have different renewal cycles — annual, every 3 years, every 5 years depending on category. We track and file in the renewal window, not the extension window, so you avoid non-compliance exposure.
Yes — this falls under the Export-oriented pack. SEZ developer compliance, EOU bond management, STPI returns, SEIS and SOFTEX filings, FEMA reconciliation. For 100% EOU, we also handle customs bond and warehouse licence coordination.
No, we do not sign audits as it is a conflict of interest. We prepare you fully and coordinate end-to-end with your statutory auditor. For first-time audits in a new state, we introduce you to firms we work with regularly.
Ready to run cleaner?
Free 30-minute discovery call. We map your current compliance + finance posture, then come back with a sequenced plan.
