Offer Letter Software for Small Business in India (2026)
What an offer letter should contain, what offer letter software should do, and how PeopleVio's verified accept or decline, PDF and offer-to-employee flow works, with its limits stated plainly.
Most small companies send offer letters as a Word file attached to an email, or worse, as a WhatsApp message. It works until it doesn't: the candidate says they never got it, the salary in the file differs from what was discussed, someone accepts and then joins with different terms, or a candidate ghosts and you can't tell whether the offer is still open. An offer letter is the first legal-ish document in the employment relationship, and it deserves a process.
This guide covers what an offer letter should contain, what offer letter software should do, and where PeopleVio's offer letter feature fits and doesn't. It is written by the PeopleVio team, so we describe the product as it actually works and flag its limits.
What an offer letter should contain
A good offer letter is short, specific and consistent with the appointment letter that follows. At minimum:
- Candidate name and contact details
- Designation, department and reporting manager
- Date of joining and place of work
- Salary structure: Basic, HRA, allowances and total CTC, with any variable pay explained
- Probation period and how confirmation works
- Notice period, and any bond or clawback terms
- Leave entitlements, or a reference to your policy
- Documents to bring on the first day
- A clear deadline for acceptance
The most common source of disputes is salary. If the letter says one thing and the payslip says another, you have a problem that no software fixes. Decide the structure before you write the letter.
Why manual offers go wrong
- No status. You don't know whether the candidate opened it, accepted, declined or ignored it.
- Version confusion. Three edited copies circulate, and nobody knows which one was agreed.
- Weak proof of acceptance. "Reply YES to this email" is fragile, and a forwarded link or a colleague's reply can muddy it.
- No link to the employee record. After acceptance, HR retypes everything into the HR system, and errors creep in.
- Withdrawals are informal. If you need to pull an offer, nothing records it.
What offer letter software should do
- Keep offers in one place with a clear status: draft, released, accepted, declined or withdrawn.
- Generate a clean PDF from the same data, so the letter never differs from the record.
- Send the candidate a link, not an attachment, so you control the current version.
- Verify the person responding is the candidate, not whoever has the link.
- Record the response and the time, including a reason if declined.
- Feed the employee record, so accepted offers turn into employees without retyping.
- Allow withdrawal and editing of a draft before release.
How PeopleVio's offer letters work
Here is what the feature does today:
- Draft. An admin enters the candidate's name, email and phone, department, designation, joining date and salary breakup (Basic, HRA and other allowances), plus any notes. Drafts can be edited until they are released.
- Release. Releasing sends the candidate an email with a link to a candidate-facing page. The link is unguessable, not the internal record ID.
- Accept or decline with OTP. To respond, the candidate enters a one-time code sent to their email. This means someone who merely has the link, including the admin who copied it, cannot respond on the candidate's behalf. The candidate can decline with a reason.
- Status tracking. Each offer moves through draft, released, accepted, declined or withdrawn, with the release and response times recorded.
- PDF. A downloadable PDF of the offer letter is generated from the record.
- Convert to employee. An accepted offer can be turned into an employee record, and the link between them is stored.
It is part of the same portal as attendance, leave, payroll, expenses, assets and the org chart, so a hire moves from offer to employee to first payroll without changing tools.
An honest note on what it doesn't do
- Not a formal e-signature. The email OTP verifies that the person responding controls the candidate's email address. It is not a digital signature under the IT Act, so if you need a legally formal e-sign, use a dedicated e-signature service alongside it.
- A fixed letter format. The offer captures structured fields for designation, joining date and the salary breakup. Terms such as probation, notice period and clawbacks go in the notes, and there is no clause library or custom template builder. Check the PDF against what your lawyer expects.
- No applicant tracking. There is no candidate pipeline, interview scheduling or resume database. Offer letters start once you have decided to hire.
- No background verification or e-stamping.
- Salary fields are Basic, HRA and other allowances. Variable pay and joining bonuses are described in the notes and set up in payroll separately.
If you hire in volume and need templates, e-signature and applicant tracking, use a dedicated recruitment tool for the front end. For a small team that just needs offers sent, verified and recorded, PeopleVio's version covers the essentials.
How the main options fit
| Option | Fit |
|---|---|
| Word or Google Docs plus email | Free and flexible, but no status, version control or verified acceptance |
| Dedicated e-signature tools | Strong on legally formal signing, but separate from your HR records and priced per envelope or seat |
| Keka, Zimyo, Darwinbox | Larger HRMS suites with recruitment and onboarding modules that include offers, at higher price points and more setup |
| Zoho People | Offer and onboarding features within the wider Zoho ecosystem, worth checking if you already use Zoho |
| PeopleVio | Offer letters included in the flat per-employee price, with verified accept or decline, PDF and conversion to an employee record |
A worked example: hiring 6 people in a quarter
Suppose a 25-person company hires 6 people in three months.
- Before: offers go out as Word files, three candidates take a week to reply, and one claims they never saw a revised salary.
- With a process: each offer is drafted with a fixed salary breakup, released by email, accepted by OTP and stored with a timestamp. The two candidates who decline give a reason, which HR notes for next time.
- After acceptance: the four who accept become employee records, and their first-month payroll uses the same salary structure.
- Cost: at 25 employees the first band applies, ₹59 per employee per month on monthly billing (₹49 on yearly). That is ₹1,475 a month, or ₹1,225 a month billed yearly, with all modules included. The band rate applies to your total active employee count, so check the pricing page for current numbers.
Common mistakes with offer letters
- Sending before the salary structure is final. Changes after release create confusion, so settle the breakup first.
- Leaving out notice and probation. These are the terms people argue about at exit.
- No deadline. An open-ended offer blocks the role and your planning.
- Letting the link travel. Use verification so only the candidate can respond.
- Not recording declines. The reasons tell you whether your pay or process is the problem.
- Forgetting the follow-up. After acceptance, collect documents and set up the employee record the same week.
Frequently asked questions
Is an offer letter legally binding in India? An accepted offer can form part of the employment contract, but the appointment letter and any agreement usually carry the full terms. Have a lawyer review your templates.
Does PeopleVio include offer letter software? Yes. Drafting, releasing, tracking, a candidate accept or decline page with email OTP verification, and PDF generation are part of the product at the same flat price as the other modules.
Is the OTP acceptance a legal e-signature? No. It verifies that the responder controls the candidate's email, which is a strong check against someone else responding, but it is not a formal digital signature. Use an e-signature service if you need one.
Can I edit an offer after sending it? Drafts can be edited before release. If a released offer needs to change, withdraw it and issue a new one so there is one clear record.
What happens when a candidate accepts? The status changes to accepted with a timestamp, and an admin can create the employee record from the accepted offer.
How do I include probation and notice period? Use the notes field on the offer, and make sure the appointment letter repeats them. There is no separate structured probation field.
Does PeopleVio track applicants? No. It has no applicant tracking, interview scheduling or resume database. Offer letters begin once you have chosen to hire.
How much does it cost for a 30-person company? On PeopleVio, 30 employees falls in the 26 to 100 band at ₹49 per employee per month (₹41 yearly), so about ₹1,470 a month on monthly billing, with all modules including offer letters. Compare total cost for every vendor on your list.
The bottom line
An offer letter process should give you one current version, verified acceptance and a record you can find later. PeopleVio's offer letters do that for a small team at no extra cost, and hand accepted hires straight into the employee record and payroll. If you need formal e-signatures, templates or applicant tracking, add a dedicated tool for those parts.
Want to see it with your own hiring flow? Request a demo or check the pricing.
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