New Delhi - Post Report Question and Answers

What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?

Virtually everyone in the Foreign Service has household help, though we did not. It is relatively inexpensive, from what I gathered, and you could find whatever you wanted, including a live-in housekeeper. - Jan 2022


Household help is cheap. We had a maid, cook, driver, gardener, etc. That said, you'll go through several people before you assemble the right team of folks who are competent and trustworthy. We had four drivers before we found one who wasn't giving us heart attacks and motion sickness every time he got behind the wheel. - Sep 2020


Most everyone hires at least a part-time housekeeper. Those with enough balcony/rooftop or even actual garden space hire a gardener. Families often have a driver and nanny. Salaries and duties can vary significantly, but ballpark budget is 15000 INR per month for each full-time helper. With COVID, there is a dearth of expats and a bounty of employees. You will have your pick of staff to hire and salaries may have gone down. - Jul 2020


Domestic help is cheap and readily available. Many people employee drivers for daily commuting traffic can be frustrating. - Jul 2019


Household help is readily available, but good help is not. You have to try many before you find good and honest help. The moment you arrive, people will be knocking on your door. Most people have all-rounders (does all for you: cooking, cleaning, laundry), and others have separate cooks, laundry person, cleaning person, gardener, sweeper, driver. A contract is a must for all hired help. Most people have drivers as well as drivers in India are mostly without legal driving licenses and they do not follow traffic rules. You can get a local driving license if you opt for that. - Oct 2017


Cheap and easy and widely available! Every expat has some sort of help, many have multiple employees. We had:

All-Arounder-- a woman who worked 7 hours/day 5/days a week doing any combination of cleaning, childcare and cooking that I needed. Also worked overtime to babysit as needed. Paid about $220/month, plus about $1.50/hr overtime. Wonderful lady who my daughter adored.

Driver--if you have a car, you will probably have a driver. A few people drive themselves (my husband included), but if you plan on needing to park anywhere other than an embassy, you'll want a driver. Parking is horrendous. Drivers also run errands for you, can pick up and drop off items, and pay bills. Ours worked 6 days a week and we paid $250/month.

Gardener--our part-time gardener watered plants, swept the driveway, and planted things. He came in two mornings a week for about 2-4 hours total weekly and we paid about $30/month

Other people had more staff--perhaps an "ayah" (nanny) and then a separate woman to cook and clean. Or a woman to do childcare and cook and a separate part-time one to clean. - Mar 2017


Household help is plentiful and very inexpensive, of varying degrees of quality. Not unusual for people to have a cook, nanny, gardener and driver! - Feb 2017


Help is plentiful and very affordable. Full-time housekeepers for about two to three hundred dollars per month. Most people employ a small army of help: housekeepers, nannies, someone to take the trash, gardeners, drivers, someone to sweep your steps etc... - Nov 2016


Household help is plentiful, but the quality may vary, so give them a trial period before signing a contract. Those of us who have servants' quarters on their property can have a better choice of who they hire. Drivers and gardeners are also very helpful. Gardeners work a couple of hours a day and are very inexpensive. Having a driver is totally worth it if you buy or bring a car. - Jun 2016


Domestic help is plentiful, though you may have to try two or three candidates for a while before settling on a good match. Cost is reasonable for a developing country. Check with the community liaison office for advice on wages and benefits. - Sep 2014


See above, cheap and available but you need to do your homework and follow best practices that are recommended by the U.S. Embassy. - Sep 2014


I'm told we pay at the high end of normal and I pay US$300 per month for a woman to work full time cleaning and cooking and running errands. She also takes care of my dog. Most Indians are afraid of dogs, so I'm glad we found someone who gets along well with mine and cares for him very well. - Aug 2013


Good domestic help is available; higher quality costs more money. Labor is very segregated because of caste concerns, so your cook will likely not touch your bathroom or garbage. As a result, most Delhi upper-middle-class families seems to employ an army of part-time local help. - May 2013


Rising but reasonable. - Oct 2012


Decent price. Most people have a driver and housekeeper. Some have a nanny as well. It all depends on your budget and the size of your home. - Sep 2012


Cheap (though wages are rising) and easily contracted. - Aug 2011


once you find the right person for the job, which can sometimes be a frustrating period of trial and error, you'll never regret the (relative in-)expense. - Aug 2011


No ease of entry for foreign nannies because of changing visa restrictions, but great domestic help is available. - Aug 2011


Highly available, reliable, and inexpensive. Puts even the Filipinos to shame. - Jan 2011


Plenty available - the Bangalore "mafia" has a lock on house keepers and cooks. Lots available, but overall too much trouble - asking for loans, getting in fights with the neighbors, sneaking in relatives to live in the quarters, domestic disputes and alcohol abuse. - Sep 2010


It can be cheap but the quality is sometimes not exactly the best. - Aug 2010


Very plentiful and inexpensive. - Aug 2010


It is not that easy to find help. Because of the caste system, one will do only cooking and the other will do only cleaning. It is very difficult to find one person who can do all. - Aug 2010


Very easy to find help, just ask other expats for good recommendations. You can't live here without getting someone and it's one of the few places in the world where it won't cost you too much. - Mar 2008


Cheap and readily available. - Feb 2008


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