How to Choose the Right Offshore Development Team in India

Because a “cheap dev shop” and a “scalable product engine” are not the same thing

If you’ve ever uttered “We’re thinking of outsourcing to India” in a product meeting, chances are someone followed it up with a horror story - missed deadlines, spaghetti code, radio silence at 4 p.m. PST. Offshore development has a reputation problem. But here’s the kicker: most of the “bad offshore” isn’t about talent. It’s about bad fit, bad process, and worse expectations.

And nowhere is this truer than in India, where a sea of 5-person dev shops, 500-person IT firms, and actual black-hole agencies all swim under the same “offshore” banner. So how do you separate the grown-up product teams from the gung-ho freelancers in hoodies?

Let’s break it down.

The Indian Dev Universe Is Big - and Bizarrely Fragmented

One minute you’re on a call with a Stanford-educated founder in Bangalore who quotes in dollars and talks about value-per-sprint. The next, you’re staring at a cartoonish agency website offering “complete digital solution” with stock photos of handshakes and mission statements about “synergy.”

India has:

• IIT grads building crypto infra at midnight,
• PMO-certified mid-tiers running waterfall projects for Fortune 100s,
• and three cousins in Indore who just figured out how Upwork works.

And they’re all bidding on the same RFP.

Which means your selection process better be sharper than your hiring bar at home. Offshore success isn’t about cost. It’s about control, compatibility, and compounding output. So let’s talk filters.

Most Agencies Aren’t Built for Product Work

You’re not looking for a vendor. You’re looking for a team that thinks in product loops, not project plans.

Here’s how to spot the difference:

Bad offshore pitch:
“We can do everything - mobile apps, SAP, IoT, DevOps, AI/ML, design, and digital marketing.”

Good offshore pitch:
“We specialize in React/Node SaaS products, 3–12 month engagements, weekly demos, and clean handovers.”

Product-focused teams show up with:

• versioned code on GitHub, not ZIPs on WhatsApp
• sprints and retros, not just standups
• opinions on edge cases and infra, not just implementation
• skeleton crews that can scale into pods, not bloated bench fillers

If they can’t tell you their stack sweet spot and engagement model in 30 seconds, move on.

Red Flags, Straight from the Trenches

We’ve stepped on more than a few outsourcing landmines in our early days. Here’s what we now dodge like a pro:

1. “We have 500 developers” flex
Translation: We run a glorified staffing firm. You’ll get who’s free, not who’s great.

2. No public GitHub, case studies, or product screenshots
If a dev team can’t show what they’ve shipped, they probably haven’t shipped anything meaningful.

3. Hourly billing with zero visibility
Say hello to invoice whiplash and 4-hour tickets for 30-line bug fixes.

4. Can’t explain tradeoffs
A great dev doesn’t just say “yes.” They say: “Sure, but that’ll increase your cold-start latency by 80ms. You okay with that?”

5. Founders who disappear post-sale
If your first call was with the founder and now you’re ghost-managed by someone called Rahul PMO (no last name), that’s a bad sign.

So What Should You Actually Look For?

The best offshore teams feel like an extension of your in-house crew. Here’s our unofficial scorecard - use it like Tinder for dev shops:

Bookmark that. Or tattoo it on your PM’s wrist.

Wait, But Isn’t India Super Cheap?

Short answer: Not anymore. And that’s a good thing.

Sure, you can still find $10/hour “developers” on freelance sites. But if you want product-grade engineers - people who’ve scaled React apps, tuned PostgreSQL, or built on AWS without spinning up a bitcoin miner by mistake - you’re looking at $25–50/hour, sometimes more for leads.

What you get for that money in India, though, is exceptional:

• Senior engineers who’ve worked at Flipkart, Razorpay, Swiggy, or Zoho
• Deep infra knowledge and actual design sense (finally!)
• Fast iteration loops because everyone’s used to global clients
• English fluency and documentation habits that surprise even US clients

Think of it like F1 engineering talent at NCAA football prices. You don’t go offshore to pay peanuts. You go offshore to get leverage.

How We Vet Offshore Teams (When We’re Not the Team)

Sometimes we play matchmaker for clients looking to expand beyond us. Here’s our backchannel checklist:

1. The Github Lurker Test:
We don’t just ask for code - we lurk. How do their commits look? Are PRs reviewed? Is their branching sane?

2. The Infra Nudge:
We ask random infra questions like “How do you handle staging env resets?” Just to see if they panic.

3. The Zombie Ticket Check:
We sneak into their Jira (if they let us). Any stale tickets over 3 sprints old? Not great.

4. The Founder Vibe Check:
Is the founder still writing code or just selling deals? The best shops still have builders at the top.

5. The Weekend Ping Rule:
We message on a Saturday morning. No one has to reply. But if someone does - politely - that’s gold.

Okay, But What If I Still Get Burned?

It can happen. The first few sprints with any offshore crew are like dating someone you met on Reddit. You don’t go all-in on Day 1.

Here’s our safe-start protocol:

• Start small: 2-week discovery sprint, one feature, tight scope
• Assign a PM: Someone who can translate vision into backlog
• Mandate async rituals: Weekly Loom updates, GitHub check-ins, and Notion docs
• Track throughput, not hours: Are stories moving? Is code merging? That’s your signal.
• Fire fast: If three weeks in you’re still getting vague replies and commit dumps at midnight, run.

Remember: offshore doesn’t mean offloaded. You still need to drive. Just with a team that doesn’t make you want to drive off a cliff.

Offshore Isn’t a Hack. It’s a Multiplier.

Done right, your offshore team won’t just build what you tell them. They’ll spot the gotchas, nudge the roadmap, and become your unfair advantage. Done wrong, they’ll tank your velocity and leave you explaining delays to your board.

So don’t just look for developers in India. Look for product partners. Builders. People who give a damn.

Need a team that’s been through the trenches (and knows when to say no to your feature idea)? DM me. Or check out 1985 - our Bangalore gang ships clean code and spicy memes.

1. What’s the difference between an offshore dev shop and a true product engineering team?
A dev shop often focuses on task execution - “just tell us what to build” - whereas a product engineering team brings structured thinking, problem-solving ability, and ownership of outcomes. The latter contributes to architecture decisions, flags trade-offs, participates in shaping the roadmap, and integrates seamlessly with product and design. Think coders vs collaborators.

2. How much should I expect to pay for a solid offshore team in India in 2025?
For mid-to-senior engineers who’ve built and scaled products, rates typically range from $25–$50/hour. Lead engineers or architects with prior startup or FAANG experience may cost more. If a team quotes below $15/hour and promises “everything,” that’s usually a red flag. You’re not paying for bodies - you’re paying for judgment, systems thinking, and reliability.

3. How do I verify if an Indian offshore team is truly experienced with startups or product companies?
Ask for live product URLs, GitHub repos, or architecture diagrams - not just decks. Review commit history, PR practices, and API documentation style. Request client references specifically from product-first companies, not just IT service firms. A team that’s built SaaS apps, internal tools, or marketplaces will be comfortable iterating fast and thinking lean.

4. What project management methods do good Indian offshore teams typically follow?
High-quality teams are fluent in agile, often using a flavor of Scrum or Kanban adapted for timezone gaps. Look for rituals like sprint planning, daily async check-ins (via Loom, Slack, or Notion), weekly demos, and retrospectives. If the team can’t explain their agile process clearly - or worse, doesn’t use any process - that’s a warning sign.

5. What are the common communication pitfalls when working with Indian offshore teams?
Silence during ambiguity, over-promising due to cultural politeness, and avoidance of hard feedback loops are common. The solution is to normalize async written updates, use shared tools like Notion or Linear, and explicitly ask for trade-off analysis. Great offshore teams welcome clear scopes, documented decisions, and shared rituals - not just real-time Slack pings.

6. How important is timezone overlap when working with a team in India?
At least 2–4 hours of overlap with US or EU timezones helps with sync meetings and unblockers. But more critical is the team’s async muscle - how well they document progress, make decisions without waiting, and deliver updates predictably. A timezone-compatible team without async discipline will still bottleneck your roadmap.

7. What’s the best way to start working with an offshore team to minimize risk?
Begin with a 2–3 week pilot focused on a self-contained feature or module. Define success metrics (code quality, delivery speed, communication style), and assign a product owner or PM to act as the bridge. Use this as a dry run for evaluating working styles before scaling up. Think dating, not marriage.

8. Can offshore teams in India handle complex backend infrastructure or DevOps?
Yes - many Indian engineers have scaled infra for high-traffic apps and are proficient in AWS, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD tooling. That said, depth varies widely. Ask how they manage staging environments, secrets, zero-downtime deployments, or rollbacks. Look for evidence of real-world complexity - not just certifications.

9. How can I assess the English and communication skills of an offshore team?
Don’t rely solely on sales calls. Ask for written documentation samples, Slack-style project updates, or product specs they've authored. Pay attention to clarity, structure, and proactivity. Communication isn’t about accent - it’s about conveying assumptions, risks, and progress without you having to chase it down.

10. Should I work with an individual freelancer or a small offshore agency?
Solo devs may work for narrow scopes or prototypes, but scaling a product typically requires a team with complementary skills - frontend, backend, QA, design, DevOps. Small agencies with 5–30 people often strike the right balance: nimble, accountable, and capable of team-level continuity. Just make sure their founder is still involved and technical.