What a guard
really costs

If you have collected three quotes for a guard at your gate, you have probably seen three very different numbers. That is not because one agency is greedy and another is generous. It is almost always because they are quoting different things.

One guard, round the clock, is not one salary

This is where most first-time buyers go wrong. A post that is manned 24 hours a day needs three eight-hour shifts. But a person cannot work seven days a week, so you also need relief cover for weekly offs, sick leave and festivals.

So when somebody quotes you “one guard” for a 24-hour post, check whether the figure covers one salary or four. A quote that covers only one is not a bargain; it means your gate will be empty for two shifts out of three, or the same exhausted person will be standing there for sixteen hours.

What has to be inside a legal quote

A compliant agency in Delhi is paying more than the guard’s take-home. The rate you are quoted has to absorb all of this:

• Minimum wage for the applicable skill category, as notified by the Delhi government. This is revised periodically, so ask which notification the quote is based on.
• Provident Fund — the employer’s contribution, on top of the guard’s salary.
• ESI — employees’ state insurance, again an employer cost.
• Bonus and leave — statutory bonus and paid leave entitlements.
• Relief cover — the extra headcount described above.
• Uniform and equipment — issued and replaced, not deducted from the guard.
• Supervision — a supervisor visiting the post, which is what stops a guard sleeping through a shift.
• PSARA licensing and training — agencies are regulated under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, and licensed training is not free.
• Agency margin and GST.

Why the cheapest quote is the expensive one

An agency can only get well below the market rate by removing something from that list. In practice it is nearly always PF and ESI, or the relief cover. Both land back on you:

1. Liability. If the agency is not depositing PF and ESI, that exposure does not stay with the agency. As the principal employer, you can be pulled into it.
2. Turnover. Underpaid guards leave. You will meet a new face at your gate every few weeks, and none of them will know your site, your staff or your delivery pattern.
3. Empty shifts. Without relief headcount, the 2am shift is the one that quietly goes unmanned.
4. No recourse. An unlicensed agency has nothing to lose if something goes wrong on your premises.

What to ask before you sign

• What is your PSARA licence number, and which state issued it?
• Is this rate inclusive of PF, ESI, bonus and leave? Can I see a recent challan?
• How many guards are deployed against this post, including relief?
• Who supervises the post, and how often do they physically visit?
• What happens if a guard does not turn up — how fast is a replacement on site?
• Are the guards background-verified, and can I see the documentation?
• Is the agency insured, and what does that cover?

Where cameras change the maths

This is the part most agencies will not tell you, because they sell headcount. For a lot of Delhi NCR sites — warehouses, yards, plots, small factories — the honest answer is that you do not need more guards. You need fewer guards and better eyes.

A guard can only be in one place. A guard at your gate cannot see the back wall. Monitored cameras cover the ground a guard physically cannot stand on, and they do it for every hour of the night without a shift roster. On many sites the cost-effective answer is one guard at the gate for access control, plus monitored cameras on the perimeter, rather than three guards trying to patrol acres.

The short version

Compare quotes on what is inside them, not on the headline number. Ask for the PSARA licence and the PF challan. Count the headcount behind a 24-hour post. And before you buy three guards, get somebody to walk the site and tell you honestly whether two of them would be better replaced by cameras somebody is actually watching.