Asked to Pay a Registration Fee for a Job? Read This First

Last updated: 8 October 2026 · By the Asuraa Team

Quick answer: If a private company or recruiter asks for a registration fee, security deposit or training charge before you join, it is almost certainly a scam. TCS, Infosys and Wipro all state on their official fraud pages that they never charge candidates, and the government's National Career Service charges no fee at any stage. The main exception is a government exam fee published in an official notification and paid on the official portal.

Key takeaways

• TCS, Infosys and Wipro each state on their official recruitment fraud pages that they do not charge candidates any fee or security deposit during hiring.
• The National Career Service portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment says it charges no fee at any stage of registration, job application or interview processing.
• Scammers relabel the fee as registration, refundable security deposit, training, laptop, verification or interview slot charges.
• Government recruitment exam fees are legitimate when published in an official notification and paid on the official portal, such as the Rs 100 UPSC Civil Services 2026 fee for General, OBC and EWS candidates.
• If you have paid a fake job fee, call 1930, file a Financial Fraud complaint on cybercrime.gov.in, inform your bank and report the impersonation to the real company.

If a private company or "HR consultant" asks you to pay a registration fee, security deposit or training charge before you can join, treat it as a scam. Major Indian employers state in writing that they never charge candidates. The main exception is a government recruitment exam, where a published application fee is paid on the official portal. This guide shows how to tell the two apart and what to do if you have already paid.

Do legitimate companies charge a registration fee for jobs?

No. Legitimate private employers pay to hire you; they do not charge you to be hired. Big Indian IT employers say this explicitly on their recruitment fraud pages:

• TCS says it does not ask for any payment or security deposit at any stage of recruitment.
• Infosys says it does not charge or accept any amount or security deposit from job seekers and will never ask for money to apply or work.
• Wipro says it never requests payment of any kind from candidates and has not authorised any agency or partner to collect a fee.

The government's own job portal follows the same rule. The National Career Service under the Ministry of Labour and Employment states that it does not charge any fee at any stage of registration, job application or interview processing.

What names do scammers use for the fee?

The fee is rarely called a "bribe". It is dressed up as something that sounds routine. Common labels include:

Wipro's fraud page specifically warns about fake offers that ask for a cash or security deposit into a bank account with a promise that it will be returned after joining. The "refundable" promise is what makes people pay.

When is paying a fee for a job legitimate?

Paying is legitimate mainly for government and public sector recruitment exams, where the fee is published in an official notification and paid on the official portal. For example, the Civil Services Examination 2026 carried an application fee of Rs 100 for General, OBC and EWS candidates, with no fee for SC, ST, ex-servicemen, persons with disabilities and women candidates, as reported by Careers360 from the UPSC notice.

Notice what makes this different from a scam:

1. The fee is printed in an official notification anyone can read.
2. It is paid on the recruiting body's own website, not to a person's UPI ID.
3. It pays for an exam, not for a guaranteed job.
4. Nobody calls you to collect it.

Other things you might reasonably pay for yourself are training courses or certifications you choose to buy, and fees to a registered placement agency under a clear written contract. In those cases you are buying a service, and no one is promising you a specific job in return. Anyone who links a payment to a "confirmed selection" is selling something that does not exist.

Why do registration fee scams work so well?

They exploit urgency and hope at the moment a job seeker is most anxious. The first amount is usually kept small enough to feel safe, and the scammer frames it as refundable or as a formality everyone pays. Once you pay the first amount, the next demand follows: training fee, then laptop fee, then a "tax" on your joining bonus. Each payment feels like protecting the previous one.

The same escalating structure shows up in task-based fraud, where UCO Bank's 2023 advisory notes that fees for "prepaid tasks" keep increasing over time. Our explainer on task-based job scams covers that variant.

How can you check whether a fee request is genuine?

Check the request against the company's own channels, not the person asking. Follow these steps:

1. Find the company's recruitment fraud or careers page. Most large employers state there whether they ever charge candidates.
2. Match the email domain. TCS hiring emails come only from @tcs.com and Infosys recruiters use @infosys.com, according to their official pages. A Gmail or Yahoo address offering a job is a red flag.
3. Use the company's verification tool if it has one. Infosys offers an offer validation page for India, and TCS has an offer verification tool for IT hires.
4. Look at who receives the money. A personal UPI ID or an individual's bank account is a scam signal.
5. For government jobs, open the official notification on the recruiting body's website and pay only there.

You can also run through our checklist on how to check if an offer letter is fake, and use our guide to verifying a company before applying.

What do most guides on registration fee scams get wrong?

Most guides say "never pay any money for a job", full stop. That is too blunt for Indian job seekers, because government exam fees are real and people who refuse all fees may miss genuine public sector openings. The useful rule is narrower: never pay a person or a private company to get a job, and pay exam fees only through the official portal named in an official notification.

The second common gap is the "refundable" word. Many people who would never pay a fee will pay a "refundable deposit". Wipro's fraud page calls out this exact tactic. Treat refundable deposits exactly like fees.

Third, scams also impersonate government jobs. A message offering a railway or bank job "without exam" for a payment is fraud, because public sector recruitment runs through published exams and merit lists, not private payments.

What should you do if you have already paid a registration fee?

Stop paying, report it quickly and keep evidence. Even if the amount is small, report it, because the same account is usually collecting from many people, and every complaint helps police link the cases together.

1. Call 1930, the national cyber fraud helpline, and share the transaction ID and the UPI ID or account you paid.
2. File a Financial Fraud complaint on cybercrime.gov.in. The portal FAQ lists bank statements, receipts and chat transcripts as useful evidence.
3. Inform your bank.
4. If a real company's name was used, report it to that company. Wipro asks people to write to helpdesk.recruitment@wipro.com, and TCS uses careers@tcs.com.

Our step-by-step guide on how to report a job scam in India walks through each channel. Do not pay anyone who promises to "recover" your fee; that is a common follow-up scam.

FAQ

Is it normal to pay a registration fee for a private job in India?

No. Legitimate private employers do not charge candidates to apply, interview or join. TCS, Infosys and Wipro all state this on their official recruitment fraud pages, and the government's National Career Service says it charges no fee at any stage. A request for a registration fee, deposit or training charge is a strong sign of a scam.

The recruiter says the deposit is refundable. Is that safe?

No. A 'refundable' security deposit is one of the most common fake job tactics, and Wipro's fraud page names it specifically: scammers ask for a deposit into a bank account and promise to return it after joining. Genuine employers do not take deposits from candidates. Treat any refundable deposit exactly like a fee and do not pay.

Are government job application fees a scam too?

No, provided the fee is published in an official notification and paid on the recruiting body's own portal. For example, the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2026 charged Rs 100 to General, OBC and EWS candidates, with no fee for SC, ST, ex-servicemen, PwD and women candidates. Never pay a person who promises a government job without an exam.

Can a company charge for background verification or a laptop?

Genuine employers arrange background checks and provide work equipment at their own cost. Infosys also says it does not ask for bank or card details during recruitment. If someone asks you to pay for verification, a laptop, a uniform or an ID card before joining, verify the offer directly on the company's official careers page and do not pay.

I paid a job registration fee. Can I get it back?

Report it immediately for the best chance. Call 1930, file a Financial Fraud complaint on cybercrime.gov.in with your transaction ID and the receiving UPI ID or account, and inform your bank. If the money has not yet moved out of the receiving account, it may be frozen. Do not pay anyone who offers to recover it for a fee.

Final thoughts

The rule is simple: employers pay you, you do not pay employers. The only routine exception is a published government exam fee paid on the official portal. If you want a second opinion on an offer before you respond, a quick session with an Asuraa mentor can help you check it calmly.