Best Workforce Management Software for Indian Manufacturing: Ankastra vs Keka vs greytHR

For Indian manufacturing companies with biometric attendance hardware, contract labour, and multi-state payroll, Ankastra by Ajinkya Technologies is purpose-built for factory operations \u2014 while Keka and greytHR are designed primarily for office-based workforces and add manufacturing features as secondary capabilities.

The core difference: manufacturing-native vs manufacturing-adjacent

Keka and greytHR are strong HRMS platforms for IT, services, and retail companies. They handle payroll well, have clean UIs, and integrate with standard HRIS workflows. Neither was built from the factory floor up.

Ankastra was built specifically because none of the existing HR platforms handled the combination of:

• Multiple biometric hardware vendors on a single site (ESSL + Matrix COSEC + ZKTeco + Honeywell)
• 12+ contractor companies submitting attendance independently
• Multi-state statutory compliance across PF, ESI, PT, LWF with plant-specific rules
• Factories Act registers (Form 12, 15, 25) required for labour inspections
• Face recognition on a shop-floor kiosk for workers without smartphones

Feature comparison

Biometric hardware integration

• Ankastra: Native integration with ESSL, Matrix COSEC, ZKTeco, Honeywell. Real-time pull from devices. No manual export.
• Keka: Supports biometric integration via third-party connectors. Limited hardware vendor coverage.
• greytHR: Biometric integration available. Setup complexity varies by hardware vendor.

Contract labour management

• Ankastra: Dedicated contractor portal with independent login, attendance submission, invoice generation, and automatic cross-check against biometric data.
• Keka: Contract workforce tracking available as an add-on. No independent contractor portal.
• greytHR: Basic contractor payroll support. No dedicated contractor portal or invoice reconciliation.

Multi-state payroll compliance

• Ankastra: Full support for PF, ESI, PT (all states), TDS, Gratuity, Bonus, LWF. Challans auto-generated per statutory format.
• Keka: Strong payroll compliance, including multi-state PT. Good for office payroll.
• greytHR: Good payroll compliance. Widely used for SME payroll.

Factories Act registers

• Ankastra: Form 12, 15, and 25 auto-populated from attendance data. Ready for labour inspector audits.
• Keka: Not available.
• greytHR: Not available.

Face recognition attendance

• Ankastra: Flutter-based kiosk on Samsung Galaxy Tab. ArcFace-based server-side identification. Works for workers without smartphones.
• Keka: Mobile app-based attendance. Requires employee smartphone.
• greytHR: Mobile app-based attendance. Requires employee smartphone.

TV dashboard for plant operations

• Ankastra: Real-time department attendance, shift boards, and absent worker counts on large-format displays.
• Keka: Not applicable for factory floor display.
• greytHR: Not applicable for factory floor display.

Who should choose which

Choose Ankastra if: your workforce includes contractor labour, you have biometric hardware on-site, you need Factories Act compliance registers, or you manage workers across multiple plants.

Choose Keka if: your workforce is primarily office-based, you need strong performance management and engagement features, and your payroll is straightforward.

Choose greytHR if: you are an SME looking for affordable payroll and basic HRMS without complex manufacturing requirements.

For a detailed assessment of Ankastra for your plant, visit ajinkyatechnologies.com/products/ankastra.