An AI face-recognition workforce engine built for how a plant actually runs: rotating shifts, contract labour from several vendors at once, and Wi-Fi that drops. Track 50 or 5,000 workers and run statutory payroll with PF, ESI, PT and TDS in one pass, on the biometric devices already on your wall. From ₹2,999 a month.
Ankastra works out of the box with the biometric brands actually installed across India: ESSL, ZKTeco, Matrix COSEC, Hikvision and Suprema. Already own devices? Plug them in. Starting fresh? We ship devices with your onboarding kit.
India's most common factory attendance terminal. Full ADMS push protocol with real-time punch delivery.
X990 · X628 · iFace302 · U-Face 602 · MB20 · G3 PlusPremium Indian brand with deep learning face recognition (1:200,000 match), fake face detection, IP65 rating.
COSEC ARGO FACE · COSEC DOOR FA · COSEC DOOR FPFWide model range. Modern firmware uses ADMS push protocol. Older models supported via ZKLib TCP pull.
SpeedFace V5L · iClock990 · ProFace X · ZK8500RMinMoe face access terminals integrate via ISAPI push protocol. Common in corporate offices.
DS-K1T341 · DS-K1T671 · DS-K1T343Premium South Korean brand for high-security environments. Integrates via BioStar2 REST API.
BioStation 2 · BioEntry W2 · BioLite N2Any device can be handled via CSV export/import. Duplicate detection handles re-uploads safely.
BioMax · Identix · Realand · AnvizUnit · Department · Location · Category · Verify Mode. All stamped on the attendance record at the moment of punch.
Permanent staff and contract labour sit on one roster, with separate policies, shift rules and gate passes per vendor. Monthly billing reconciles against attendance that actually happened, not against a claim somebody submitted.
See the multi-site scenarioThe kiosk app captures punches with no connection and syncs when the line comes back. Your ESSL and ZKTeco units buffer internally as well, so a network outage costs you logs from neither side. Kiosk mode locks the tablet to the app, Samsung Knox ready.
Read the offline answerMove the slider to your headcount. Nothing is gated and nothing is emailed unless you ask for it.
Estimated from the one scenario we publish with its full working: 220 on roll, 104 hours a month before, 16 after. See every line of that arithmetic. Your own number depends on how many devices, shifts and contractors you reconcile, which is what a demo measures.
BUILT FOR THESE INDUSTRIES
Three problems every shift-based business has, and what Ankastra does about each one.
Proxy punching, buddy punching and end-of-day disputes stop. Biometric face recognition plus geofence capture works with the ESSL, ZKTeco, Matrix COSEC and Hikvision devices you already own, and the verified data flows straight into payroll.
One-click payroll from verified attendance, with PF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS, Gratuity and Bonus calculated automatically and payslips generated in the same run. Payroll closes in hours, not days, and nobody retypes a number.
Global HRMS tools do not fit Indian labour law or shift-based workplaces. Ankastra is built around an Indian statutory engine, INR pricing, WhatsApp notifications and multi-location shift management, starting at ₹2,999 a month.
Not a feature list written to look long. Every item below is a job somebody on your floor is doing manually this month, and the plan it comes with is marked on the card.
One roster for permanent staff, contractors, floaters and daily wage workers.
Enroll from a phone or a kiosk. Verification runs on the device, not in a queue.
Contractor-wise headcount, gate passes and billing reconciliation against actual attendance.
Geo-fence, selfie and IP check together, configurable per employee or per department.
Absenteeism trends, overtime cost and shift-wise productivity in one view.
Full ADMS push protocol with real-time punch delivery from X990, iFace and MB series.
Salary structures, arrears and mid-month joiners calculated from attendance already signed off.
Every plan, every customer, no per-ticket charge.
Day, night, rotating and split shifts, including punches that cross midnight.
See match confidence, failed attempts and retries per gate, per shift.
Employee queries on attendance, leave and salary become tracked tickets instead of WhatsApp threads.
GPS geo-stamped check-in at the customer location, not from the parking lot.
Present, absent, late and overtime by department on a screen the whole shift can see.
SpeedFace, iClock and ProFace terminals over ADMS push, older models over TCP pull.
ECR files, ESI returns, state-wise Professional Tax challans and Form 16 generated from one run.
Faster response windows for anything touching a live payroll cycle.
Live attendance status with leave balances that update the moment a request is approved.
Lock a tablet to the attendance app so the floor cannot browse, install or exit.
Late marks, absenteeism patterns and overtime breaches flagged before they reach payroll.
A day-by-day map of where field staff went and how long each visit lasted.
Pre-registration, photo capture, host notification and badge printing at the gate.
Deep-learning face match with fake-face detection on an IP65 rated terminal.
Payment of Bonus Act and gratuity computed on eligible service, not on a side spreadsheet.
One named person who knows your shift rules and your compliance calendar.
Statutory muster roll and holiday register maintained automatically as attendance is recorded.
Every punch stores the captured frame, so a disputed entry is settled by looking at it.
Regularise a missed sick leave with a mandatory reason, and let the system recalculate the rest.
Claims raised from the phone, approved on policy, paid through payroll.
Meal counts tied to actual attendance, so canteen billing stops being an estimate.
MinMoe terminals over ISAPI, BioStation over the BioStar2 REST API.
Advances tracked, instalments recovered on schedule and reflected on the payslip.
Our team builds and maintains the connector into your existing finance stack.
Separate units, plants and branches under one login, with unit-wise reporting.
Auto-credit for work on weekly offs and holidays, with expiry windows and redemption reports.
Amounts read off the photographed bill, then routed through your approval chain.
Roll up nine plants into one number, or drill into one line on one shift.
Any device that can export a log can feed Ankastra, with duplicate detection on re-upload.
Exit settlement with notice recovery, leave encashment and pending claims in one statement.
Every edit carries a user, a timestamp and a reason, so audits stop becoming investigations.
Push verified attendance into SAP, Tally or your own MES without a manual export.
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Basic Growth ProFaded letters mean the capability is not in that plan.
Attendance apps do not do payroll. Payroll tools do not handle shifts. Enterprise HRMS platforms cost several times more and take months to deploy. Here is how Ankastra sits against Truein, Pagar Book, Darwinbox, Zoho, Keka, greytHR and HROne, row by row.
| Feature | Ankastra | Truein | Pagar Book | Darwinbox | Zoho | Keka | greytHR | HROne |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose-built for Manufacturing, Service Industry, Trading, SME, MSME, Large Enterprises | Yes: units, shifts, floaters | |||||||
| AI Face Recognition (on-device) | ArcFace, Samsung Knox kiosk | |||||||
| ESSL / ZKTeco / Matrix integration | Native: push + pull + CSV | |||||||
| TV Dashboard (live plant view) | Live, auto-refresh | |||||||
| Visitor Management System | Included: pre-reg, photo, WhatsApp | |||||||
| Indian Payroll (PF/ESI/PT/TDS) | Full: all states | |||||||
| Offline attendance capture | Knox kiosk + hardware buffer |
Full support · Partial / add-on · Not available
7 of 15 comparisons shown
Then keep them. Ankastra plugs into ESSL, ZKTeco, Matrix COSEC, Hikvision and Suprema devices out of the box. Change the software behind the wall, not the hardware on it. No middleware, no replacement cost.
Ankastra is designed for factory floors and shop counters, not just HR managers. Employees mark attendance in one tap. Managers approve leaves on WhatsApp. Payroll runs itself from verified attendance data.
Basic is built for 10-person teams. Pro is built for 500-employee factories across several cities. Same product, right-sized pricing, starting at ₹2,999 a month with 50 employees included.
Three scenarios with the arithmetic printed on the page. Workload, scaling across sites, and surviving a labour inspection. Change an input and the sums change with it.
Annual billing saves 10%. A 3-year term saves 25% and locks your rate for 36 months. Every plan includes a 14-day free trial, no credit card required. Book a demo to see how Ankastra fits your team.
Book a DemoEnter your team size and your current payroll processing hours. You get monthly time saved, cost saved and payback period in about thirty seconds.
No per-module fees. No implementation charges. No hidden add-ons. Every plan includes attendance, payroll, leave and compliance. The only thing that changes is scale.
Share your business email and phone number so our solutions team can follow up with a tailored quote and a 14-day free-trial invite.
Shift workers, production lines, gate attendance via ESSL or Matrix COSEC, unit-wise payroll.
Multi-shift operations, daily wage workers, OT tracking, canteen deductions.
Site-wise attendance, contractor tracking, GPS geo-fenced mobile punches.
24x7 shift scheduling, department-wise attendance, visitor management.
Ankastra is an AI-powered Attendance and Workforce Management System built for Indian manufacturing by Ajinkya Technologies. It combines face recognition attendance, biometric hardware integration (ESSL, ZKTeco, Matrix COSEC), Indian payroll with PF, ESI, PT and TDS, work-from-home mode, field-sales GPS check-in, expense management, backdated leave approval, comp-off management, visitor management, and a live TV dashboard in one platform.
Yes. Ankastra integrates natively with ESSL, ZKTeco, Matrix COSEC, Hikvision and Suprema, with no middleware in between. Supported models include ESSL X990 and iFace series, ZKTeco SpeedFace V5L and iClock series, Matrix COSEC ARGO FACE, Hikvision MinMoe, Suprema BioStation, and any brand via CSV import.
Ankastra offers three plans starting at ₹2,999/month: Basic at ₹2,999/month, Growth at ₹5,999/month, and Pro at ₹9,999/month. All plans include 50 employees, with per-employee pricing for larger teams.
Ankastra is built for manufacturing, with native biometric hardware, on-device face recognition and full statutory payroll. Pagar Book has none of those. Pagar Book is a payroll-first tool for retail SMBs and shop owners without biometric hardware integration, on-device AI face recognition, TV dashboards, visitor management, comp-off tracking, or expense management.
Ankastra deploys in days with built-in biometric integration, unlike Darwinbox or Zoho People. Darwinbox requires enterprise contracts and months of implementation, while Zoho People lacks native biometric integration. Ankastra includes factory-floor kiosk and TV dashboard out of the box.
Yes, Ankastra WFH mode lets remote employees punch in via mobile with geo-location, selfie, and IP-fence verification. Admins can set per-employee or per-department WFH policies, fixed/flexible hours, and break tracking.
Yes, the Field Force module captures GPS geo-stamped check-ins, route history, and customer-visit timelines for on-site staff. Managers see live maps and visit reports for sales reps, service engineers, and on-site contractors.
Yes, expense management is included in Growth and Pro plans with receipt OCR, approval workflows, and payroll integration. Staff submit expense claims from the mobile app, attach photo receipts with OCR-extracted amounts, and route through configurable approval workflows.
Yes, authorised approvers can approve leave for past dates with a mandatory reason and full audit trail. Attendance, payroll and leave balances are recalculated automatically, which is what makes missed sick leave, emergencies and post-facto regularisation workable.
Comp-off credits are automatically generated when employees work on weekly offs, holidays, or beyond a configurable OT threshold. Each credit carries an expiry window (e.g. 60 days), and employees redeem from the same leave portal. Managers and HR get full reports on accrual, redemption, and expiry.
Yes, the Flutter kiosk app captures punches offline and syncs automatically when connectivity resumes. Physical ESSL and ZKTeco devices also buffer logs internally, so no punch is lost during network outages.
Yes, Ankastra natively supports permanent employees, contractors, floaters and daily wage workers with separate policies for each. Each worker type can have different shift rules, payroll configurations and attendance policies.
In our modelled 220-employee scenario, HR admin drops from 104 hours a month to 16, a saving of 88 hours or roughly 42 percent of one full-time role. The saving comes from five activities: log reconciliation, approval chasing, payroll input preparation, post-payday dispute handling and statutory register preparation. The full arithmetic is published at ankastra.in/case-studies.
Yes, provided group rules and state rules stay separate. Professional Tax, minimum wages and holiday lists are configured per state registration, while shift structures, approval chains and the payroll freeze date are set once at group level. In our modelled scenario nine sites across four states run on a single payroll calendar.
The statutory registers, muster roll, wage register, overtime register and leave register among them, are generated from the same verified attendance that payroll used, so they cannot disagree with each other. Any past month reproduces from a date range. Contract workers punch against a contractor and a gate pass, so principal employer status is visible daily rather than reconstructed during an inspection.
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Three fields. We come back within one business day with a walkthrough on your own shift pattern and headcount, not an average. Bring last month's attendance sheet and the salary sheet it produced and we will reconcile them live on the call.