Backwater Trails is a 16-person travel agency in Kochi. For nine years the founder, Anil, ran operations himself: the drivers, the houseboat bookings, the hotel rooming lists. In May he finally hired an operations manager, Meera, from a hotel chain in Bengaluru. He called to say she had the job and followed up on WhatsApp with the salary and a joining date.
Meera asked for an offer letter before she resigned from the hotel. Anil's accountant, who looks after the paperwork, asked a second question: once she joins, is the offer letter enough, or do they need an appointment letter as well? They need both, and they aren't the same document.
Offer letter vs appointment letter, side by side
| Offer letter | Appointment letter |
|---|
| Issued | Before joining, once the terms are agreed | On the day of joining, or before it |
|---|
| Its job | Proposes the job and asks for a yes | Confirms the job and states its terms |
|---|
| It ends with | A date to accept by, after which it lapses | A signature accepting the terms |
|---|
| Required by law | No | Yes, for most employers since November 2025 |
|---|
The short version: the offer letter is a proposal, and the appointment letter is the record of the employment. A candidate uses the offer to resign from their current job with some confidence. An employee uses the appointment letter for everything after that, from a home-loan application to a dispute over notice.
The same hire, on both letters
Here's Meera on both documents, filled in on our free templates with the same details: ₹9,00,000 a year, a ₹71,000 monthly gross, six months' probation and 60 days' notice. The two letters print the same pay figures, word for word:
₹9,00,000annual CTC, on both
₹71,000monthly gross, on both
60 daysnotice, on both
The offer is dated 18 May 2026 and gives a “proposed” date of joining. The appointment letter is dated her first day, 15 Jun 2026, and adds her employee code, BT021. After that, the sentences part ways.
What only the offer letter says
- “We are pleased to offer you the position of Operations Manager in the Operations department at Backwater Trails, on the terms set out below.”
- “This offer is subject to satisfactory verification of your documents, qualifications and references. A letter of appointment setting out the full terms of your employment will be issued when you join.”
- “Please confirm that you accept this offer by signing and returning a copy of this letter by 25 May 2026. If it is not accepted by then, the offer lapses.”
- “We look forward to you joining us.”
What only the appointment letter says
- “We are pleased to appoint you as Operations Manager at Backwater Trails with effect from 15 June 2026, on the terms set out below.”
- “You will be on probation until 14 December 2026. Your confirmation, or any extension of the probationary period, will be communicated to you in writing.”
- “Either you or the company may end this employment by giving 60 days’ notice in writing, or by paying or recovering pay in lieu of the notice not served.”
- “Your working hours, attendance, leave and conduct are governed by the company’s policies in force from time to time.”
- “Please sign and return a copy of this letter as your acceptance of these terms.”
Read the two lists again: the offer states probation and notice as a line in a table, and the appointment letter turns them into obligations with a sentence each. That's the whole difference in practice. A candidate is agreeing to a job; an employee is agreeing to the rules of it.
You can fill in both on the offer letter template and the appointment letter template, and download each one as a PDF or a Word file.
What an appointment letter must contain
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, in force since 21 November 2025, requires employers to give every employee a letter of appointment (section 6(1)(f)), with the information and in the form the rules prescribe. The central rules set a format that records the type of employment, the skill category, wages and allowances, and whether PF and ESI apply, and most private businesses follow their own state's rules, so check what yours ask for. On top of that, don't leave out anything the employee would need to prove their terms later:
- the employer's legal name and address, and who signs for it;
- the employee's name, designation, department and place of work;
- the date of joining and the employment type, such as permanent or fixed-term;
- the annual CTC, and the monthly breakup if you can give it;
- the probation period, and how confirmation will be communicated;
- the notice period, for both sides, and whether pay in lieu of notice is allowed;
- a reference to the policies on hours, leave and conduct; and
- a line for the employee to sign and date.
Keep policies out of the letter itself. A leave rule written into 40 appointment letters has to be changed in 40 places. Refer to the policy and keep one copy of it.
When to issue an appointment letter
On the first day, before the person starts work, is the habit to build. Pay and notice are then in writing before either side has relied on them. If the joining date moves, the offer stays as it was and the appointment letter carries the real date.
Plenty of small businesses have staff who never got one, and the Code gave employers three months from when it came in to issue letters to people already on the rolls. Issue it now, dated today, with their original date of joining. It doesn't reset their service, their gratuity or their leave, and the letter should say nothing that suggests it does.
The offer letter acceptance period
Most offers give five to seven days. Ten is reasonable for a senior hire who has to talk to their family or a current employer. Meera's offer gave her a week, until 25 May 2026, and the template writes that date into the letter and says the offer lapses after it.
The lapse line matters more than it looks. Without it, a candidate can accept a month later, after you've hired somebody else, and you're arguing about whether an open offer was still open. If they ask for more time, send a short note extending the date, so there's still one date on paper.
An accepted offer can still be withdrawn if the conditions in it fail, which is why the template makes it subject to checking documents and references. Withdrawing for any other reason, after somebody has resigned on the strength of it, is where small employers get into trouble.
The part neither letter covers
Within a few months everyone has learned that the real decision still happens in the same room it always did, and the new person is an expensive layer people route around.Rohan Jain, Hiring Professional Managers Into a Factory
That was written about the first professional manager in a 400-person family factory, and it fits a 16-person agency too. Meera's letters give her a title and a salary. Neither one says the drivers now report to her, or that the hotel bookings are hers to approve. Anil can put that in a short note on her first day, or add a “reporting to” line to the appointment letter by hand, and then he has to hold to it the first time a driver phones him instead.
If things go the other way later, the appointment letter is what a warning letter refers back to, so it pays to get the terms in it right on day one.
