[ishansharma]

Re: India. It’s very common. Large IT firms like Tech Mahindra, Cognizant etc do it. I had offers from a company where they wanted around 1 year salary of signed check. If I leave before 2 years, they use the check.

Some companies go a step ahead and keep your original documents (Degree certificate etc) so you can’t apply elsewhere after accepting offer. It’s ridiculous.

[AstralStorm]

And probably should be illegal. For one, a notarized version is supposed to have the same weight as original. Unless this is mentioned in the contract, they cannot legally hold your personal belongings either.