For employers
GCC team setup in India
A capability centre is not filled the way a branch is. The first ten hires decide whether the next hundred are possible, and they are the hardest ones to get right.
The first hires are a different problem
Early GCC hiring is a selling job before it is a screening job. The candidates worth having are usually employed, usually at a recognised name, and are being asked to join an entity with no local track record, often no local brand, and a parent company in a timezone they have never worked to. Nothing about that is resolved by a job description.
It is also self-compounding in both directions. Strong anchor hires make the next tier straightforward, because candidates will join people they rate. Weak ones make every subsequent hire harder and slower, and the cost of that shows up six months later as a stalled ramp.
How we approach it
We sequence the mandate rather than running it in parallel — anchor roles first, then the tiers that hang off them. Because the employer has no local presence yet, a large part of the early work is representing the parent honestly enough that a good candidate can evaluate it.
- Anchor and leadership hires worked as a search, not advertised.
- An honest employer story: what the parent does, why the centre exists, and what the first year will actually be like.
- Salary benchmarking against the real competition, which for BFSI and technology GCC roles is usually Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad rather than the local market.
- Gujarat and GIFT City coverage, including the Ahmedabad–Gandhinagar commutable pool.
- Ramp planning so sourcing for the next tier starts before the current one closes.
- Retention screening weighted heavily — an early GCC exit is far more damaging than a late one.
Where GIFT City fits
For financial-services capability centres, Gujarat's IFSC at GIFT City has changed the calculation. The commutable talent pool overlaps almost entirely with Ahmedabad's, which means an employer setting up there is competing for candidates who are also weighing Ahmedabad corporate roles — and, above a certain level, Mumbai. We benchmark and pitch against that reality rather than against the local average.
Talk to us about gcc team setup
Tell us what you are hiring for and we will come back during business hours with next steps.
Common questions
- Can you help set up a GCC team from zero?
- Yes. We work the anchor and leadership hires first as a search, then the tiers that depend on them, so each wave can be carried by the people already in place.
- Do you cover GIFT City?
- Yes, from the Ahmedabad desk. The commutable pool for GIFT City overlaps almost entirely with Ahmedabad's, so the two markets are worked together.
- Who are we competing against for GCC candidates?
- For BFSI and technology roles, usually Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad rather than the local Gujarat market. We benchmark salary and pitch the role against that competition, because that is what the candidate is actually comparing.
- How long does the first phase take?
- Anchor hires are worked searches and take longer than volume roles — they are being persuaded, not just screened. We commit to a timeline once we have the brief and know how the parent can be represented.