The talent is there. India has proven it can produce world-class GCC leaders and teams. What is stopping the next wave of GCC expansion is not a talent shortage. It is the operational infrastructure that allows that talent to do its best work. Companies that solve for operations first will win the next phase of GCC growth.
The narrative around GCC expansion in India has remained remarkably consistent for the past five years. Companies are moving work to India because the talent is excellent and the cost is right. Both things are true. Both things are also irrelevant to why most GCC expansion stalls after the first twelve months. The talent does not disappear. The cost remains right. What happens instead is that the work that was supposed to move to India moves back, or it simply does not scale because the operational infrastructure that allows distributed teams to function breaks under the weight.
This is not a story about Indian talent. It is a story about the operational readiness of the cities and the workplaces where GCC teams are deployed. A company opening a centre of excellence in Ahmedabad or Pune with world-class talent is building on sand if the office does not work, if the IT infrastructure is insufficient, if the facilities team cannot maintain standards, if the operational shortcuts taken to save costs in the setup phase become permanent friction points. These operational failures compound quickly. They turn a strategic investment into a cost centre that cannot scale.
The best companies managing GCCs in India right now have figured this out. They are treating operational readiness as a non-negotiable component of GCC expansion. They are investing in it upfront. They are partnering with specialists who can deliver it. They are finding that the quality of the operational infrastructure becomes as important as the quality of the talent in determining whether a GCC succeeds.
The first wave of GCC expansion in India was driven by a simple equation: world-class Indian talent plus lower costs equals value. That equation was true then and it is still true. But it describes only half of what determines whether a GCC succeeds. The other half is whether the environment where that talent works allows it to scale and to sustain.
Consider what happens when a global company opens a new GCC function in a Tier-2 city. They hire a leader. They hire specialists. The first six months are productive because the team is new, motivated, and the work is strategic. But as the function grows, as the team expands, as the daily operations become routine rather than novel, the environment starts to matter more. The person leading the function can no longer manage the broken things. They need a building that works. They need IT infrastructure that does not fail. They need facilities that are maintained to a standard. They need the operational systems that allow a distributed team to function without friction.
Companies that have not invested in those systems upfront find that their talent cannot scale. The leader spends time solving operational problems instead of leading the function. Junior team members waste energy on workarounds instead of focusing on work. The function becomes known internally as a bottleneck, as a place where good work goes to die because the infrastructure does not support it. That reputation spreads. The talent starts looking for exits. The function stalls.
DevX GCC's entire model is built around preventing this. The approach is not just to provide space in a Tier-2 city. It is to provide operationally ready space. Infrastructure that has been thought through. Operations that have been systematised. Facilities that are maintained to the standard that allows a global function to operate.
"Talent is the necessary condition for a successful GCC. But it is not sufficient. You can hire the best people in Ahmedabad and they will fail if the building does not work, if the IT breaks down, if the facilities are maintained poorly. The operational infrastructure is what allows the talent to scale. That is what companies are learning right now."
For a global company evaluating GCC expansion into a Tier-2 city, the infrastructure question determines whether the expansion succeeds. Not the talent question. The infrastructure question. Will the office work? Will the IT systems be reliable? Will the facilities be maintained to a global standard. Will the operational systems allow a distributed team to function without constant friction.
Most companies answer these questions poorly because they are outsourcing them to local vendors who are optimising for cost, not for the operational standards that a global function requires. The result is that the GCC launches with operational compromises built in. Those compromises become permanent. They metastasize. They become the culture of the function. They become the reason why the best talent leaves.
Companies that are solving this are doing it by partnering with organisations that specialise in operational excellence across multiple cities. DevX Design & Build handles the workspace itself, designing space that supports the type of work that a GCC does. DevX's operational model handles the systems that keep the building and the infrastructure running at a global standard. This is not about luxury. It is about reliability. It is about ensuring that the workplace is not the friction point.
"When a global function is trying to scale in a new city, the operational infrastructure has to match the global standard. That is not always what happens when companies try to solve this locally. DevX brings the vendor relationships, the systems expertise, the continuous optimisation that ensure the space works at that standard. That is what allows the talent to scale."
When operational readiness becomes a competitive variable in GCC expansion, the location decision changes. Tier-2 cities that have the talent but not the operational infrastructure become less attractive. Tier-2 cities that have built operational readiness alongside talent become highly attractive.
This is reshaping where companies are opening new GCC functions. They are looking for cities where the workspace itself signals operational capability. Where the facilities work. Where the systems are reliable. Where a senior leader can move to build a function and know that they are not trading global standards for geographic advantage.
DevX GCC's footprint across 15+ Indian cities is changing which cities compete for GCC functions. Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Indore, the ones where DevX has built operationally ready infrastructure are becoming the preferred locations for GCC expansion. The others are falling behind because they cannot offer the combination of talent and operational readiness.
"The companies that are expanding GCCs aggressively in India right now are making location decisions based on operational readiness, not just talent. They want cities where the workspace signals that the company can scale there. That signal changes the entire calculation about where to deploy strategic functions."
The secondary effect of operational readiness is talent retention. When a senior person moves to a Tier-2 city to build a GCC function, they are evaluating whether the environment will allow them to do world-class work. They are evaluating whether the infrastructure will support the team they are building. An operationally ready workplace tells them that the answer is yes. A workplace that is full of compromises tells them that the company is not serious about the location.
Companies that have invested in operational readiness are finding that their GCC leaders stay longer and scale their functions further. The talent they hire for those functions is more committed because they are working in an environment that supports their work rather than fighting against it. The function itself becomes known internally as a place where things work, where the infrastructure is reliable, where a global standard is maintained. That reputation attracts better talent.
"The difference between a GCC that scales and a GCC that stalls is often not the talent. It is whether the person leading that function can actually lead it, or whether they are spending their time solving operational problems. Operational readiness changes what that leader can actually accomplish."
The GCC expansion story in India is entering a new phase. The talent is proven. The cost advantage is proven. What is now proving to be the limiting factor is the operational infrastructure. Companies that are investing in it upfront are winning. Companies that are trying to solve for it after the fact are struggling.
DevX GCC was built with this understanding. The model is designed to provide not just space, but operationally ready space. Space where the infrastructure is reliable. Where the facilities are maintained. Where the systems allow a global function to operate. DevX Design & Build ensures the space is designed for the work. The operational model ensures the space is maintained to the standard. Across 15+ Indian cities, this combination is becoming the baseline for GCC expansion.
The companies that will win the next wave of GCC growth in India are the ones that have understood this shift. They are the ones treating operational readiness as a competitive variable. They are the ones investing in it. They are the ones partnering with specialists who can deliver it.
Note to readers: This article is part of Mint’s paid consumer connect Initiative. Mint assumes no editorial involvement or responsibility for errors, omissions, or content accuracy.
