After years of quietly constructing international functionality centres (GCCs) for shoppers, Indian IT majors are lastly formalising their strategy. Since early 2025, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and Tech Mahindra have named devoted heads for his or her GCC enterprise traces.
Whereas it was believed that GCCs might be a possible risk to Indian IT with regards to expertise acquisition, this isn’t fully true. The corporations are signalling a sharper give attention to the multi-billion-dollar alternative tied to the following wave of worldwide functionality centres, and never taking a look at them as competitions.
Infosys and Wipro Reboot Their GCC Technique
In April 2025, Infosys carved out a separate GCC vertical and appointed Deval Shah to guide it, in response to The Occasions of India. Shah, who was beforehand with Danske Financial institution’s India IT unit, now heads Infosys’ efforts to land multi-year GCC transformation offers, together with joint ventures and build-operate-transfer fashions.
The transfer aligns with Infosys’s ‘Mission Altius’ roadmap, which goals to speed up large-scale digital transformation offers. The corporate has already executed related offers with shoppers like Danske Financial institution and Lufthansa, with Shah anticipated to increase the mannequin additional.
That is after Infosys had subtly acknowledged the competitors from GCCs. Through the firm’s This autumn FY25 name, CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka was requested in regards to the elevated attrition charge and if the agency was shedding center administration due to GCCs.
Whereas he didn’t fully deny it, Sanghrajka identified that though the general headcount had elevated, attrition might be excessive due to elevated competitors, together with from GCCs. This appointment of the GCC head would possibly add a bit stability to the choices whereas presumably managing expertise on each the agency’s and the GCC shoppers’ sides.
Wipro additionally adopted go well with in Could 2025, naming Sandeep Dhar the worldwide head of its GCC enterprise. With a long time of expertise scaling captives for Tesco and Goldman Sachs, Dhar now leads Wipro’s push to reimagine GCCs as AI-powered innovation hubs.
“Sandeep’s expertise in constructing centres from scratch and turning them into strategic worth creators will assist us differentiate,” mentioned Wipro COO Sanjeev Jain. The function is positioned as a consulting-led transformation initiative, hinting at Wipro’s broader shift from supply to advisory-led development.
Commenting on his appointment, Dhar mentioned, “Wipro is ideally positioned to be the strategic associate of selection for GCCs, providing providers that align with their aims to ascertain, scale, rework or exit.”
HCLTech and Tech Mahindra Double Down
HCLTech appointed firm veteran Kiran Cherukuri as international GCC follow chief in Could 2025. With over 14 years at HCLTech, Cherukuri will scale choices explicitly tailor-made for captives, leveraging the corporate’s long-standing partnerships with over 200 GCCs.
“HCLTech plans to double down on this fast-growing section with a pointy give attention to India. I’m assured that Kiran’s wealthy expertise, deep area experience and ecosystem acumen will allow us to construct on our confirmed management within the GCC house,” mentioned COO Rahul Singh on Cherukuri’s appointment.
Tech Mahindra, historically telecom-focused, made a daring guess by hiring US-based govt Santosh Kumar Jha to guide its GCC enterprise, as reported by Mint.
Jha, who joined the corporate in March 2025, now oversees all nation heads tied to captive operations. His earlier stints at TEKsystems and TechM counsel a shift in direction of international supply management past sector silos.
The reshuffle replaces Ram Ramachandran, who beforehand led the GCC vertical, indicating a brand new section of maturity in TechM’s international service design.
What’s the Technique?
Below CEO Mohit Joshi, Tech Mahindra is sharpening its give attention to the GCC alternative. In its newest quarter, the corporate launched TechM Consulting and launched a revamped ‘Subsequent-Gen GCC Providing’ beneath its Strategic Solutioning and Transformation (SST) initiative.
The SST staff is tasked with driving giant offers and enhancing each profitability and income throughout sectors.
Tech Mahindra is the fourth main Indian IT providers agency to nominate a devoted chief for its GCC enterprise in latest months, following strikes by Cognizant, Wipro, and HCLTech. Whereas Cognizant and HCLTech have promoted inside expertise, Tech Mahindra and Wipro have opted for exterior hires.
Although not headquartered in India, Cognizant—with its huge India supply footprint—appointed Sailaja Josyula as international head of its GCC service line in April 2025.
Josyula, who had earlier led Cognizant’s Hyderabad centre, is now tasked with scaling the agency’s international GCC partnerships. Her return from EY alerts Cognizant’s seriousness in carving out this vertical.
Apparently, Cognizant additionally just lately flagged potential dangers stemming from GCCs operated by its shoppers in its 2024 annual report.
The priority is that these centres may overshadow the outsourcing work that the Indian IT corporations do in India. The issue is especially vital, contemplating Cognizant has round three-fourths of its staff in India.
Apparently, TCS—India’s largest IT providers agency when it comes to variety of staff—has but to announce a proper GCC head. However insiders say its shopper consulting groups are already doing the groundwork informally.
The technique behind appointing enterprise heads for GCCs is more and more targeted on convergence slightly than competitors with Indian IT providers. As GCCs evolve from being cost-effective supply hubs to innovation-driven strategic items, management is predicted to drive deeper collaboration with IT corporations, ultimately, contributing to income.
Enterprise heads at the moment are tasked with constructing centres of excellence (CoEs), co-owning product roadmaps, and forging educational and ecosystem partnerships to deal with expertise gaps.
The timing is not any accident. With GCCs changing into core to international digital methods and India projected to host over 2,400 such centres by 2030, Indian IT corporations see an opportunity to form the journey.
[Update] The story has been up to date to mirror that Cognizant was not the primary agency to report potential risk from GCCs.
The put up Why Indian IT is Speeding to Appoint GCC Enterprise Heads appeared first on Analytics India Journal.
