Why Indian IT is Rushing to Appoint GCC Business Heads
After years of quietly building global capability centres (GCCs) for clients, Indian IT majors are finally formalising their approach. Since early 2025, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, and Tech Mahindra have named dedicated heads for their GCC business lines. While it was believed that GCCs could be a potential threat to Indian IT when it comes to talent acquisition, this is not entirely true. The firms are signalling a sharper focus on the multi-billion-dollar opportunity tied to the next wave of global capability centres, and not looking at them as competitions. Infosys and Wipro Reboot Their GCC Strategy In April 2025, Infosys carved out a separate GCC vertical and appointed Deval Shah to lead it, according to The Times of India. Shah, who was previously with Danske Bank’s India IT unit, now heads Infosys’ efforts to land multi-year GCC transformation deals, including joint ventures and build-operate-transfer models. The move aligns with Infosys’s ‘Project Altius’ roadmap, which aims to accelerate large-scale digital transformation deals. The company has already executed similar deals with clients like Danske Bank and Lufthansa, with Shah expected to expand the model further. This is after Infosys had subtly acknowledged the competition from GCCs. During the company’s Q4 FY25 call, CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka was asked about the increased attrition rate and if the firm was losing middle management because of GCCs. While he didn’t completely deny it, Sanghrajka pointed out that although the overall headcount had increased, attrition could be high because of increased competition, including from GCCs. This appointment of the GCC head might add a little stability to the offerings while possibly managing talent on both the firm’s and the GCC clients’ sides. Wipro also followed suit in May 2025, naming Sandeep Dhar the global head of its GCC business. With decades of experience scaling captives for Tesco and Goldman Sachs, Dhar now leads Wipro’s push to reimagine GCCs as AI-powered innovation hubs. “Sandeep’s experience in building centres from scratch and turning them into strategic value creators will help us differentiate,” said Wipro COO Sanjeev Jain. The role is positioned as a consulting-led transformation initiative, hinting at Wipro’s broader shift from delivery to advisory-led growth. Commenting on his appointment, Dhar said, “Wipro is ideally positioned to be the strategic partner of choice for GCCs, offering services that align with their objectives to establish, scale, transform or exit.” HCLTech and Tech Mahindra Double Down HCLTech appointed company veteran Kiran Cherukuri as global GCC practice leader in May 2025. With over 14 years at HCLTech, Cherukuri will scale offerings explicitly tailored for captives, leveraging the company’s long-standing partnerships with over 200 GCCs. “HCLTech plans to double down on this fast-growing segment with a sharp focus on India. I am confident that Kiran’s rich experience, deep domain expertise and ecosystem acumen will enable us to build on our proven leadership in the GCC space,” said COO Rahul Singh on Cherukuri’s appointment. Tech Mahindra, traditionally telecom-focused, made a bold bet by hiring US-based executive Santosh Kumar Jha to lead its GCC business, as reported by Mint. Jha, who joined the company in March 2025, now oversees all country heads tied to captive operations. His previous stints at TEKsystems and TechM suggest a shift towards global delivery leadership beyond sector silos. The reshuffle replaces Ram Ramachandran, who previously led the GCC vertical, indicating a new phase of maturity in TechM’s global service design. What is the Strategy? Under CEO Mohit Joshi, Tech Mahindra is sharpening its focus on the GCC opportunity. In its latest quarter, the company launched TechM Consulting and introduced a revamped ‘Next-Gen GCC Offering’ under its Strategic Solutioning and Transformation (SST) initiative. The SST team is tasked with driving large deals and improving both profitability and revenue across sectors. Tech Mahindra is the fourth major Indian IT services firm to appoint a dedicated leader for its GCC business in recent months, following moves by Cognizant, Wipro, and HCLTech. While Cognizant and HCLTech have promoted internal talent, Tech Mahindra and Wipro have opted for external hires. Though not headquartered in India, Cognizant—with its massive India delivery footprint—appointed Sailaja Josyula as global head of its GCC service line in April 2025. Josyula, who had earlier led Cognizant’s Hyderabad centre, is now tasked with scaling the firm’s global GCC partnerships. Her return from EY signals Cognizant’s seriousness in carving out this vertical. Interestingly, Cognizant also recently flagged potential risks stemming from GCCs operated by its clients in its 2024 annual report. The concern is that these centres could overshadow the outsourcing work that the Indian IT firms do in India. The problem is particularly significant, considering Cognizant has around three-fourths of its employees in India. Interestingly, TCS—India’s largest IT services firm in terms of number of employees—has yet to announce a formal GCC head. But insiders say its client consulting teams are already doing the groundwork informally. The strategy behind appointing business heads for GCCs is increasingly focused on convergence rather than competition with Indian IT services. As GCCs evolve from being cost-effective delivery hubs to innovation-driven strategic units, leadership is expected to drive deeper collaboration with IT firms, in the end, contributing to revenue. Business heads are now tasked with building centres of excellence (CoEs), co-owning product roadmaps, and forging academic and ecosystem partnerships to address talent gaps. The timing is no accident. With GCCs becoming core to global digital strategies and India projected to host over 2,400 such centres by 2030, Indian IT firms see a chance to shape the journey. [Update] The story has been updated to reflect that Cognizant was not the first firm to report potential threat from GCCs.
While Cognizant and HCLTech have promoted internal talent, Tech Mahindra and Wipro have opted for external hires.
With GCCs becoming core to global digital strategies and India projected to host over 2,400 such centres by 2030.
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Mohit writes about AI in simple, explainable, and often funny words. He's especially passionate about chatting with those building AI for Bharat, with the occasional detour into AGI.