GCC staffing from before the entity exists to after the campus fills
A capability centre goes through three staffing phases, and many partners only serve one. Before incorporation you need employer-of-record cover for the first hires. During build-out you need volume hiring against a headcount plan. After go-live you need the facility, admin and support layer nobody budgeted for. We cover the people side of all three, and work alongside your legal, tax and real-estate advisers on the rest.
Roles, headcount and site city. We aim to send a costed proposal within one working day.
What a capability centre actually has to hire
The engineering roles get the attention. The centre does not open without the second and third list.
- ✓Engineering and product: software, QA, DevOps, data engineering, platform
- ✓Analytics and data science, reporting and business intelligence
- ✓Finance shared services: AP, AR, R2R, FP&A, payroll operations
- ✓Procurement, supply chain planning and master data management
- ✓HR shared services, talent acquisition and HR operations
- ✓Leadership: centre head, function heads, engineering managers
- ✓Campus support: front desk, facility, housekeeping, security, cafeteria, transport
Most GCC delays are administrative, not competitive
The hiring market is not what stalls a new centre. Incorporation timelines, payroll setup, vendor onboarding and the discovery that nobody owns facility staffing do.
So they are engaged as contractors, which creates misclassification and permanent-establishment risk, or the offers wait until incorporation completes and the candidates take other jobs.
While the parent company questions the India decision it has already announced internally, and the leadership hire you needed first goes elsewhere.
EOR employment for the pre-entity hires, volume hiring against the headcount plan once the entity is live, and the facility and admin layer staffed before go-live rather than after.
Get a quote →Four phases of setting up a GCC in India, and who does what
Timelines vary with the State, the entity structure and how fast the parent signs off, so treat the durations as planning ranges. Godstone handles the people side; incorporation, tax structuring, transfer pricing and real estate sit with your legal, tax and property advisers or a set-up partner.
Decide and hire the first leaders
Business case, location shortlist and the centre head search. The first five to fifteen hires can be employed through employer of record so offers do not wait for the entity.
Incorporate and register
Company incorporation, then Shops and Establishments, PF, ESI, professional tax and labour welfare fund registrations, HR policies, appointment-letter templates and the POSH Internal Committee.
Build out the teams
Function heads and managers first, then engineering and shared-services teams hired against seat-readiness and training dates, with EOR employees moved onto the new entity.
Run, scale or transfer
Steady-state backfill, campus support staffing and, in a build-operate-transfer set-up, the handover of people and processes to your own management.
EOR, build-operate-transfer or your own entity?
Most centres use more than one model over their life: EOR to start, their own entity to scale, and sometimes a BOT partner in between.
| Model | Who employs the team | Best for | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer of record (EOR) | The EOR provider's Indian entity, working under your direction | First hires, pilots and small teams before incorporation | Higher per-head cost at scale; plan the move to your entity early |
| Build-operate-transfer (BOT) | The partner during build and operate; your entity after transfer | Parents that want a running centre quickly with an agreed exit | Transfer price, timing and employee consent need to be fixed in the contract |
| Own entity, self-run | Your Indian subsidiary from day one | Parents with India experience and a long-term commitment | Slowest start; you carry every registration and compliance task |
| Own entity with outsourced HR and hiring | Your subsidiary, with hiring through RPO and payroll outsourcing | Centres that want control without building a full HR function at once | Needs clear SLAs and data-access rules with each provider |
Pre-entity, build-out and steady state: what we do in each
Priced per placement for permanent and leadership hiring, per employee per month for EOR, and on loaded cost plus fee for facility and support deployment. The slider gives an indicative monthly EOR bill at an average gross of about ₹95,000 a month (roughly ₹11.4 lakh a year, a blend of engineering and shared-services roles), plus statutory costs and an illustrative service fee. Senior engineering and leadership roles cost more.
The first hires are usually leadership and a few senior engineers, and they cannot wait for incorporation and registrations to finish.
Labour and HR compliance checklist for a new GCC entity
The four Labour Codes have applied since 21 November 2025, the Central rules were notified in May 2026, and several States with large GCC clusters are still notifying theirs. Build policies to the Codes and check the State position before relying on older rules.
Registrations
Shops and Establishments registration in the State of each office; PF once you reach 20 employees (voluntary earlier); ESI from 10 employees for staff within the ₹21,000 monthly wage limit; professional tax and labour welfare fund where the State levies them.
Contracts and policies
A written appointment letter for every employee, now mandatory under the OSH Code; salary structures where "wages" are at least 50% of total pay for PF and gratuity; leave, working-hours, remote-work and IP policies.
People safeguards
A POSH Internal Committee once you have 10 or more employees; written consent, transport and safety arrangements for women on night shifts under section 43 of the OSH Code and your State's conditions; parity for any fixed-term employees.
Location and data
SEZ units that started operating after 31 March 2020 no longer get the income-tax holiday, so SEZ versus STPI versus a regular office is mostly about indirect tax, space and reporting. Personal data handling must meet the DPDP Act, and several States offer GCC-specific incentives worth checking.
General information, not legal or tax advice. See statutory compliance services and labour law advisory.
Moving EOR employees to your entity
The step where goodwill is most often lost. We plan it per employee, usually over 60 to 90 days.
- ✓Entity registrations complete before the first transfer date
- ✓New appointment letters on the same or better terms, with prior service recognised for leave and gratuity where agreed
- ✓PF moved through the employee's UAN so the account continues
- ✓Insurance and benefits re-placed with no gap in cover
- ✓Final EOR settlement, IP assignment re-signed, system access re-issued
Hiring order for leadership and niche roles
Candidates join people, not logos. The sequence matters more than the volume.
- ✓Centre head first, through leadership hiring or CXO search
- ✓HR lead and finance controller next, so the entity can run itself
- ✓Talent mapping of target companies before engineering managers are approached
- ✓Scarce skills (AI/ML, security, platform) through niche skill hiring
- ✓Volume and graduate intake through RPO and campus hiring
GCC staffing questions from centre heads and HR
Answers to the questions we hear most in first calls, written down so you can compare vendors on the same terms.
Get a quote →Can you employ people before our Indian entity is registered?+
Yes, through employer of record. They are employed on our Indian entity on terms you set, with payroll, PF, ESI where applicable, insurance and tax deduction handled, and they move to your entity once it is registered, with their PF account continuing through their UAN.
How does the move from EOR to our own entity work?+
Once your entity has its registrations in place, each employee receives a new appointment letter from your entity, ideally on the same or better terms and with prior service recognised where you agree to it. PF moves through the employee's UAN, benefits are re-placed without a gap, and the EOR employment is closed with a final settlement. We plan it employee by employee, usually over 60 to 90 days.
What is build-operate-transfer (BOT) and do you offer it?+
In a BOT, a partner sets up and runs the centre for an agreed period and then transfers the people, processes and often the entity to the parent. Godstone supports the people side of a BOT: employment during the build phase, hiring, payroll and the employee transfer. Entity, real estate and tax structuring should sit with your advisers or a full-service BOT operator.
Which registrations does a new GCC entity need for its employees?+
At minimum: Shops and Establishments registration in each State where you have an office, PF once you have 20 employees, ESI from 10 employees for staff within the wage limit, professional tax and labour welfare fund where the State levies them, and a POSH Internal Committee once you have 10 or more employees. Written appointment letters are mandatory for every employee under the OSH Code.
Do the new Labour Codes apply to a GCC?+
Yes. The four Codes have applied since 21 November 2025 and cover office-based technology work as well as factories. The points GCCs notice most are the 50% wage rule for PF and gratuity, mandatory appointment letters, parity and one-year gratuity for fixed-term staff, overtime rules and the consent and safety conditions for women working night shifts.
Which GCC functions do you hire for?+
Engineering and product, analytics and data, finance shared services, procurement and supply chain, HR shared services, and the leadership layer above them, plus the facility and support workforce for the campus.
Do you also staff the campus support workforce?+
Yes, and it is often the gap nobody planned for: front desk, facility management, housekeeping, pantry, cafeteria and transport coordination. Security guarding has to come from a PSARA-licensed agency, and we arrange it on that basis.
How do you compete for engineering talent against the large GCCs?+
By selling the specific thing your centre has that the large ones may not: product ownership, direct access to the parent's leadership, a modern technology stack or a smaller team where people are visible. We build that story with your centre head before the first candidate is called.
What is the typical build-out timeline you support?+
We aim to have first EOR hires employed within about a week of an accepted offer. Leadership searches usually take six to ten weeks, and volume hiring is sequenced against your seat-readiness and training dates, so the plan depends on those dates more than on the hiring market.
Staff the centre before the entity is ready
Send the headcount plan, target cities and go-live date. We will map the phases, the EOR-to-entity move and what each step costs.