- Indian GCCs hoped to gain more strategic value from the H-1B visa-fee hike. But their headquarters seem to want to hold on to power
- Titles have grown faster over the years in GCCs. But major decisions are still routed to the US offices
- GCC employees are expected to take ownership of a product as innovation hubs, but they rarely have any authority over it
- Indian GCCs, which outpace tech-services firms in numbers and growth, are still at risk of repeating the IT story
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On a random Friday in September, the leader of the free world woke up and chose chaos.
US President Donald Trump’s proclamation of a $100,000 fee on fresh H-1B visas—the permission slip that lets Indian engineers go work at the mothership of all things IT in California instead of coding for the company in Bengaluru—pushed the Indian tech-services sector into panic mode. But a different set of employees in the country had an unusual reaction. They were happy that their moment had finally arrived.
Global capability centres (GCCs)—the offshore units set up by multinational companies in the country—have long employed thousands of people but never really enjoyed decisional power. Now, companies would lean harder on these hubs, hand them more strategic mandates, and make them more innovative,
No longer would they remain execution hubs. Trump’s announcement, they thought, was a blessing in disguise.
But the reality is a lot messier.
“Nothing will change. Company leaders would be too spooked [to hand over decision-making power],” said Suresh, a senior employee who quit his job at a well-known GCC in Bengaluru earlier in 2025. Indian GCCs may employ a lot of people, and the higher-ups here may have big titles, “but the power will stay across the ocean, even now.”
On paper, GCCs do seem like the natural solution to the visa-fee hike. India has over 1,700 GCCs—most in Bengaluru. More than two-thirds of
Originally intended as a back office to reduce expenditure, GCCs, over the last four decades, have evolved far beyond cost arbitrage.
Credits
Written by Mrunmayee Kulkarni
Edited by Abhijith S Warrier
Lede illustration by Kavipriya OG
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