India’s GCC story is moving from execution at scale to global ownership, expertise, and strategic influence
For decades, India’s global delivery centres were built around scale, efficiency, and execution. That model is changing. As GCCs take on more complex work, the question is increasingly about who owns the thinking, decisions, and innovation. For Sudhir Mahadevapura, Managing Director, WTW India Global Delivery Center, India’s next opportunity lies in turning its talent advantage into global influence.
WTW’s India Global Delivery Centre has grown to over 4,500 people. How has the nature of the work been delivered from India evolved over the years, and what does the centre look like today compared to what it was originally built to do?
WTW’s journey in India spans more than three decades and next year we will mark 35 years of operations in the country. What started as a small team of four colleagues sharing a single computer has evolved into a thriving Global Delivery Center (GCC) of more than 4,500 colleagues supporting businesses and clients across the world.
The nature of our work has transformed significantly during that period. In the early years, the focus was primarily on supporting operational processes. Today, our colleagues deliver work across a broad spectrum of capabilities including risk and broking, health, wealth and career solutions, technology, actuarial services, analytics, research, project management, data and digital capabilities. Increasingly, our teams are helping solve complex business challenges, generate insights, and enable better decision-making for our global stakeholders.
What makes this evolution particularly significant is that it reflects the broader transformation of India’s GCC ecosystem. While the India Center continues to be viewed as an extension of global operations and technology, it has evolved into an integral part of how WTW delivers value to clients. Our colleagues work as one global team alongside counterparts across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, bringing deep expertise, innovation, and client-centric thinking to the table.
Today, WTW India Center combines scale with specialization. While operational excellence remains a core strength, we have evolved into a strategic capability center that contributes expertise, innovation and leadership across WTW’s global businesses. That journey, from four colleagues sharing one computer to a globally connected workforce of more than 4,500 professionals, reflects both our growth and our ambition for the future.
The GCC model is becoming central to how global professional services firms operate, with India increasingly positioned as a hub for high-value work in analytics, risk, and advisory. What does it take to build a GCC culture that attracts and retains the kind of talent that can genuinely do that work, rather than just support it?
The biggest shift in the GCC ecosystem is that talent no longer chooses an organization purely for career stability. People want meaningful work, opportunities to learn, exposure to global problems, and a sense of purpose.
Building that culture starts with creating an environment where expertise is valued and continuous learning is encouraged. At WTW, we invest heavily in capability building, leadership development, and creating career pathways that allow colleagues to evolve from technical specialists into strategic leaders.
Equally important is fostering a culture of inclusion, collaboration, and trust. High-performing professionals want visibility, autonomy, and the ability to make an impact. When people see that their ideas influence outcomes and that they can build global careers from India, they are more likely to stay, grow, and innovate.
WTW works across risk management, benefits, talent, and capital solutions for clients in over 140 countries. When that breadth of global complexity is being delivered through a centre in India, how do you ensure that the people on the ground here develop the contextual understanding and client empathy that complex advisory work demands?
Technical expertise is only one part of successful advisory work. Understanding client context, business priorities, and local market realities is equally important.
We deliberately create opportunities for our teams to work closely with global stakeholders and client-facing colleagues. Exposure to cross-border projects, direct collaboration with international teams, and knowledge-sharing mechanisms help our people understand not only what needs to be done, but why it matters.
Client empathy develops when colleagues understand the challenges organizations face in managing risk, talent, health, and financial outcomes. By combining domain expertise with strong global connectivity, we enable our teams to move beyond execution and contribute meaningfully to client outcomes. That balance between technical excellence and business understanding is what increasingly differentiates modern GCCs.
India is in the middle of a significant GCC expansion moment, with companies across sectors deepening their India operations. From where you sit, what is the next frontier for India-based global delivery, and what needs to change in talent, infrastructure, or mindset for Indian GCCs to move further up the value chain?
The next frontier is not scale, it is ownership.
India’s GCC ecosystem has already demonstrated its ability to deliver at scale. Today, the sector employs well over two million professionals and contributes significantly to the country’s knowledge economy. The question is no longer whether India can execute complex work. The real opportunity is for India-based centers to become hubs for innovation, AI, advanced analytics, product development, and strategic decision-making. At WTW, we are already seeing this shift play out as organizations look to India not just for execution, but for expertise, insight, and leadership.
We’re also witnessing a fundamental change in the type of talent being sought. The fastest-growing demand is no longer for purely operational capabilities but for professionals who can combine domain expertise with data, digital, and AI skills. As AI continues to transform the workplace, the most successful India Centers will be those that augment technology with human judgment, creativity, and client understanding.
To move further up the value chain, organizations will need to invest in continuous learning, strengthen global leadership capabilities, and embrace responsible AI adoption.
India’s advantage has always been its talent. The future will belong to GCCs that can combine that talent with technology, innovation, and global influence to shape enterprise strategy rather than simply support it.
