Setting Up a GCC in India: The Office Checklist for the First 90 Days

Every GCC launch has the same shape. A board approves the center, a programme lead is named, a long list of workstreams starts, and about six weeks later someone realises that nobody has seats for the first hires. The office does not usually fail. It simply gets scheduled last, and by then it is on the critical path.

This post is the workspace slice of a 90-day plan. It will not tell you how to register an Indian subsidiary or structure transfer pricing; your legal and finance advisers own that. It will tell you what to decide about the office, in what order, so the physical space never becomes the reason a new center misses its first milestone.

Know the clock you are working against

Published guides on GCC setup, mostly from advisory and hiring firms, offer rough benchmarks. Treat them as vendor estimates rather than standards, but they agree on the shape. A managed GCC model reaches go-live in about 6 to 16 weeks. A captive wholly owned subsidiary needs at least 16 to 24 weeks. A 20 to 50 person center reaches operational readiness in roughly four to six months, and 50 to 200 people takes six to nine. These guides also say that running legal entity, leadership hiring, infrastructure and pilot planning in parallel can compress timelines by 30 to 50%.

The practical consequence: if the office takes four months to fit out, it will be the longest item on your plan, and the “parallel” savings disappear. Workspace is the one workstream you can shorten by choosing differently, rather than by working harder.

Weeks 1 to 3: decide the constraints, not the building

What to settle before you tour anything

• A seat range for months 3, 12 and 24. For example, 25 to 40, 60 to 110 and 90 to 200. Ranges force the right conversation about expansion.
• The function mix. A team of engineers, one of analysts and one of finance operations need different noise levels, meeting-room ratios and security.
• A security baseline. Ask your information security lead what must be physically separate: a lockable room, controlled access, camera policy, clean-desk rules.
• Operating hours. A center that works across US and European time zones needs 24x7 access, power backup and food options that make sense late at night.
• The decision owner. One person with authority to sign. Offices are lost to committees.

Weeks 3 to 5: shortlist and tour

Pick a city first, then a district, then three buildings at most. For a Gurugram search, that means weighing Cyber City, Golf Course Road and Golf Course Extension Road as covered in our Gurugram GCC guide. Tour at the hour your people will actually commute. Ask every operator or landlord the same five questions:

1. How many days from signing to the first person sitting down?
2. What is the all-in monthly cost per seat, with every charge listed?
3. Where do my next 40 people sit, and in which building or floor?
4. What can my security team inspect and sign off before I commit?
5. What are the minimum term, notice period and exit costs?

Weeks 5 to 8: contract and design the details

This is where the lease path and the managed path diverge sharply. In a direct lease, weeks 5 to 8 are the start of design and approvals, and the physical build lies ahead. In a managed office, weeks 5 to 8 are the contract, the customization list and the onboarding documents, and the space is close to ready. If you have not read it, our comparison of managed private office vs lease-and-fit-out sets out the trade-offs.

The customization list worth writing down

• Team zones: which functions sit together, and which rooms are lockable.
• Branding: reception signage, door graphics, brand colours.
• IT: internet circuits, firewall placement, network segmentation, wall ports, printer policy.
• Access: badge provisioning, visitor handling, after-hours rules.
• Meeting rooms: video-conference equipment, booking rules, a client-ready room for visiting leadership.
• Pantry and wellbeing: tea, coffee, meal options, quiet room if needed.

Weeks 8 to 12: readiness and day one

With the contract signed, the last month is rehearsal. Walk the space with your facilities and security leads. Test Wi-Fi under load, badge access on a weekend, and the video link from the main meeting room to headquarters. Draft a one-page “how the office works” guide for the first hires: where to park, how to reach the reception desk, who to call, how guests are registered.

The mistakes that stall launches

Waiting for the entity before talking to workspace operators

Entity setup takes time and is outside your control. Many managed operators can start onboarding while incorporation is in progress, subject to their documentation rules. Ask; do not assume you must wait.

Sizing for the headcount you hope for

Plans that assume 150 people in 12 months frequently see 70. Size for the realistic case and buy the upside as an option, not a commitment.

Treating security as a final-week review

If the security team first sees the space in week eleven, any objection will cost you a month. Bring them to the tour in week four.

Forgetting the first visit from headquarters

Leadership will arrive within the first quarter. A good meeting room, a calm reception and a tidy pantry say more about the centre than any slide.

The Nano GCC version of the 90-day plan

Everything above applies to a Nano GCC, but the workspace slice shrinks. A center of 10 to 50 people with a few high-impact compact teams does not need a design consultant, a contractor and a phased handover. It needs a short list of private offices, a security sign-off and a contract.

• Weeks 1 to 2: agree the seat range and security baseline, then shortlist two or three buildings.
• Weeks 3 to 4: tour with your security lead and choose.
• Weeks 5 to 6: sign, provision access and IT, and welcome the first hires.

That compressed timeline is one of the real advantages of starting small: the office stops being the long pole in the plan.

The agenda for the first workspace meeting

When the programme lead meets a workspace operator for the first time, a structured agenda saves a week. Bring these seven items and ask for written answers.

1. Headcount range and timing for months 3, 12 and 24.
2. Security baseline from your CISO, in plain language.
3. IT requirements: circuits, network segmentation, equipment and vendors.
4. Operating hours and after-hours access needs.
5. Meeting-room needs for calls, interviews and visitors.
6. Documentation needs for your entity, bank and any policy claims.
7. Commercial terms: all-in fee, minimum term, scaling and exit.

Hiring-day logistics nobody plans for

A new center interviews far more people than it hires. A search that ends with ten hires may involve a hundred conversations, many of them on site. That puts pressure on exactly the rooms a small team has least of.

• Interview rooms: at least one private room that can be reserved for half-day blocks, away from the working floor so candidates do not see confidential material.
• Candidate experience: a clear reception process, a comfortable waiting area and an easy route from the metro or road. Candidates judge employers by how the first fifteen minutes feel.
• Panels with remote members: a room with reliable video so a leader abroad can join without audio trouble.
• Joining day: a ready desk, working laptop and access badge for every new starter on their first morning. These are the details that decide how a new hire feels about the center in week one.

A managed office with meeting rooms included in the monthly fee takes much of this off your list. Ask how many hours of meeting-room time are included and how bookings work during hiring peaks.

How QAARYA fits into the plan

QAARYA's private offices at M3M IFC, DLF Building 14 and AIPL Masterpiece are built for the weeks 5 to 8 stage of this plan: fit-out-ready cabins, one all-inclusive fee plus GST, a 12-month minimum term and 24x7 member access, with seat counts that can scale up or down after the first term. Teams can tour all three buildings, bring their security lead and see the meeting rooms before deciding. If you are planning a launch, start with the workspace options and book a tour in week three so the rest of the plan has a date to hang from.

Planning a global capability center in Gurugram? See QAARYA's private office solutions for GCCs, or talk to the team on +91 96504 98482.