Zero India Presence to a Fully Operational Micro-GCC — in Under 12 Months
A US tax and accounting firm decided to build in India. Specialist talent, lower costs, scalability. The case was clear.
What wasn’t clear: how do you hire tax and compliance professionals in a market where your brand means nothing? How do you set up an entity, design HR policy, build a pay structure — all while keeping a US-standard compliance bar?
You don’t wing it. You bring in a partner who’s done it before.
The Problem
The firm had no India presence — no entity, no infrastructure, no local team. Three problems sat on top of each other.
A Structural Problem
They needed a legal entity and a compliant operating model before they could hire anyone. That meant navigating Indian employment law, EoR setup, and a planned transition to BOT — without distraction to the US business.
An Employer Brand Problem
In India’s tax and finance talent market, this firm was unknown. Competing for specialist IFRS, corporate tax, and compliance professionals against established players meant building a credible employer identity from scratch.
A Talent Problem
This wasn’t generalist hiring. They needed professionals with very specific US tax expertise — corporate, HNI, individual — operating out of India. The wrong hires in a compliance-heavy function aren’t just a cost. They’re a liability.
What We Did
Started with the entity. Established the India operation under EoR, with a structured transition to BOT built into the milestones from day one. No ambiguity about when and how control transferred.
Built the employer identity in India in parallel. Deployed a trained recruitment team to source specialist tax, IFRS, and compliance roles — professionals who could work to US standards from an India base.
Designed and stood up the HR function: compensation benchmarked to the Indian market, policies aligned to both Indian employment law and global standards, governance structures that gave the US leadership visibility and control without requiring them to manage the detail.
Hired the India leadership. An anchor hire to own the centre — someone who could run the India operation as a genuine extension of the firm, not a remote outpost.
The Results
Measurable outcomes from a single, integrated engagement.
What We Learned
Employer brand in India is not optional — it’s a hiring prerequisite
In specialist talent markets, unknown brands lose candidates before the first conversation. Building the employer identity wasn’t a nice-to-have — it was the unlock for every hire that followed.
EoR-to-BOT is a transition, not a handover
Firms that treat BOT activation as a sudden handover create operational risk. Building the transition milestones into the engagement from day one meant the firm took control on a known timeline, not a scramble.
Compliance-heavy functions demand hiring precision
A generalist recruiter can’t place a US tax specialist operating from India. Getting this right required a team that understood the technical requirements of the roles, not just the job titles.
Leadership hire first, team second
Hiring the India centre head early — before the team was at scale — gave the operation an owner who could shape culture, manage day-to-day issues, and reduce the burden on US leadership from the start.
