GCC Governance

India GCC Governance Framework: Boards, Committees, Cadence

A working India GCC needs four governance layers: the Indian Board (statutory), the Operating Committee (monthly), the Steering Committee (quarterly) and the Risk Committee (quarterly). Without this structure, the parent loses line of sight within 12 months.

The four layers

Indian Board: minimum 2 directors, one resident in India, quarterly statutory meetings, signs off financial statements and major decisions.
Operating Committee: monthly, India leadership plus parent business sponsors, runs Service Level Agreements, Key Performance Indicators, hiring, attrition, productivity.
Steering Committee: quarterly, parent executives plus India Country Head, sets strategy, approves charters, signs off annual plan.
Risk Committee: quarterly, includes Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, internal audit, reviews Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, regulatory and people risk.

Decision rights

Define the matrix on day one for hiring (who approves above what band), capex (lease, fit out, hardware above a threshold), scope (new charters, new functions) and exit (function close, leadership exit).

Reporting stack

A single India GCC dashboard updated weekly covering headcount vs plan, attrition trailing 12 months, productivity index, Service Level Agreement attainment, financial actual vs budget and risk register status.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Indian Country Head report to the parent CEO or the parent business head?

Best practice: hard line to a single parent executive (often Chief Operating Officer or Chief Technology Officer), dotted lines to the business heads whose work the GCC delivers.