Tech Mahindra taps US-based exec Santosh Jha to lead GCC push amid industry-wide shift

The move marks a strategic push by the Pune-based firm to grow its GCC vertical, as the company builds out a consulting-led services portfolio and seeks to expand beyond its core telecom business.

Read this | Tech Mahindra in advanced talks to set up 300-member GCC for Goodyear

Jha, who joined Tech Mahindra in March as senior vice-president, was earlier executive director at tech services firm, TEKsystems. At KPIT, where Jha spent a little more than seven years until 2015, he last served as a director and head of sales and business development. His appointment comes as part of a broader leadership reshuffle within the company’s GCC practice.

Jha replaces Ram Ramachandran, who previously led the GCC vertical and was country head for India, Middle East and Africa. Earlier this month, Ramachandran moved to a new role heading specialist sales. His position as country head has been taken over by Sahil Dhawan, a long-time Tech Mahindra executive and former KPIT executive himself.

Country heads for each GCC client will now report to Jha, who is in turn expected to report to Dhawan, said one of the three people cited earlier.

An email sent to Tech Mahindra seeking comments went unanswered.

Chasing GCC growth

Jha’s appointment aligns with a broader trend among India’s top-tier IT service providers, which are increasingly prioritising their captive centre businesses. 

Cognizant Technology Solutions was the first among the large firms to name a new GCC head, appointing Sailaja Josyula to the role on 1 April. Wipro Ltd followed with the appointment of Sandeep Dhar on 9 May, while HCL Technologies named Kiran Cherukuri to a similar position a week earlier.

Read this | Captive concerns: Why Cognizant has called out the risk from GCCs

Each firm has taken a different approach. Cognizant and HCLTech have relied on long-time insiders to lead the business, while Wipro and Tech Mahindra have turned to external hires to steer their GCC strategies.

India is the world’s largest hub for global capability centres, with around 1,760 such centres across the country, more than half of them based in Bengaluru, according to industry body Nasscom. That number is expected to rise to 2,200 by March 2030, with a total market size projected at $105 billion.

GCCs are typically back-end tech and business support centres that multinational companies set up in India, with staffing and operations often handled by third-party IT service providers. These providers earn revenue through employee provisioning, infrastructure, and sometimes revenue-sharing arrangements.

Read this | What lies ahead for GCCs in India after a pivotal year

“The innovation starts in-house and is augmented via the service provider partnership. This means providers have to align more consultatively with their clients, and is the reason why firms like Tech M(ahindra), Infosys, Cognizant and Wipro are all appointing GCC leaders to cement these symbiotic partnerships," said Phil Fersht, chief executive, HFS Research.

Tech Mahindra, under chief executive Mohit Joshi, is betting on the GCC business as one of its key growth levers. During the company’s post-earnings analyst call on 24 April, Joshi said the company is “building out specific solutions for GCCs, hiring new GCC leadership under Sahil (Dhawan), and working on solutions that go all the way from build, operate and transfer to... supplementing them on their variable capacity."

To support this strategy, Tech Mahindra launched a dedicated consulting arm, TechM Consulting, on 4 November 2024. It also rolled out its revamped GCC offering, the ‘SST Next-Gen GCC Offering’, on 1 April this year, according to two internal memos seen by Mint.

These initiatives fall under the broader Strategic Solutioning and Transformation (SST) team, which Joshi announced as part of a three-year roadmap to improve profitability and revenue growth. The SST team will focus on large deals and work across all of Tech Mahindra’s industry verticals.

Also read | The boutique consulting firms powering India’s next GCC boom

Tech Mahindra’s pivot comes at a time when the company is under pressure to revive growth. The firm reported $6.26 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2025, marking a second straight year of decline, and a 0.21% drop from the previous year.

“We expect Jha to bring a fresh perspective on how we can work with GCCs," said the person cited earlier. “The company is undergoing structural changes in how it approaches this business, and this is a key move in that direction."