Build-Operate-Transfer: we carry the risk while your centre proves itself
Under the Build-Operate-Transfer model, we set up your Global Capability Centre, run it, and hold the entity, employment, and compliance risk while the centre matures. When it is stable and performing, we transfer it to you: the entity, the people, the processes, and the institutional knowledge, under a handover defined before we begin.
You end up exactly where a captive would have taken you: a centre you fully own. The difference is who carried the risk on the way there.
Why companies choose BOT
Committed to India, not to carrying the early-stage risk
BOT exists for a specific situation: your company has decided India is part of the plan, but you are not ready to own an Indian entity on day one. The reasons are usually practical, not strategic:
Your board wants proof before permanence.
A running, performing centre is easier to approve for ownership than a proposal and a spreadsheet.
You do not yet have India expertise in-house.
Owning an entity from day one means owning its statutory obligations from day one. Under BOT, that sits with us until you are ready.
You want your leadership focused on the work, not the setup.
While we incorporate, hire, and build operations, your team's only job is directing what the centre actually does.
Timing is uncertain.
BOT lets the transfer happen when the centre is ready and your organisation is ready, not on a date forced by an incorporation certificate.
If you are ready to own from day one, the captive model is the more direct route. If you only need your first few hires quickly, start with Employer of Record (EOR). BOT is the middle path: full ownership as the destination, with the journey de-risked.
The three phases
Build. Operate. Transfer. What actually happens in each
- Step 01
Build
We design and establish the centre under our responsibility: entity structuring, incorporation and statutory registrations, workspace acquisition in the city your talent strategy points to, IT asset procurement, and recruitment of your founding team against your role definitions and your bar. You approve the key decisions; we execute all of them.
- Step 02
Operate
The centre runs with us accountable for its operational spine: payroll, accounting, statutory compliance, HR administration, secretarial and legal obligations, and financial reporting to your group standards. You direct the work itself: what the team builds, delivers, and improves. Throughout this phase you see everything: a single named point of contact, defined response times, monthly governance reporting, and the live status of every compliance obligation. The centre operates to your standards long before it carries your name plate.
- Step 03
Transfer
When the agreed readiness conditions are met, ownership moves to you as a planned project, not an event. What transfers: the legal entity, every employment contract, all statutory registrations and compliance history, vendor and workspace agreements, documented processes, and the institutional knowledge of how the centre runs. Your team is trained into every responsibility before we step back, and we remain available afterwards for as much or as little support as you want.
The transfer, demystified
The question everyone asks: will the handover be real?
It is the right question to ask of any BOT provider. A transfer is only real if it is defined before the engagement starts, so ours is.
Before we build anything, the engagement agreement sets out what "ready to transfer" means, what transfers, and how. That includes the entity and its complete compliance history, all employment contracts moving with continuity of service, documented operating processes rather than knowledge locked in our heads, and a transition period in which your team runs the centre while we are still standing behind them.
Two things make our transfer credible. First, the terms are written into the contract at the start, when you have maximum negotiating clarity, not at the end. Second, our business model does not depend on keeping you: we work exclusively with GCCs across every model, and a successfully transferred centre that still trusts us for compliance or advisory is worth more to us than a client who feels held.
Risks, named and absorbed
The doubts buyers have about BOT, answered straight
How we handle every India riskThe provider will make the centre dependent on them.
Everything we build is documented as we build it: processes, controls, vendor relationships, compliance procedures. The test we hold ourselves to: your team could run the centre from the documentation alone. Dependence on undocumented knowledge is a transfer failure, and we treat it as one.
The people will leave when the transfer happens.
Employees join knowing the centre's destination is your ownership; the transfer is presented as the plan succeeding, not as upheaval. Contracts move with continuity of service, and nothing about their daily work, workspace, or team changes on transfer day.
Quality during the operate phase will be the provider's standard, not ours.
You set the standard from the start. Your role definitions, your quality bar, your reporting formats. We run the centre to your standards precisely so that transfer day changes ownership, not output.
We will not really know what is happening until we own it.
You will. Monthly governance reporting, a single named point of contact, defined response times, working-hour overlap with US, UK, and European time zones, and the live status of every compliance obligation, from the first month of the build phase.
FAQ
Common questions about the BOT model
How long does the operate phase last?
There is no fixed term; the operate phase lasts until the readiness conditions agreed at the start are met and your organisation is prepared to take ownership. Some clients move quickly, others let the centre mature longer. The right duration is settled in your engagement agreement, not imposed by us.
Who owns the intellectual property created during the operate phase?
You do. The engagement is structured so that the work product, intellectual property, and data created by the centre belong to your company throughout, not just after transfer.
What does the transfer cost?
The commercial structure, including transfer terms, is defined in the engagement agreement before the build begins, so there is no surprise negotiation at the end. The specifics depend on your engagement's scope, which is exactly what a consultation is for.
Can we accelerate or delay the transfer once we start?
Yes, by agreement. The readiness conditions are the anchor, but organisations change: budgets shift, leadership changes, plans accelerate. The engagement is built to flex the timing without renegotiating the destination.
What happens after the transfer?
The centre is yours, and the relationship is your choice. Many clients retain us for compliance, payroll, or CFO-level advisory after transfer; others take everything in-house. There is no obligation either way.
Ready to talk about your centre in India?
Tell us where you are in your thinking. We respond within one business day and work across US, UK, and European time zones.