A realistic sequence
Frame the mandate
Define work, value, scale, sponsorship, decision rights and what success must look like after 24 months.
Choose the model and city
Compare owned, managed and BOT routes; test cities against the actual role families rather than generic rankings.
Build the legal and financial rails
Incorporation, bank account, capital, registrations, intercompany agreements and reporting design begin in parallel.
Secure the operating platform
Workspace, technology, security, payroll, benefits, vendors and employer proposition move from design to contracting.
Hire leadership and the first teams
Country leadership, functional anchors and early cohorts are sequenced around knowledge transfer and manager capacity.
Transition and stabilise
Run controlled handovers, evidence access and controls, measure productivity and close ownership gaps before scaling.
What can run in parallel?
Usually parallel
- Entity work and location diligence
- Leadership search and workplace design
- Technology architecture and vendor evaluation
- Transfer-pricing design and service scoping
Usually sequential
- Final contracts after the service model is clear
- Capital reporting after issue and allotment events
- Scaled hiring after managers and role design exist
- Transition sign-off after control evidence is tested
Five delays that are rarely caused by India
- No single sponsor: decisions cycle between finance, technology, HR, legal and procurement.
- An undefined mandate: the team is asked to hire before roles, work and ownership are settled.
- Late document preparation: overseas corporate documents need correct execution, notarisation or apostille.
- Leadership hired too late: vendors fill the vacuum and temporary choices become permanent architecture.
- Control discovery: privacy, cyber, export-control or client-consent constraints appear after work has been selected.
The first 30 days should produce decisions, not activity.
By day 30, the programme should have a written mandate, a preferred operating model, a location shortlist, an entity route, a first-year cost range, a hiring sequence, a workstream owner map and a short risk register. A large project plan without these choices is administrative comfort, not progress.