girish

Founder @Innovatily | 1Unified & FunnelOS | AI, Data & GTM Funnels | LLM wrangler | Insights to Dashboards

[girish @ygchander]

A contrarian take on India's GCC boom that I can't shake.

Everyone I talk to in the ecosystem is bullish. The numbers justify the bullishness — 1,800 centers, 2 million jobs, $64B in revenue. Hard to argue with.

But I keep coming back to one thing: who actually owns what gets built here?

Here's what's changed that nobody seems to want to talk about.

Firms like ANSR and Zinnov have done something genuinely impressive — they've turned GCC setup into a 90-day productized play. Low capex, no entity headache, talent ready to go. For an MNC, it's a no-brainer.

But that's exactly the problem.

The old captive center model had real friction — legal entity, infrastructure, 12-18 months of setup, actual stranded asset risk. That friction wasn't a bug. It self-selected for companies with genuine long-term intent. You didn't set up a center in India unless you meant it.

The BOT model has quietly engineered that friction away.

An MNC can now enter India in 90 days, run operations, let the IP and institutional knowledge accumulate in their systems, and walk away the moment AI makes the workflow redundant — with zero employment liability and no stranded assets.

Opendoor did this in 18 months flat. Set up in 2024. Automated the manual workflows. Shut down in 2026. 250 people out. Clean exit.

Now you might say — Opendoor was a distressed company, bad example. Fair. But the structure they used isn't unique to them. It's the standard playbook now.

And here's the part that actually bothers me:

In the old outsourcing model, at least the Indian vendor walked away with domain knowledge they could repackage for the next client. In the BOT-GCC model, that knowledge goes straight into the MNC's systems. India gets temporary employment. The MNC gets compounding institutional intelligence.

We're also doing this with our best people. The senior engineers who should be taking product risk at Indian startups are instead taking premium salaries at GCCs — stable, well-compensated, zero equity, zero contribution to anything India owns.

I'm not saying GCCs are bad. I run a software company. I understand why both sides of this trade make rational sense.

But I think India is optimizing for the wrong metric.

Headcount is not capability. Revenue is not ownership. And a 90-day entry with a clean exit option is not a long-term bet on India — it's a very efficient way to use India.

Three questions I genuinely don't have answers to:

→ When the next wave of AI automation hits GCC workflows — and it will — how many of these 2 million jobs have a real second act?

→ If a BOT engagement never actually transfers, what did India get beyond a few years of payroll?

→ Are we building the conditions for India to produce globally competitive product companies, or are we systematically stripping out the talent and capital that would make that possible?

Would genuinely love pushback on this if I'm missing something.

[girish @ygchander]

I see all the rage against Indian IT services. We have to acknowledge the fact that it’s pulled millions out of low income and given them stable life. At the same time, it’s also time they (we) change, adapt and refine to the approach to meet the newer world

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🛢️ Shell CEO drops a bombshell on the oil market:

The world is short 1.2 billion barrels, that’s 12 full days of global consumption gone missing because of the Iran war.

Over 10% of global crude production is offline, and the deficit is deepening every day.

Inventories are crashing toward the lowest levels since 2003. Rebalancing could take “close to a year, if not longer.”

This is the biggest supply shock in oil market history. Brace yourselves.

Source: @jackprandelli / Writer: Lynn

[girish @ygchander]

@surbhiskjain Have seen this with one of the top docs during my wife pregnancy. But to her credit she made sure she answered all the questions and clarified anything we asked and wasn’t in a rush. And she did the delivery as well. So it worked out in the end

[girish @ygchander]

The fundamental difference in perspective here is this: Many in Abrahamic traditions often view their faith as the exclusive path to God, seeing other religions as rival sects or incomplete truths. In Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism), we see Jesus as one more enlightened Guru or teacher among many who have illuminated the path to the Divine for humanity. We honor him, just as we honor other great souls across traditions.
For us, truth is one, though the wise may call it by many names. Different religions are like various rivers flowing toward the same ocean. That’s why a Hindu can respectfully quote from the Bible, pray in a church, or draw wisdom from any sincere spiritual tradition without conflict or “pretending.” It doesn’t dilute our faith — it reflects its expansiveness. Sanatan Dharma teaches us to respect all genuine paths to God, without demanding conversion or supremacy.
This pluralism is why it ultimately doesn’t matter which specific tradition one follows, as long as it leads to realizing the Divine, living with dharma (righteousness), and cultivating compassion. Faith should broaden the heart, not narrow it.

[girish @ygchander]

@prakdadlani Awesome !!!

[girish @ygchander]

@priteshlakhani So when are you going to shark tank ;)

[girish @ygchander]

@prakdadlani - don’t take these pitches seriously, the ones who can make a difference will research, put together a plan and pitch you with an exact step by step plan. Until then it’s just guys trying their luck. Most of what we are going to see in future is going to be AI slop and promises of sales automation and millions in revenue

[girish @ygchander]

@prakdadlani Hahahah

[girish @ygchander]

@prakdadlani Staying ;)

[Sann @san_x_m]

Her name is Kalpana Saroj.

She was born in 1961 in Akola, Maharashtra, into a Dalit family. Her father was a police constable. She loved school. Her teachers seated her separately because she was Dalit.

At 12, her parents married her off to a man ten years older. She moved to a ten by five feet room in a Mumbai slum shared by twelve people. She was malnourished and abused every day.

Six months later, her father visited without warning. He could not recognise her. He took her home immediately.

Back in the village, the taunts were unbearable. One day, she drank three bottles of rat poison. She survived. She decided that if she had been given a second life, she would do something with it.

She moved to Mumbai and worked at a garment factory for two rupees a day. She took a government loan of Rs 50000 and started a tailoring business. Then furniture. Then real estate.

In 2001, the workers of Kamani Tubes approached her. The company had Rs 116 crore in debt. Workers unpaid for three years. 140 legal cases pending.

She took it on.

The court told her to clear the bank loans within seven years. She did it within one. The court told her to pay unpaid wages within three months. She paid more than what was owed.

Today, she runs six companies with a combined turnover of over Rs 2000 crore. Padma Shri 2013. Board of IIM Bangalore. Board of Bhartiya Mahila Bank.

She once worked for two rupees a day.

She said Ivy League degrees and fancy MBAs are not what make an entrepreneur. Grit, perseverance and a superhuman ability to have faith in yourself does.

Follow for real stories India never makes headlines about.

[girish @ygchander]

@Sameer_vyapari Take me as an intern ?

[girish @ygchander]

Any RWA specialists from US who have some experience in non-institutional attest fund raise ? A friend has reached out for help and I am looking for some guidance and possible collaboration. #erc3643

[girish @ygchander]

Any RWA specialists from US who have some experience in non-institutional attest fund raise ? A friend has reached out for help and I am looking for some guidance and possible collaboration. #erc3643

[girish @ygchander]

Such a weird experience - was interviewing a senior dev , 10 minutes into the call I was excited , 30 minutes later I was confident he knew what he was talking about and he ticked all the boxes so far. What happend next was bizzare - I give him a coding problem , not too hard and give him starting code, and he says I am not able to code. So I help break down the problem and hint some solution approach and then opens his ide and nothing , after few minutes he says I am not able to . Grrrr !!!

[girish @ygchander]

https://t.co/hSl1kyIfTg

[girish @ygchander]

https://t.co/hSl1kyIfTg

[girish @ygchander]

Indian manufacturers lose deals not on price — on response time.
China quotes in 2 hours. You take 10 days.
PakkaQuote changes that. Forward an inquiry on WhatsApp, approve the quote — professional proposal out in 5 minutes.
Inquiry in. Deal pakka.

Early access open

https://t.co/XC36CzQ2z7