Why headline salary comparisons mislead
Most GCC business cases compare an onshore salary with an Indian salary and stop there. The numbers that decide whether a center succeeds are the ones around the salary: recruiting cost and time, attrition, workspace, devices, compliance, management overhead and the productivity ramp in the first two quarters.
A year-one model for 30 engineers
Entity and compliance setup, secure workspace for 30–40 seats in Ahmedabad or Pune, devices and cloud landing zone, leadership hires, and a recruiting engine that can close 30 senior engineers in two quarters. Fully loaded, a well-run center lands 40–45% below the equivalent onshore cost in year one and 50%+ from year three, once the ramp is behind you.
Where BOT changes the math
Build-Operate-Transfer moves the fixed setup risk to a partner that has done it before: entity, workspace and first hires happen in parallel instead of sequence, so the center reaches productive capacity roughly two quarters earlier. The transfer at month 12–24 converts it into your own subsidiary with the team and IP intact.
What to watch
Attrition above 15% erodes every saving; so does a center run as a "vendor" rather than as one team with shared roadmap, ceremonies and metrics. Design for both from day one.
