Two developments in the same week offer a useful view of how global financial services companies are expanding their presence in India. US wealth management platform AssetMark has opened a Global Capability Centre in Hyderabad, while investment firm Blackstone has opened a new office and GCC in Bengaluru.
Neither announcement, on its own, proves a wholesale change in the global capability centre market. Together, however, they illustrate a broader pattern: international financial firms are using India not only as a source of outsourced technology work, but also as a base for teams connected to global operations, engineering and business functions.
AssetMark brings a decade-long India relationship in-house
AssetMark announced the opening of AssetMark Global Wealth in Hyderabad on October 29. The centre has been built to accommodate approximately 500 people and is located at H-10 by Phoenix Hitech City, according to GCC Pulse’s centre details.
The company serves more than 10,000 financial advisors in the United States. It has operated in India through an outsourcing model for nearly a decade; the Hyderabad GCC represents a move to establish a dedicated in-house team. The company says the centre will support technology, engineering and operations, working closely with teams in the US.
AssetMark has also indicated that the centre will support work across its platform, including the use of AI to improve advisor productivity, client service and engineering capabilities. It plans to recruit across technology, operations and product management, with hiring spanning experienced professionals and campus graduates.
The 500-person figure refers to the centre’s stated capacity, not its current employee count. The distinction matters: a facility opening and a hiring plan are not the same as a fully staffed operation.
Blackstone expands its India footprint into Bengaluru
Blackstone announced its new Bengaluru office on October 27, describing it as the firm’s second office in India. The new Global Capability Centre will bring together Blackstone employees and professional services partnerships across corporate functions, with the stated aim of strengthening the firm’s operating capabilities in India and globally.
The centre will be overseen by Susan Yung, a senior managing director in Blackstone Credit & Insurance’s Investment Operations team. The announcement is notable because it places the Bengaluru operation within the firm’s wider corporate and investment operations, rather than presenting it simply as a generic technology delivery centre.
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Blackstone has not disclosed a headcount target or a detailed hiring schedule in the announcement. It would therefore be premature to compare the scale of the two centres based on the information currently available.
What these moves say about the GCC model
For years, India’s global delivery model was often described through cost, scale and access to engineering talent. Those factors remain important. But the more consequential shift is in the work being located here and the degree of responsibility given to local teams.
A GCC can house software engineering, data, finance, risk, operations, product management and specialised business functions. When teams work directly with global leadership and own parts of a company’s operating agenda, the centre becomes more integrated into how the business runs.
AssetMark’s move from an outsourcing arrangement to a dedicated in-house centre is a particularly clear example of a change in operating model. Blackstone’s description of its Bengaluru GCC, meanwhile, emphasises corporate functions and investment operations. Both developments suggest that financial services companies see India as a place to build enduring internal capability.
Why financial services are an important test case
Wealth management and investment firms operate in environments where data quality, security, regulatory compliance and process reliability matter. Their India teams cannot be evaluated only by the number of developers or support staff they employ. The more important questions are what decisions those teams influence, which processes they own and how closely they work with business leadership.
AI adds another dimension. Wealth platforms can apply AI to advisor workflows, client servicing, research, operations and engineering. But the benefits depend on secure access to sensitive information, appropriate controls and human accountability. A GCC that develops these capabilities may become a strategic part of the firm’s technology and operating model.
What to watch next
Announcements are the starting point, not the outcome. For AssetMark, the indicators to watch are actual hiring, the functions moved in-house, the degree of product and engineering ownership, and whether AI-related work becomes a meaningful part of the Hyderabad centre’s remit.
For Blackstone, the next signals will be the scale of the Bengaluru team, the functions located there and the extent to which the centre takes on responsibility for global operations. More broadly, the quality of GCC expansion should be measured by mandates and decision-making authority, not just office space or planned capacity.
The signal
AssetMark and Blackstone are part of a continuing evolution in India’s GCC market. The opportunity is shifting from providing capacity to building capabilities that global businesses rely on directly. That is a more demanding model: it requires deeper talent, stronger governance and closer integration with global leadership.
India’s next GCC advantage will not be measured only by how many centres open or how many people they can accommodate. It will be measured by the complexity of the work they own and the value they create for the businesses they serve.
Featured image: Photo by Jack Blair on Unsplash. Illustrative image.
