JLL India, Aeka Advisors partner to service GCCs in India

Mumbai, 8 September: JLL, the country’s premier and largest professional services firm specializing in real estate and investment management today announced a strategic partnership with tax and regulatory consultancy firm Aeka Advisors. The two firms will work together in the Global Capability Centers (GCCs) space to create tailored products and services catering to business consulting, finance, tax, regulatory framework, and real estate solutions. This partnership makes JLL the first property consultant to provide specialized and customized products and services for the GCC market in India. Aeka Advisors will provide consultancy under the entire gamut of transaction advisory, transaction support, finance, tax, and regulatory services.

This first-of-its-kind partnership brings together, JLL’s expertise in real estate to help leverage its international network and provide global clients a smooth entry into the high-potential Indian GCC market. Both firms will service global businesses planning an India entry strategy, help set up operations and enable workplace dynamics, which include occupancy planning, fit-outs, and construction as well as facility management. JLL will also provide location assessments to clients including guidance and advisory services for cities and micro-markets, premises search and identification, and lease negotiation.

With the GCC market in India set to expand from 1,400+ to ~1,900 GCCs over the next 3-4 years, the opportunity presented by this strategic partnership is massive.

“Aided by positive policy support, robust IT infrastructure, a large talent pool, and enormous domestic growth, the GCC market in India is growing at a breakneck speed. Factors like low operational cost, higher productivity, and availability of good infrastructure have further created a nurturing environment for the growth of this market. In fact, the GCCs today have evolved from mere resource centers to Centres of Excellence delivering innovative solutions. We expect the GCC space to grow from ~145 million sq. ft to ~195 million sq. ft in the next 3-4 years and provide direct employment to over 2 million people. This presents a unique and extremely exciting opportunity for us at JLL. Being the leaders in the real estate consultancy space, partnering with Aeka will help us leverage our strengths together and provide clients with the best-in-class solutions and services,” said Rahul Arora, Head - Office Leasing Advisory and Retail Services, India, JLL

GCCs have come a long way in India, evolving from just being driven by cost and talent arbitrage to centers of excellence and innovation. Today more and more global companies are setting up GCCs to not just access top talent but to create that key differentiator in business.

“The team at Aeka Advisors has over the years worked with some of the largest global companies that have established GCCs in India. With a never seen before interest and focus on India, the scale of new GCCs setting up in India, across all sectors, has been rapid and is expected to further accelerate. This makes it critical that an offering encompassing the entire gamut of services that a GCC may require while evaluating and setting up operations is made available. With our deep domain understanding on financial, regulatory and tax aspects, combined with the partnership with JLL, we will be able to fill a big gap in the marketplace for new entrants as well for those looking to scale their operations.” said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and Partner, Aeka Advisors.

The geo-political stability and the demographic advantage has made India one of the most preferred countries for the setting up of the GCCs as more and more MNCs see better value in the same. In the coming few years, the country is expected to see an exponential growth in the number of GCCs. A partnership that enables the provides financial/ taxation related guidance along with realty consultancy, is just a win-win situation for all new players.