India has become a significant hub for Global Capability Centres (GCCs), hosting around half of the world’s GCCs and ranking as the second-largest base for enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) talent globally. Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran highlighted this at the CII GCC Business Summit, emphasizing India’s increasing role in innovation and high-value global business operations. Over the past two decades, India’s GCC ecosystem has transformed significantly, with more than 2,000 centres employing over 2 million professionals.
The employment in India’s GCC sector is approaching 2.3 million, with annual revenues surpassing $60 billion and expected to reach $100 billion. Nageswaran attributed this growth to India’s talent pool, stating that these centres initially came to India for cost advantages but stayed for the capabilities offered. GCCs now contribute nearly 2% to India’s GDP and play a crucial role in the development of new office spaces in major Indian cities.
Indian GCCs have evolved beyond traditional back-office support functions to handle high-value tasks in technology, engineering, research, product development, analytics, and digital transformation. Nageswaran highlighted that global banks manage critical systems from Mumbai and Bengaluru, while automobile manufacturers design vehicles in Chennai and Pune. Additionally, semiconductor firms conduct chip design in India, pharmaceutical companies perform clinical analytics, and consumer companies develop digital products from their Indian centres. The intellectual property generated in these centres is substantial, with patents filed and products shipped globally, underscoring the pivotal role Indian GCCs play for multinational companies.
