India has emerged as a global hub for Global Capability Centres (GCCs), hosting nearly half of the world’s such centres and becoming the second-largest base of enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) talent, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said.
Speaking at the CII GCC Business Summit, Nageswaran highlighted the rapid transformation of India’s GCC ecosystem, which has evolved significantly from its early role as a back-office support destination.
“Two decades ago, we had a handful of back offices. Today, it is more than 2,000 such centres, and they employ more than 2 million professionals,” he said.
The employment base is expected to rise further towards 2.3 million, while the sector’s revenue has crossed $60 billion and is moving towards the $100 billion mark.
According to Nageswaran, GCCs now contribute nearly 2% to India’s GDP and represent an increasing share of office space development across major Indian cities.
A Global Capability Centre is an offshore facility established by multinational companies to manage internal functions such as technology, research, analytics, operations and shared services rather than relying on external outsourcing providers.
The CEA said the scope of Indian GCCs has expanded across multiple industries. Global financial institutions operate risk management systems and trading platforms from cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru, while automobile companies design vehicles and embedded systems from Chennai and Pune.
Semiconductor companies conduct chip design activities, pharmaceutical firms manage clinical analytics, and consumer companies develop digital products from India.
Highlighting India’s growing technology capabilities, Nageswaran cited Merck’s Bengaluru campus, which brings together around 3,300 employees working across data, AI and enterprise technology.
The facility represents Merck’s largest concentration of digital capabilities globally and makes India the company’s fourth-largest workforce hub after Germany, the US and China.
The CEA said more than 1,200 GCCs in India are actively involved in artificial intelligence and machine learning projects.
He noted that India’s AI capabilities are creating real intellectual property, with patents being filed, products being developed and global leadership roles increasingly being managed from the country.
Nageswaran added that Indian GCCs have become central to the operations of many multinational companies, moving beyond support functions to become key drivers of innovation, technology development and business transformation.
