Far from being a mere support function, India’s GCCs have turned into a formidable sector driving cutting-edge innovation, groundbreaking research and development and digital transformation.
For instance, Mercedes-Benz’s India R&D hub exemplified this shift by leveraging a GenAI model that predicts vehicle paint based on climatic conditions, thereby saving energy and cost. Similarly, JPMorgan Chase’s India team embedded LLMs into financial systems to enable smarter decision-making. These advancements, once the exclusive domain of core teams at global headquarters, are now being ideated and led out of GCCs in India.
Today, 40–50% of India-based GCCs are focused on R&D, AI, analytics, and product engineering, according to a Zinnov report. Among mid-market firms, these GCCs are 1.3 times more likely to focus on digital transformation, and nearly half of all global product management talent for these companies is now based in the country.
A clear indicator that the GCC landscape is not just expanding, it’s accelerating up the value chain, evolving beyond their role as cost-efficient support functions into strategic engine rooms of AI-led innovation.
India is home to nearly 1,975 GCCs, employing close to 1.9 million professionals, with projections estimating over 3,000 GCCs by 2030. Between FY25 and FY29, GCCs are projected to generate value at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11-12%, according to the PwC India report.
With deeper alignment between Indian centres and global headquarters, this could surge to 14-15%, underscoring their growing strategic relevance. The scale and impact are truly staggering.
“The conversation has moved beyond operational efficiency to delivering strategic impact,” Ayushi Jain, GCC head at LatentView Analytics, said. “Organisations now expect tangible business value from their GCCs at speed, making innovation non-negotiable.” GenNext GCCs are levelling up with AI-driven advanced analytics.
AI, Data, and Tech as Innovation Multipliers
At the core of this transformation is the pivot towards data-driven innovation. Over 185 GCCs have established dedicated AI/ML centres of excellence (CoEs), while more than 30 innovation centres have been launched in just the past few years. It shows that the Indian hubs of MNCs are committed to innovation, leveraging the country’s vast talent pool.
A BCG report states only 8% of GCCs lead in innovation, but over 90% are developing AI centres of excellence. GCCs now design AI-driven supply chains, customer intelligence engines, and analytics tools—beyond their back-office roles.
One notable example of Indian GCCs taking leadership in R&D and AI is Walmart Global Tech India. The GCC employs AI in its retail ecosystem—optimising inventory, enabling real-time substitutions, and deploying personalised recommendations to enhance shopping.
“GCCs are now deeply involved in building products, enabling digital transformation, and even contributing directly to topline growth,” said Jain, adding that LatentView is working with a multinational American climate solutions company to improve their supply chain by creating a unified productivity view and integrating a GenAI chatbot for data-driven insights across regions.
LatentView also helps clients apply AI across business functions including early threat detection through Risk and Fraud Analytics.
However, AI-driven innovation demands high investments, and many companies hold back unsure of the returns at the risk of losing a competitive edge. To navigate this, LatentView recommends a use-case-driven balanced approach.
“It’s about first identifying the low-hanging fruit where companies can unlock dollars by improving operational efficiency and then using the resources to fuel innovation,” Krishnan Venkata, Chief Client Officer at LatentView, said.
Tier-2 Cities Join the Innovation Party
While Bengaluru still hosts over 875 GCCs and accounts for 34% of India’s GCC workforce, its share is declining as Tier-2 cities increase their presence. GCCs are now coming up in Indore, Mysuru, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad, where companies benefit from 40-60% lower operating costs and 30-40% lower attrition.
Jain stated that several state in India now has their own GCC policy, indicating the widespread adoption of this model at both the industry and policy levels. Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and UP, all have framed GCC policies aligning with their respective states.
But scaling in newer regions is a constraint. Parameters like site selection, local compliance, and operational coordination across multiple cities often trip up global companies. Besides, attracting and retaining talent, especially in the face of competition from well-established IT companies, also remains a challenge for the GCCs.
“Many GCCs, particularly in analytics and IT, still function as execution arms rather than strategic partners. Their value is often assessed by team size instead of business impact,” Rajan Sethuraman, CEO of LatentView Analytics, said. “As a result, most of them struggle to influence major decisions or spearhead new initiatives.”
This is where LatentView comes in. The company helps GCCs with change management, talent, and business cases to make data-driven innovation central to India’s strategy.
“While GCCs hire top-tier talent, they often underutilise these professionals by restricting them to narrow functions,” Sethuraman added, noting that employees can’t innovate without understanding customer problems or participating in strategy. “Our Global Innovation Hub fosters integration, collaboration, and business outcomes through change management and value transition, he said.
Nano GCCs: A New Model for Mid-Sized Enterprises
Apart from large companies, LatentView helps mid-market firms, especially those with revenues between $400 million and $1 billion, establish ‘nano GCCs’—small innovation centres of about 50-100 people focused on AI experimentation. “We assist global firms in launching and scaling innovative centres that attract top talent and avoid the need for large initial setups,” Jain said.
The company believes in a combination of technical and domain expertise. It also has learning pathways to equip employees with the latest technologies. “We don’t just train our employees for AI, we train for AI in consumer goods, or AI in BFSI,” said Jain. “That domain depth is what separates real impact from theoretical capability.”
Organisations realise that scale alone doesn’t define GCC success, especially as they adopt strategic, innovation-led roles. Their advantage lies in intelligently leveraging data, talent, and AI for measurable impact.
The new benchmark is their ability to influence product vision, drive experimentation, and embed analytics into the core of business strategy.
The shift is already underway, with India’s GCCs at the centre, not only executing strategies but also informing and enabling them through data-driven innovation embedded in global enterprises.
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