JUNE 2025

When the world speaks of India's rise in the global economy, much attention is paid to its vast market, startup energy, and demographic dividend. 

But beneath the headlines, a quieter, more consequential transformation is underway. 

India has emerged as the Global Capability Centre (GCC) capital of the world, hosting more than 50% of the world’s GCCs and employing over two million professionals. 

This is not just a story of cost arbitrage, it's about how India, through a convergence of historical foresight, talent, and reform, positioned itself as the backbone of global enterprise innovation.

• प्रतिभा का निर्यात: भारत दुनिया की जीसीसी (GCC) राजधानी है 

But the story is layered. While cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad power the GCC engine, vast swathes of India, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh, have been reduced to 

manpower exporters, disconnected from the wave of development they help sustain. 

To understand India’s GCC revolution is to understand both its promise and its imbalance.

Global Capability Centres, formerly called captives or global in-house centres, are fully-owned offshore extensions of multinational corporations (MNCs). 

Unlike the transactional BPOs of the early 2000s, today’s GCCs perform high-value functions: AI/ML development, product design, cybersecurity, financial engineering, digital transformation, and R&D.

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Global Capability Centres, formerly called captives or global in-house centres, are fully-owned offshore extensions of multinational corporations (MNCs). 

There are now over 2,000 GCCs in India, employing 2.1 million professionals. According to EY India, they contribute over $50 billion annually to the economy, expected to cross $100 billion by 2030. 

Sectors from pharma to retail, finance to aerospace are building strategic operations in India.

From Nehru to Narayana Murthy: How India Became GCC-Ready

India’s GCC dominance didn’t emerge overnight. It is the product of visionary decisions dating back to 1947. 

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s focus on science and education gave India institutions like IISc, IITs, HAL, ISRO, and CSIR. English, far from being discarded, was retained as the language 

of higher education and business, a pragmatic masterstroke that connected Indian talent to global markets.

• प्रतिभा का निर्यात: भारत दुनिया की जीसीसी (GCC) राजधानी है 

In the 1980s, Rajiv Gandhi pushed India’s first IT policy, while entrepreneurs like Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji, Tatas and Shiv Nadar laid the foundations of the tech industry. 

The liberalisation of 1991 under P.V. Narasimha Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh opened India to foreign capital and tech investment. 

Bangalore became India’s Silicon Valley through a mix of ecosystem readiness, state policy, and global investor confidence.

Today, India offers the perfect GCC mix: a vast English-speaking STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workforce, institutional stability, strong digital infrastructure, and urban tech ecosystems.

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It is built on the backs of English fluency, scientific discipline, and entrepreneurial hunger.

English and Science: India’s Modern Temples

Post-independence India made two bold bets, on English and Science. These were not colonial hangovers but the bedrock of modern Indian ambition.

• English became the language of code, commerce, and global collaboration. It allowed Indian professionals to interface seamlessly with global clients and teams.

• Science became the engine of self-reliance. From space exploration to pharmaceuticals, India's scientific institutions cultivated a culture of innovation and rational thinking.

These two pillars created a globally employable workforce that now powers the world’s GCCs, from Novo Nordisk’s pharma backend to Goldman Sachs’ analytics division in Bengaluru.

This is why any rise in anti-English politics or devaluation of scientific temperament is not just cultural regression, it’s economic suicide.

The Rise of Tier II Cities

With major hubs like Bengaluru and Pune nearing saturation, GCCs are now spreading to Tier II cities like Coimbatore, Jaipur, Vizag, Bhubaneswar, Vadodara, and Indore. These cities offer:

• Lower real estate and operational costs.

• Growing engineering talent pools.

• Supportive state incentives.

• Green-certified office spaces aligned with ESG goals.

According to CBRE and TeamLease, these cities are becoming critical in the hub-and-spoke model of GCC expansion. 

For example, Coimbatore is seeing interest in engineering services, while Indore is emerging in IT and fintech backends.

Yet even this expansion is selective, skipping over large, populous states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. 

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...anti-English politics or devaluation of scientific temperament is not just cultural regression, it’s economic suicide.

Why?

UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan - BIMARU states are still the human capital colonies of the GCC empire.

Despite being home to one-third of India’s population, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh remain outside the core map of GCC development. 

Their relevance? Supplying talent. Nothing more.

Every year, millions migrate from these states to IITs, NITs, and private tech colleges, then move permanently to cities like Bengaluru, Gurugram, and Pune. 

These states have become manpower exporters, their own urban ecosystems unable to retain or absorb the talent they produce.

GCCs require more than just manpower:

• Urban infrastructure

• Global airport access

• Ease of doing business

• Policy support

• Talent ecosystems that retain

No state government in these regions has yet shown the vision, competence, or continuity to build the kind of plug-and-play, globally confident ecosystems that GCCs demand.

Thus, the brightest minds of these states power innovation in Denmark, Germany, or New York, just not in Lucknow or Patna.

GCCs vs BPOs: A Strategic Shift in Indian Services

It’s important to distinguish GCCs from the BPO wave that preceded them.

This transition is crucial because GCCs have upgraded India’s position in the global value chain. No longer the world’s back office, India is now the world’s think tank, lab, and control tower.

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...BIMARU states are still the human capital colonies of the GCC empire.

Risks and the Road Ahead

Despite India’s dominance, there are serious challenges:

1. Digital skill gap: Many engineering graduates still lack industry-ready skills, especially in AI/ML and data analytics.

2. Urban saturation: Bengaluru and Hyderabad are facing rising costs, pollution, and infrastructure stress.

3. Global protectionism: Visa restrictions and local hiring quotas in Western countries could impact offshore models.

4. Linguistic nationalism: Moves to sideline English in favour of regional languages could weaken India’s unique global edge.

5. Uneven development: The exclusion of north and central India is not just inefficient, it’s socially destabilising.

• प्रतिभा का निर्यात: भारत दुनिया की जीसीसी (GCC) राजधानी है 

What Needs to Be Done

To maintain and expand its leadership in the GCC space, India must:

• Double down on English-medium technical education, especially in Tier II and III towns.

• Modernise physical and digital infrastructure in underdeveloped states.

• Align skilling with GCC demands: AI, cybersecurity, R&D, design thinking.

• Create innovation-focused SEZs in places like Varanasi, Gwalior, and Ranchi.

• Encourage IP protection, ESG-compliant workspaces, and industry-academia collaboration.