For more than two decades, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India were largely seen through a single lens cost arbitrage. They were efficient, scalable, and dependable, but rarely viewed as strategic. That narrative has now fundamentally changed.
We are entering a defining phase in the global enterprise landscape one where India’s GCCs are no longer peripheral support engines, but central drivers of innovation, resilience, and growth.
This is not a gradual evolution. It is a structural shift.
A Global Reset Is Creating a Tailwind for India
The last few years have introduced unprecedented volatility for global enterprises macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, fluctuating immigration policies, rising talent costs, and frequent leadership transitions in key markets like the United States.
This uncertainty is forcing boards and executive teams to rethink concentration risk. Organizations are no longer asking “Where is talent cheaper?” but rather “Where can we build long-term, stable, innovation-led capability?”
India has emerged as the clear answer.
According to Gartner, over 50% of the world’s Global Capability Centers are now based in India, making it the largest GCC destination globally (Gartner, Unlock Innovation Through Global Insourcing Centers, 2025). What was once an offshore extension is increasingly becoming a strategic second headquarters for global enterprises.
India’s GCC Ecosystem Has Reached Critical Maturity
India’s leadership position is not accidental it is the result of sustained ecosystem maturity across four dimensions:
- Talent at scale and depth: India produces over 1 million engineering graduates annually, with deep expertise in cloud, AI/ML, cybersecurity, and product engineering.
- Economic viability: Competitive cost structures continue to coexist with high-value skills.
- Digital infrastructure: Cloud adoption, 5G rollout, and cybersecurity frameworks have reached enterprise-grade maturity.
- Policy and ecosystem support: Government initiatives, startup density, and academic-industry collaboration have strengthened India’s innovation fabric.
India hosts more than 1,700 GCCs employing approximately 1.9 million professionals, generating $64.6 billion in revenue, with projections to reach nearly $100 billion by 2030 (NASSCOM, India GCC Landscape Report).
These are no longer support centers. They are value engines.
From Cost Centers to Innovation Hubs
Leading enterprises have decisively moved away from viewing GCCs as labor arbitrage units. Gartner notes that organizations continuing to operate GCCs purely for cost savings face slower innovation, higher attrition, and competitive decline.
Instead, mature GCCs in India are now responsible for:
- Core product engineering and platform ownership
- AI and data science innovation
- Cloud-native architecture and DevOps
- Cybersecurity operations and resilience engineering
- Regional and global business leadership roles
In fact, Gartner research highlights that 13 Fortune 500 companies now generate over 25% of their total patents from their India-based GCCs (Gartner, Embrace Autonomous Global Insourced Centers, 2025).
This marks a decisive shift from execution to ownership.
The New GCC Mandate: Always-On, Secure, Experience-Led
As GCCs take on mission-critical responsibilities, expectations have changed dramatically.
Today’s GCCs are expected to be:
- Always available – supporting global operations 24×7
- Secure by design – zero-trust, compliance-driven, and cyber-resilient
- Experience-led – where employee productivity and digital experience (DEX) are strategic KPIs
- Scalable at speed – able to ramp teams, tools, and locations without friction
Yet, this evolution has introduced significant operational complexity.
Tool sprawl, endpoint diversity, security risks, compliance requirements, and rising expectations from a global workforce often distract GCC leadership from their core mandate—innovation and value creation.
Why Managed IT Is Becoming Strategic, Not Optional
This is where the role of Managed IT Services is undergoing a quiet but powerful transformation.
Managed IT is no longer about ticket resolution or infrastructure upkeep. For modern GCCs, it is about:
- Operational resilience and uptime assurance
- Predictable cost structures
- Secure and compliant digital workplaces
- Proactive experience management
- Automation-led operations that reduce manual intervention
Simply put, GCCs cannot scale innovation if they are consumed by IT operations.
Progressive Techserve’s Perspective: Enabling GCCs to Focus on What Matters
“We run the IT, so GCCs can run the business.”
We see ourselves not as a vendor, but as an extension of GCC leadership teams co-owning outcomes, not just delivering services.
Our Managed IT and Digital Workplace services are designed specifically for the realities of modern GCCs:
- Distributed workforces
- Global compliance requirements
- Experience-driven productivity
- AI-ready operations
By embedding intelligence, automation, and proactive monitoring into everyday IT operations, we help GCCs reduce friction, improve experience, and accelerate scale.
Gartner predicts that autonomous GCCs operating as micro-enterprises with strong local decision-making will define the next phase of global operating models. Managed IT partners will play a critical role in making this autonomy viable, secure, and sustainable.
Looking Ahead: India at the Center of Global Value Creation
India’s GCC story has moved decisively beyond cost. The convergence of global uncertainty, enterprise digitization, AI adoption, and talent dynamics has positioned India as the centre of gravity for global capability creation.
India’s moment is not coming it is already here.
The question for global enterprises is no longer whether to invest in India’s GCC ecosystem, but how fast they can evolve it from scale to sustained value.