GCCs: Rising stars of Indian tech

In the bustling tech hubs of Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and beyond, a quiet revolution is reshaping India’s role in the global business landscape. Global capability centres (GCCs), once viewed merely as cost-saving outposts for multinational corporations, are rapidly evolving into strategic powerhouses.

“We’ve moved from cost arbitrage to delivery excellence, and now to being transformation and innovation hubs,” says Uma Ratnam Krishnan, managing director at Optum India, a GCC of UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest healthcare services providers in the world.

Prashray Kala, partner at research firm Everest Group, says India hosts about 1,600 GCCs, with roughly 100 new centres being added each year. Several of these centres are today at the forefront of product development, technological breakthroughs, and new revenue streams for their parent companies.

While traditionally concentrated in major metros, these centres are now expanding to cities like Coimbatore, Vizag, and Ahmedabad. This shift is not only creating new employ ment hubs but also bringing global work cultures and practices to smaller urban centres.

However, there are challenges to sustainable growth of this ecosystem. Many GCCs, Prashray says, are stuck with metrics where they’re mostly measured on cost and operational elements by their parent companies. He advises GCCs to proactively communicate their value creation to global stakeholders, suggesting metrics like patents filed, proof-of-concepts developed, and impact on global talent development.

Uma says GCCs should build centres of excellence in critical areas like analytics and cloud adoption, continually enhance their employee value propositions, and develop leaders with global perspectives.

Talent acquisition and retention is also a key concern, given the highly competitive market. Prashray notes that GCCs have become creative in their recruitment strategies – signing partnerships with academies, providing internships, and innovatively using social media to attract talent.
Uma emphasises the importance of continuous learning, citing Optum’s use of virtual reality simulations to train clinical reviewers.

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