How to set up, scale and transform your Global Capability Centre in India
Establishing a GCC in India offers compelling benefits, but traditional approaches are falling short of expectations. Whether you're planning your first centre, scaling an existing operation, or driving AI transformation, success demands enterprise-grade execution at every stage.
Having worked closely with global CIOs, CFOs, and site leaders, I've witnessed a fundamental truth emerge: Global Capability Centres in India are undergoing a profound metamorphosis. What began as cost-saving outposts in the late 1990s is evolving into strategic innovation engines driving competitive advantage for enterprises worldwide.
The numbers reveal a compelling story. India hosts over 1,700 GCCs employing approximately 1.9 million professionals and generating $64.6 billion in revenue as of 2024. Yet these impressive statistics mask a deeper transformation brewing beneath the surface.
Today's GCCs face dramatically different expectations from headquarters. Innovation is no longer optional: it's a mandate. The rise of artificial intelligence has created additional pressure to build intelligent, autonomous capabilities that scale with speed and precision.
Whether you're contemplating your first GCC setup, grappling with scaling an existing operation, or seeking to transform your centre into an innovation engine, the challenges are remarkably consistent, and the stakes have never been higher. The organisations that navigate this transformation successfully will redefine what a GCC can be.
1. Beyond boutique: rethinking greenfield GCC setup
The promise of establishing a new GCC in India remains compelling: access to deep talent pools, cost advantages, and a thriving innovation ecosystem. But traditional approaches have fundamental flaws.
The boutique limitation has become increasingly apparent. Specialist firms excel at design, city strategy, and entity creation. They navigate real estate negotiations and labour laws with finesse. However, what happens after they leave is that you are left with a beautifully designed shell and months of talent acquisition challenges ahead.
Even traditional Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) models, though offering immediate operational benefits, don't address the parallel need for entity creation and enterprise-grade platform implementation.
The fundamental difference lies in what each approach delivers. Boutique providers excel at labour capital, providing talented individuals who can execute your vision. But modern GCCs require both labour capital and technology capital to succeed.
Boutique firms cannot provide the enterprise-grade platforms, reusable accelerators, and AI-driven tooling that transform individual talent into scalable, high-performance teams. Their recruitment capabilities, though competent, lack the brand recognition that attracts top-tier professionals, and more critically, they leave you to build the technology infrastructure that amplifies human capability.
Cognizant's BOT++ framework completely flips the script. Rather than waiting months for legal entities and office setup, we begin talent deployment immediately. Teams work from our state-of-the-art facilities as the infrastructure finalises. Our proprietary training programmes ensure project-ready talent from month one, not month 12.
The additional "+" represents continuous transformation: we embed AI-driven innovation, adaptive operating models, and enterprise-grade tooling from day one. Transfer happens in 18 months, not 36—because you get a native GCC with direct control, not a vendor-dependent operation.
I'm talking about more than a faster setup. It is an enterprise-grade foundation building that positions your GCC for long-term strategic value creation.
2. Scaling smart: addressing brownfield realities
Established GCCs face their own set of battles that extend far beyond the initial setup euphoria. The reality check often comes hard and fast.
Talent retention has become the defining challenge. Recent studies show that 51% of GCCs in India cite this as their top concern, with 52% of the workforce actively considering new opportunities. The software, internet, and banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sectors face the highest attrition rates, and it's a problem that extends far beyond compensation.
Skills gaps are widening rapidly. Core digital skills command packages between 16-106 lakhs, but professionals with niche AI and specialised capabilities secure substantially higher compensation, ranging from 26-152 lakhs. Meanwhile, 40% of engineering hires require significant upskilling before they're project-ready.
Operational complexity compounds these challenges. Managing multiple third-party vendors for cybersecurity, infrastructure, and compliance can lead to inefficiency and increased risk. Over 60% of GCCs lack robust data governance frameworks, and vendor sprawl complicates integration efforts.
Cultural misalignment creates additional friction. Today's workforce, particularly Gen Z employees, prioritises purpose-driven work and meaningful roles. The disconnect between headquarters' expectations and local team dynamics can derail even well-funded initiatives.
Our approach centres on building high-performance teams that become employers of choice. Through strategic upskilling via Cognizant Academy, our recruitment-as-a-service platform TPASS, and AI-powered operations that eliminate manual overhead, we help GCCs retain talent and scale intelligently.
We tackle retention holistically, not just through compensation but by creating environments where top talent wants to stay. Our continuous learning culture, focus on high-value work enabled by automation, and clear career progression paths address the underlying drivers of attrition.
Vendor consolidation and enhanced compliance become strategic advantages rather than operational burdens. We simplify your technology landscape and strengthen governance frameworks, freeing teams to focus on innovation rather than operational firefighting.
3. Innovation at scale: the AI transformation imperative
Here is where most GCCs stumble, and where the most incredible opportunity lies. Site leaders across India are conducting isolated AI proof-of-concepts that consistently fail to meet headquarters' expectations. The problem is not a lack of capability; it is the approach.
Moving from POCs to enterprise-wide transformation requires a structured methodology that most GCCs lack. Without a unified AI strategy, initiatives remain fragmented, value creation stays limited, and strategic impact never materialises.
The AI Centre of Excellence represents our cornerstone proposition, one that applies to both greenfield and brownfield scenarios. Drawing from our proven methodology for establishing AI and automation centres of excellence, we help GCCs build scalable, modular frameworks aligned to enterprise needs.
It is about operationalising AI at scale across business functions—sales, marketing, finance, HR, procurement, and customer experience—not simply activating more pilots. We define the right operating model, manage the full solution lifecycle, and embed governance mechanisms that ensure sustainable value creation.
Our track record demonstrates measurable impact: for one client, we've delivered $65 million in risk reduction savings through AI-powered contract management, saved 361,000 employee hours annually via generative AI assistants, and reduced vaccine candidate identification time by 80% using ML-driven discovery.
Another client achieved $3 million in savings by using generative AI chatbots and reduced their live agent load by up to 60%. We have delivered $4 million annually through 200+ automation bots and saved 45,000 hours per year in manual effort.
Through platforms like Cognizant Neuro AI, FlowSource, and our Agentic Foundry, we enable rapid prototyping and scalable enterprise automation. Our AI Factory approach combines capabilities, credentials, and experience through integrated people, processes, and partner ecosystems, designed explicitly for enterprise-scale deployment.
This ability transforms GCCs from operational centres into strategic innovation engines that create intellectual property and drive competitive advantage. From cost centre to competitive advantage.
The fundamental shift in headquarters expectations means GCCs can no longer succeed as operational outposts. The organisations that recognise this moment and embed AI capabilities throughout their operations will define the next chapter of enterprise innovation.
Complete GCC-headquarters alignment has the potential to increase value generation growth by an estimated 3-4% CAGR above the baseline 11-12% expected during FY25-29. India's position as the global GCC hub continues to strengthen, offering unparalleled opportunities for those ready to move beyond traditional operational models.
Our recognition as a Leader in the 2025 ISG Provider Lens Global Capability Centre Services Report reflects our ability to deliver what boutiques and traditional models cannot: deep domain expertise tailored to specific sectors, AI-first enablement through our proprietary platforms, extensive IP and accelerators that reduce time-to-value, and flexible engagement models that align with your goals and risk appetite.
Whether you are contemplating your first GCC, scaling an existing operation, or transforming your centre into an innovation engine, the imperative for change remains constant. The question is not whether to transform, but how quickly you can make it happen.
GCC transformation is no longer optional, but the speed of execution remains your competitive advantage. Whether you are a CIO accelerating AI adoption, a CFO seeking operational efficiency, or a site leader building world-class teams, the time for incremental improvements has passed.
Ready to transform your GCC strategy? Discover how Cognizant's BOT++, AI Factory Platform, and comprehensive scaling solutions can accelerate your journey from operational efficiency to strategic innovation.
