AI is deeply embedded in India GCCs delivering global solutions

Global capability centres (GCCs) in India are rapidly evolving from traditional service delivery hubs into AI-powered innovation engines, with enterprises showing productivity gains and innovative solutions that are globally applicable.

At a panel discussion on how Indian GCCs are emerging as innovation hubs, at DevSparks Chennai, YourStory's premier event for the developer community, executives from Stellantis, PayPal, Snowflake, and Ford Motor Company discussed how artificial intelligence (AI) has become deeply embedded in their Indian operations, fundamentally changing how engineers work and deliver value to their global organisations.

"AI has become a teammate," said Shivapriya S, Senior Director of Enterprise Data Platform at Ford Motor Company, describing a fundamental shift in how developers approach their work. "We're seeing engineers transform from coders to curators, from executors to product thinkers, and from builders to enablers."

At Ford's GCC, AI is woven throughout the development lifecycle: from accelerating data pipeline construction to enriching metadata and enabling intelligent sampling. This integration has allowed the company to democratise AI capabilities under a structured governance framework, driving growth, efficiency, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Avinash Karn, Senior Director of AI & Productivity at PayPal, shared an ambitious vision: making every PayPal employee in India a "10x engineer" through AI augmentation. "We're compressing tasks that used to take days into hours," Karn explained. "The velocity increase is remarkable and our goal is to unleash the power of every engineer through AI mastery."

Perhaps nowhere is the innovation potential more evident than in AI solutions designed for India's unique challenges that can be scaled globally.

Archana Dixit, Global Head of Data Science and AI at Stellantis' Mobilisights Division, highlighted CARA, a voice assistance system developed entirely in India.

"CARA speaks in human-like language across 50+ languages, built specifically for Indian consumers," Dixit noted. "India's multicultural, multilingual nature creates game-changing solutions for global industries. What we build here for India's diversity becomes a solution for the world."

The voice assistant represents a broader trend of "India-first, world-class" innovation emerging from GCCs, leveraging the country's complexity as a competitive advantage for global deployment.

Prasuj Loganathan, Director of GCC Solution Engineering at Snowflake, emphasised how AI is transforming operational workflows.

"All workflows are now infused with AI, starting from governance to self-provisioning," he explained. "When developers need to determine the right model for their use case, AI guides that decision."

GCCs are particularly well-positioned for this transformation due to their access to massive volumes of structured and unstructured data. This data advantage enables sophisticated AI implementations that recognise patterns and create intuitive interfaces for human interaction.

The transformation isn't just technological but is also reshaping skill requirements. The industry executives emphasised that technical expertise alone is insufficient for an AI-powered future.

"It's not enough to learn the tools," cautioned Dixit, introducing the concept of COBI (Confidence of Being Indispensable) versus FOBO (Fear of Being Obsolete). "Professionals need foundational principles that won't fade away as new tools emerge."

The panel discussion arrived at a consensus on the new skills required: technical mastery combined with deep business domain knowledge and strong communication capabilities.

Shivapriya noted, "The most valuable developers find the fine balance between technical mastery and business knowledge. Human-in-the-loop governance remains crucial. The guardrails lie in human hands."

Early productivity metrics are promising. Leaders report that 30% of ChatGPT usage focuses on communication enhancement, while research tasks that previously required extensive time are now completed in minutes. The return on AI investment is being measured not just in code volume but also in innovation velocity and customer experience improvements.

As Indian GCCs continue this AI-driven transformation, they're positioning themselves as critical innovation centres for their global parent companies, proving that the future of enterprise AI isn't just being built in India, it's also being reimagined here.