500 GCCs, 3.5 lakh jobs: Karnataka's bold 2029 tech plan revealed

Karnataka has thrown down a marker for the next chapter of India's technology story. Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday brought more than 150 global business leaders under one roof in Bengaluru and made the State's ambition unmistakable: 500 new Global Capability Centres, 3.5 lakh high-quality jobs, and US$50 billion in economic output by 2029.

The occasion was KATALYST CONNECT, the Chief Minister's meet with Global Capability Centre (GCC) leaders, hosted by the Department of Electronics, Information Technology and Biotechnology in partnership with the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM). More than a networking session, it was a working consultation, a chance for the people who run the India arms of the world's largest corporations to tell the government exactly what they need to grow.

What are GCCs, and why does Karnataka care so much?

Global Capability Centres are the offshore hubs multinational companies set up to run critical parts of their business: engineering, research, finance, product design, AI and more. For years these centres were seen as back offices. Today they are anything but. The world's biggest firms now hand their India teams strategic mandates that shape global products.

Karnataka, and Bengaluru in particular, sits at the centre of that shift. The State has positioned itself as India's premier GCC destination, and KATALYST CONNECT was designed to keep it there.

A shop-floor view before the boardroom talk

Before chairing the consultation, Shivakumar toured the Bengaluru campus of Target in India, the GCC of US retail giant Target Corporation. He met the leadership and saw first-hand the range of work being run out of Karnataka: technology, AI, finance, marketing, digital, supply chain, merchandising and store design among them.

The visit underscored a point the government has been keen to make: Karnataka's GCCs are no longer executing instructions from elsewhere. They are increasingly the place where global strategy is built.

150+ global names at the table

The consultation drew leadership from a who's-who of multinational enterprises, including Google, Target, Intel, IBM, Anthropic, Nokia, Bosch, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Chevron, Philips, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Takeda, Novo Nordisk Global Business Services, Lowe's India, Rolls-Royce, Raytheon, Ford, eBay, Snowflake, Carl Zeiss, Collins Aerospace, Johnson Controls, Wayfair, Waters, Verint, A.P. Moller-Maersk and Delta Air Lines, alongside senior government officials and industry stakeholders.

Their agenda was practical. Leaders raised talent availability and future workforce readiness, urban and digital infrastructure, AI adoption, ease of doing business, faster policy responses, deeper industry-academia collaboration, and, crucially, spreading GCC investment beyond Bengaluru into the rest of the State.

By the numbers: Karnataka's 2029 target

• 500 new GCCs to be attracted
• 3.5 lakh high-quality jobs to be created
• US$50 billion in economic output to be generated
• 150+ GCC leaders at the consultation

The government's pitch

Addressing the gathering, Shivakumar framed the relationship as a partnership that has already paid off, and one he intends to deepen. "Karnataka's partnership with Global Capability Centres has helped build one of the world's most dynamic innovation ecosystems," he said, adding that the government remains committed to "creating an environment where businesses can innovate with confidence, access world-class talent and scale globally."

Home, IT and BT Minister Priyank M. Kharge pointed to how the role of these centres is changing. "As GCCs evolve from delivery centres into global hubs for AI, engineering, R&D and product innovation, our focus is on ensuring that Karnataka continues to provide the talent, policy environment and innovation ecosystem required for them to take on larger global mandates," he said.

Dr. N. Manjula, Secretary of the IT-BT department, said the recommendations from industry would directly shape the State's roadmap, and pointed to the Karnataka GCC Policy 2024-2029 and initiatives such as KATALYST, LEAP, Centres of Excellence, NIPUNA and Beyond Bengaluru as the vehicles to turn talk into action.

The themes that will define the next phase

Discussions clustered around a set of priorities that read like a blueprint for where Karnataka wants its GCC economy to go:

• AI, GenAI and enterprise transformation
• Talent development, skilling and future workforce readiness
• Digital and urban infrastructure
• Ease of doing business and responsive policy
• Research, innovation and industry-academia collaboration
• Expansion of GCC investment beyond Bengaluru
• Strengthening the startup and deep-tech ecosystem
• Enabling GCCs to take on larger global mandates

KATALYST CONNECT closed with a shared commitment between the government and industry to turn the day's recommendations into concrete measures. The subtext was clear: the competition for GCC investment, from other Indian states and from rival global hubs, is intensifying, and Karnataka is betting that listening closely to industry, and acting fast, is how it stays ahead.