GCCs in India maturing into global innovation engines: Report

Around 40% of the global capability centres based in India are maturing into global innovation engines driving digital modernisation, product co-creation and customer experience design, according to a joint report by NTT Data and The Mainstream.

The report titled India Global Capability Centre (GCC) Innovation Transformation said artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the defining differentiator, with almost every GCC investing in AI-led transformation. Though, maturity levels vary, with an almost equal distribution across four stages–exploration, piloting, functional integration and enterprise-scale operations, with 22–25% GCCs in each category.

Commenting on the report, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said, “Their growing contribution to global competitiveness and economic growth reinforces India’s position as a preferred destination for innovation-led enterprises and future-ready global organisations.”

According to this report, India is now home to nearly 2,000 GCCs employing close to two million professionals across sectors such as technology, engineering, consulting, manufacturing, and BFSI. Over the past decade, GCCs have evolved from cost optimisation hubs to strategic centers of innovation, leadership, and digital transformation. The focus has clearly shifted from operational efficiency to value creation and ownership. GCCs that integrate AI into core business processes are gaining a clear innovation advantage.

“Through extensive dialogue with GCC leaders and in-depth research, we are seeing how India’s capability centers are evolving into the world’s innovation laboratories, where technology, talent, and purpose converge,” said Khushbu Soni, Co-Founder and CEO, The Mainstream.

However, despite the strides made by the GCCs given the deep talent pool there are gaps in the end-to-end outcome ownership. The report said around 42% of GCCs cite a scarcity of specialised deep tech skills in their talent pool, which limits their ability to drive end-to-end outcomes.

The report mentions that ecosystem needs more product visionaries, technology strategists and innovation leaders who can translate ambition into global-scale impact. Over 70% of Indian GCCs are actively working to address this locally, with 42% already having structured leadership development programmes in place and a significant 31% using a more informal mentor-mentee approach.

Leading GCCs are now designing frameworks to track innovation ROI, linking experimentation with enterprise value. They are increasingly focused on building cross-functional skills and leadership pipelines by accessing talent from multiple cities and training them for end-to-end accountability.

“With vision and collaboration, India’s GCCs are poised to lead the world in shaping the future of enterprise and society,” said Avinash Joshi, Executive Managing Director, India, NTT DATA.