SAP Laboratories India Pvt. Limited. office in Bengaluru, India, on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Global capability centers have evolved far beyond technology support, but their growth presents challenges for both multinationals and Indian cities.
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the great story
Over coffee at a cafe surrounded by the Singapore skyline, real estate services firm CBRE’s Anshuman magazine told me that global capacity centers (GCCs) accounted for 38% of office space demand in India in the third quarter.
“Demand for office space is at a record level in the country,” said Magazine, responsible for India, Southeast Asia and Middle East and Africa markets.
He added that demand for GCCs, which are offshore offices where multinational companies carry out operations ranging from finance or IT, will continue. Three months ago, his company made a hire in the US dedicated exclusively to helping clients set up GCC in India.
Just this week, American mutual fund giant Vanguard launched its new GCC in Hyderabad. Heading the company’s operations in India is Venkatesh Natarajan, who moved to Hyderabad after nearly three decades in the US. Prior to Vanguard, Natarajan held leadership roles at companies such as Walmart, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Qurate Retail.
He is not alone. Many global companies are hiring or relocating leadership positions to their GCC offices in India.
Ankur Mittal serves as CTO and CEO of Lowe’s India, while Navneet Kapoor is EVP and CTO of Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk. Both are based in Bengaluru.
GCCs, in their earliest form, were remote offices that handled finance, procurement and IT services for global companies looking to reduce operating costs. Today, these “back offices” are driving the transformation, not simply supporting it.
India’s new corporate vanguard
Increasingly, many of these centers are leading efforts in product engineering, AI model development, and automation strategies, co-owning innovation and intellectual property in the process.
“The key difference between traditional back offices and GCCs is ownership,” said Nitesh Bansal, managing director at R Systems, a US-based consultancy that advises companies on GCC strategy. As companies move their research and development or engineering operations to India, they are looking to recruit for leadership positions that carry greater responsibility, he added.
Experts say many multinational companies are adopting dual leadership models, where heads of global business units in India co-own strategy and product outcomes with their counterparts at headquarters.
“It’s less about delegation and more about shared responsibility,” said Naveen Gattu, head of global growth at GCC consultancy Straive. The talent profile within the CCGs, he added, is “definitely changing”.
Five years ago, GCC hiring was primarily for engineering, analytics and operations roles. There is now a clear shift towards strategic and senior roles.
“GCCs are now hiring VPs and even heads of global functions who are permanently based in India or Southeast Asia, managing mandates across the company,” Gattu said.
According to GCC consultancy ANSR, leadership roles in Bengaluru have more than doubled, from 21 in 2024 to 44 so far this year. In Hyderabad, the jump was even more pronounced, going from 8 leadership positions in 2024 to 42 so far this year. Other Indian GCC cities are experiencing similar trends.
“GCCs have evolved from delivery centers to leadership centers that shape business strategy,” said Lalit Ahuja, founder and CEO of ANSR, adding that some leaders “who grew up within their GCCs have gone global.” [C-suite roles] while continuing to operate from India.”
India is currently home to more than 1,800 GCCs (nearly half of the global total) according to a July report published by the Confederation of Indian Industries and Deloitte. Every two weeks, three new CCGs are created in India and 60% of existing centers plan to expand.
Today, GCCs manage key functions that directly influence customer decisions, revenue, and experience.
“To manage this complexity, companies need leaders who can think globally and execute locally, and India’s talent pool is uniquely suited to that,” ANSR’s Ahuja said.
—CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
Top TV Picks on CNBC
Deborah Elms of the Hinrich Foundation said India is unlikely to agree to a trade deal that heavily favors the United States, unlike deals Trump signed with other Asian countries. He noted that India’s priority is to ensure a win-win outcome, not a win-lose deal dictated by Washington.
Saurabh Mukherjea, founder and CIO of Marcellus Investment Managers, said AI will have an impact on Indian corporations and the job market.
Kenneth Ho, chief credit strategist for Asia at Goldman Sachs, sees growth potential in India’s corporate bond market. He also shared key lessons India can learn from China’s credit boom.
I need to know
Google will offer its Gemini AI service for free to over 500 million Reliance Jio users in India. The American tech giant has signed a pact with Reliance Intelligence, a joint venture between Reliance Industries and Meta, to offer Google’s AI Pro plan, including Gemini 2.5 Pro, free for 18 months to Jio subscribers.
India is now subject to higher US tariffs than Beijing. The reduction in tensions between China and the United States after their leaders met in South Korea last Thursday stands in stark contrast to the coolness in relations between Washington and New Delhi.
Adani Enterprises to raise $2.8 billion through rights issue. The company had raised Rs 210 billion in 2023, but the funds were returned to investors after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused the group of corporate governance issues and share price manipulation.
Quote of the week
AI will cannibalize income, we will admit it. But, on the other hand, it will open up more opportunities for us. If a client wants us to reduce the costs of their operations, AI is a great lever that will help us achieve this. That is helping us sign more important agreements and transform ourselves.
— Ramesh Gopalan, CEO and Group CEO, Sagility
in the markets
The Nifty 50 was set to record its second consecutive weekly decline as it was down 1.3% this week. The index is up more than 8% this year.
The benchmark 10-year Indian government bond yield remained near the flat line at 6.512, continuing its decline for four consecutive sessions.
going up
November 7 – Fintech company Pine Labs launches initial public offering (IPO)
November 11-12: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to attend G7 meeting in Canada
November 12: October CPI inflation data
November 14: Wholesale inflation data for October
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Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Lalit Ahuja.
