GCCs in India are driving global innovation agenda: experts

Over the last five years, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India have evolved from saving costs to driving innovation, and this transformation is poised to accelerate, with GCCs becoming bigger as well as better in the country’s tech landscape.

At DevSparks 2025, YourStory’s flagship event for the developer community in Bengaluru, a panel discussion titled “The tech powerhouses of tomorrow: How GCCs are redefining innovation hubs” spotlighted this shift. The speakers highlighted the role of GCCs in shaping the future of technology.

The discussion, which was moderated by Smitha Hemmigae, Managing Director - Marketing & Employer Brand, ANSR, Talent500, 1Wrk, saw Kaushik Das, Managing Director, JCPenney India, highlighting how GCCs need to keep the tasks of innovation real.

“What has happened over the last five years, be it on the technology or business side, the way we (GCCs) are solving the real business problems has really helped us to move up the value chain,” Das remarked.

He said the big shift for the GCCs in India has been on hitting the right notes in terms of strategic outcomes for the parent company where it has a positive bearing on the product or a service.

This push towards innovation by GCCs is expected to significantly transform enterprise operations—be it customer services, sales improvement or product development.

Vineet Mehta, Executive, Software Engineering & IT, Telstra, said, “The value you drive is expected to be much higher through the innovation from the GCCs.”

He highlighted how GCC teams need to be adept not just in technology, but also in understanding the business domain. This is expected to drive value to enterprises, ensuring innovation is not just another check mark on the list, but an effort to solve business problems.

This drive towards innovation also requires people’s stakes where they are clearly aligned with the goals set by the GCC. “GCCs need to have a growth mindset when they are looking at delivering value,” said Hariharan Ganesan, VP - Data, Analytics & Reporting, Rolls-Royce Data Labs.

Given the context of innovation, the panelists noted that talent within GCCs has also evolved to meet rising expectations. Today, the talent is much more multi-dimensional, bringing together tech skillsets, business knowledge, and an open mind to learn new things.

This has brought about a change on how GCCs are perceived globally, especially from the headquarters of the parent company. Mehta of Telstra said, “Today, GCCs are expected to be on par with any team sitting globally.”

The expectation is that GCCs from India need to be comfortable dealing with boardrooms, vendors, or customers as it is no longer the place when one just does the coding, but actually drives the strategy.

At the same time, the panel members were very clear that GCCs need to be fearless about innovation.

As Hemmigae put it, “GCCs are here to stay and it is a great place for anyone to build their career.”