Beyond Bengaluru: Can Mohali and UP capture India’s next GCC wave?
From Bengaluru’s deep-tech ecosystem to Mohali’s liveability and UP’s AI ambitions, India’s next GCC battle is being fought on more than cost.
- Aug 24, 2026,
- Updated Aug 24, 2026 9:55 AM IST
For years, India’s GCC story has been dominated by established hubs such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad. But as the market expands, new contenders are making a case for a share of the next wave of growth.
The competing propositions came into sharp focus at a recent technology and GCC leadership conference organised by global management consulting firm Zinnov, featuring leaders from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
For Punjab, the pitch begins with something deceptively simple: time.
Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Investment Promotion, and Promotion of Information Technology Industry, Government of Punjab, contrasted his journey from Chandigarh to the airport with what happened after he landed in Bengaluru at 1:10 a.m. While he reached the airport in 25 to 30 minutes despite heavy rain, it took another hour and a half to reach his hotel in Bengaluru.
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“If I am spending an additional hour every day, that translates into roughly 730 hours a year, almost one whole month of time that I could have spent with my family or for myself,” Singh said.
“You have an international airport, and the moment you cross the international airport boundary, the IT city starts. You are barely four to five minutes away from the IT city in Mohali.”
Singh acknowledged Bengaluru and Hyderabad’s prime-mover advantage, but said Mohali’s proposition extends beyond the workplace.
“If you want to work and succeed, these are definitely great places. But if you want to work, succeed and live a good life, come to Mohali,” he said.
Punjab’s proposition: talent, planning and quality of life
Mohali, Singh said, already has around 1.25 lakh tech professionals working across the tri-city region, according to a state survey. The area also has engineering colleges, ITIs and polytechnics, while Plaksha University is emerging as a significant technology talent institution.
“I don't think many cities across the country can boast of eight-lane and six-lane roads within the city itself. Traffic and other infrastructure issues have already been catered for, effectively 20 years in advance, because of the way the city was planned.”
For GCCs, the state is offering 125% of fixed capital investment, subject to policy conditions and an employment-generation subsidy of ₹7,500 per seat created, subject to a certain minimum number. In addition, there are incentives relating to electricity duty and a capital subsidy of up to ₹10 crore for GCCs.
“It is the idea that succeeds. Incentives are just a small handholding mechanism.”
“I think the strength of a city is measured by the education and healthcare which is present there,” he adds.
UP: From perception change to the second wave of GCC growth
“For any industry to flourish, law and order is the fundamental hygiene of a place. That has certainly been taken care of,” said Arvind Kumar, Technology & GCC Strategy Leader, GCC Head, Invest UP.
The state is now looking to build on infrastructure, Grade A offices and talent lessons it has drawn from mature GCC hubs such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
“We have set the story up well for UP. The tremendous opportunity now is GCCs,” he said, adding that the state is looking to become part of the “second wave” of the GCC race.
Kumar said UP is responding by developing Lucknow as an AI city and centre of excellence for AI. The state has also identified around 25 institutes to bring emerging technologies and deep-tech areas into their curricula.
MUST READ | India’s GCCs move from cost centres to global innovation hubs: Zinnov
“What I learned from Bangalore's success story is that senior leadership played a major role in enabling the GCC ecosystem,” he said.
Incentives are part of UP’s pitch but not the whole proposition.
Nivesh Mitra and Nivesh Sarathi consolidate approvals across around 20 departments, supported by a 24/7 investor-query team.
The incentive package covers capital subsidy, operational subsidy and payroll subsidy for the first three years, along with support for centre-of-excellence establishment, internships, intellectual property and patents.
That is where Lucknow becomes important. Kumar said the aim is to make the city a place where people aspire to live, with international schools, hospitals and a focus on quality of life.
Bengaluru: defending the ecosystem, not just the city
Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, CEO of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, pointed to a GCC market growing from $60 billion to $100 billion, creating a $40 billion-plus opportunity.
Karnataka is targeting more than $20 billion, while seeking to help other states capture the remainder.
“In some cities in India, there is one node which is called a hub, and you compare that one node with Bangalore. We have eight such nodes in Bangalore itself. I am not even counting Mysuru, Mangaluru and other locations.”
The state is building what it calls “Bangalore Plus” or “Bangalore and Beyond”, turning cities such as Mysuru and Mangaluru into defined GCC propositions.
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“When I reach out to GCC leaders, they ask me two questions: tell me about the talent supply and talent ecosystem available today and tell me about the innovation ecosystem in my domain.”
“If we can sharpen, expand and deepen these trump cards, we can easily achieve our $20 billion share. Collectively, we can go for a $120 billion GCC market if these products come into place,” he adds.
The next battleground: deep tech and innovation
Karnataka’s proposition rests on talent, trust, innovation and deep tech, alongside its presence among large global companies.
Gupta said Karnataka has almost a 60% share among Fortune 2000 companies, with room to expand further.
GCC leaders are experimenting with deep tech, while academic institutions are developing centres of excellence around emerging technologies. The challenge, Gupta said, is how quickly those technologies can move into the market.
Mohali is selling proximity, planned infrastructure, talent, incentives and quality of life.
UP is betting on scale, infrastructure, AI, institutions, incentives and its dispersed talent base.
Karnataka is deepening an already mature ecosystem around talent, trust, innovation, deep tech and global leadership, while taking its GCC proposition beyond Bengaluru.
MUST READ | India’s GCC boom brings senior Indian executives back from the US
And as Gupta put it: “The water will flow where the slope is, where the ecosystem exists. But multiple canals can be created.”
The question for India’s next phase of GCC growth may no longer be whether Bengaluru will remain dominant, but which new canals can build enough ecosystem depth to become the next major hub and whether the expanding opportunity is large enough for all of them to win.
For years, India’s GCC story has been dominated by established hubs such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad. But as the market expands, new contenders are making a case for a share of the next wave of growth.
The competing propositions came into sharp focus at a recent technology and GCC leadership conference organised by global management consulting firm Zinnov, featuring leaders from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
For Punjab, the pitch begins with something deceptively simple: time.
Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Investment Promotion, and Promotion of Information Technology Industry, Government of Punjab, contrasted his journey from Chandigarh to the airport with what happened after he landed in Bengaluru at 1:10 a.m. While he reached the airport in 25 to 30 minutes despite heavy rain, it took another hour and a half to reach his hotel in Bengaluru.
MUST READ | Embassy REIT Q1 revenue rises 17% as GCC demand drives 1.3 mn sq ft of leasing
“If I am spending an additional hour every day, that translates into roughly 730 hours a year, almost one whole month of time that I could have spent with my family or for myself,” Singh said.
“You have an international airport, and the moment you cross the international airport boundary, the IT city starts. You are barely four to five minutes away from the IT city in Mohali.”
Singh acknowledged Bengaluru and Hyderabad’s prime-mover advantage, but said Mohali’s proposition extends beyond the workplace.
“If you want to work and succeed, these are definitely great places. But if you want to work, succeed and live a good life, come to Mohali,” he said.
Punjab’s proposition: talent, planning and quality of life
Mohali, Singh said, already has around 1.25 lakh tech professionals working across the tri-city region, according to a state survey. The area also has engineering colleges, ITIs and polytechnics, while Plaksha University is emerging as a significant technology talent institution.
“I don't think many cities across the country can boast of eight-lane and six-lane roads within the city itself. Traffic and other infrastructure issues have already been catered for, effectively 20 years in advance, because of the way the city was planned.”
For GCCs, the state is offering 125% of fixed capital investment, subject to policy conditions and an employment-generation subsidy of ₹7,500 per seat created, subject to a certain minimum number. In addition, there are incentives relating to electricity duty and a capital subsidy of up to ₹10 crore for GCCs.
“It is the idea that succeeds. Incentives are just a small handholding mechanism.”
“I think the strength of a city is measured by the education and healthcare which is present there,” he adds.
UP: From perception change to the second wave of GCC growth
“For any industry to flourish, law and order is the fundamental hygiene of a place. That has certainly been taken care of,” said Arvind Kumar, Technology & GCC Strategy Leader, GCC Head, Invest UP.
The state is now looking to build on infrastructure, Grade A offices and talent lessons it has drawn from mature GCC hubs such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
“We have set the story up well for UP. The tremendous opportunity now is GCCs,” he said, adding that the state is looking to become part of the “second wave” of the GCC race.
Kumar said UP is responding by developing Lucknow as an AI city and centre of excellence for AI. The state has also identified around 25 institutes to bring emerging technologies and deep-tech areas into their curricula.
MUST READ | India’s GCCs move from cost centres to global innovation hubs: Zinnov
“What I learned from Bangalore's success story is that senior leadership played a major role in enabling the GCC ecosystem,” he said.
Incentives are part of UP’s pitch but not the whole proposition.
Nivesh Mitra and Nivesh Sarathi consolidate approvals across around 20 departments, supported by a 24/7 investor-query team.
The incentive package covers capital subsidy, operational subsidy and payroll subsidy for the first three years, along with support for centre-of-excellence establishment, internships, intellectual property and patents.
That is where Lucknow becomes important. Kumar said the aim is to make the city a place where people aspire to live, with international schools, hospitals and a focus on quality of life.
Bengaluru: defending the ecosystem, not just the city
Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, CEO of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, pointed to a GCC market growing from $60 billion to $100 billion, creating a $40 billion-plus opportunity.
Karnataka is targeting more than $20 billion, while seeking to help other states capture the remainder.
“In some cities in India, there is one node which is called a hub, and you compare that one node with Bangalore. We have eight such nodes in Bangalore itself. I am not even counting Mysuru, Mangaluru and other locations.”
The state is building what it calls “Bangalore Plus” or “Bangalore and Beyond”, turning cities such as Mysuru and Mangaluru into defined GCC propositions.
DON'T MISS | What’s slowing the next phase of GCC growth?
“When I reach out to GCC leaders, they ask me two questions: tell me about the talent supply and talent ecosystem available today and tell me about the innovation ecosystem in my domain.”
“If we can sharpen, expand and deepen these trump cards, we can easily achieve our $20 billion share. Collectively, we can go for a $120 billion GCC market if these products come into place,” he adds.
The next battleground: deep tech and innovation
Karnataka’s proposition rests on talent, trust, innovation and deep tech, alongside its presence among large global companies.
Gupta said Karnataka has almost a 60% share among Fortune 2000 companies, with room to expand further.
GCC leaders are experimenting with deep tech, while academic institutions are developing centres of excellence around emerging technologies. The challenge, Gupta said, is how quickly those technologies can move into the market.
Mohali is selling proximity, planned infrastructure, talent, incentives and quality of life.
UP is betting on scale, infrastructure, AI, institutions, incentives and its dispersed talent base.
Karnataka is deepening an already mature ecosystem around talent, trust, innovation, deep tech and global leadership, while taking its GCC proposition beyond Bengaluru.
MUST READ | India’s GCC boom brings senior Indian executives back from the US
And as Gupta put it: “The water will flow where the slope is, where the ecosystem exists. But multiple canals can be created.”
The question for India’s next phase of GCC growth may no longer be whether Bengaluru will remain dominant, but which new canals can build enough ecosystem depth to become the next major hub and whether the expanding opportunity is large enough for all of them to win.