The big boom: How India’s GCC story hits 2030 target 4 years early

India’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) ecosystem is scaling at a pace far ahead of expectations. According to the latest Zinnov-Nasscom India GCC Landscape Report FY26, GCC revenues in the country are around $98.4 billion in FY26, inching close to the $100-billion milestone that Nasscom had projected for 2030 in its 2024 report. The numbers indicate that India’s GCC sector is nearing its earlier 2030 revenue target almost four years ahead of schedule.

The scale of growth has been significant. India is now home to 2,117 GCCs employing 2.36 million professionals. Over the last five years alone, the country added more than 500 new GCCs and over 1,000 new units, reflecting the rapid expansion of multinational companies’ India operations.

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The boom is being driven by a structural shift in the role GCCs play within global enterprises. Once seen largely as back-office or support centres, GCCs in India are increasingly evolving into global command centres for multinational corporations. The FY26 report highlights a broader transition from traditional delivery and support functions to AI-led innovation, engineering, product development, cybersecurity, and enterprise transformation.

India centres are also taking on higher-value responsibilities across global operations, research and development, digital platforms, and strategic decision-making. The rise of AI is further accelerating this transition. According to the report, India is now the second-largest employer of enterprise AI talent globally, accounting for nearly 28% of the global GCC AI talent pool, second only to the US. AI hiring in India also accelerated sharply in the second half of FY25, growing faster than the US.

Another defining feature of the GCC ecosystem is the increasing collaboration between enterprises and the wider innovation network. The report notes that leading GCCs are building deeper partnerships with service providers, academia, start-ups, skilling platforms, and industry bodies to drive orchestration and innovation at scale.

With AI, engineering, and digital transformation becoming central to global business strategy, India’s GCC ecosystem is no longer just a cost-arbitrage destination. It is fast emerging as one of the most critical innovation and capability hubs for global enterprises.