India is rapidly transforming into a powerhouse for Global Capability Centres (GCCs) with nearly 2,000 units across the country. It, in fact, hosts more than 50% of the world’s GCCs. These centres already employ over two million across the country.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, during a recent tour of Europe, underscored India’s GCC boom while engaging with investors. “India is the preferred destination for GCCs. Skilled Indians are powering the world’s research, innovation, and design needs. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t have plans to double their workforce in India within the next five years,” he said.
These centres support critical functions, including R&D, IT, design, and back-end operations. In doing so, they have propelled India well beyond the BPO era into a new phase of value-added, innovation-driven operations. As Rahul Oberoi reports in the cover story, the sheer diversity of global corporations establishing operations here is a testament to India’s growing capabilities. This coincides with a broader transformation. India is investing $125 billion annually in infrastructure to develop 225 airports and install 1,000 GW of energy capacity, half of which is to come from green sources. A growing middle class, urbanisation, and a booming services sector are fuelling domestic demand.
India’s industrial resurgence, however, is not limited to services. The manufacturing narrative is gaining strength too, as seen in the measured comeback of Suzlon. Once the face of India’s green energy ambitions, the company faltered post-2008 due to aggressive overseas expansion. Today, it is treading a more cautious, sustainable path, as Krishna Gopalan writes.
Nowhere is this evolution more apparent than in India’s defence manufacturing sector. The recent Operation Sindoor military strike that targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has put the spotlight on India’s burgeoning defence production ecosystem, writes Tina Edwin. This momentum is translating into tangible investments. A landmark agreement between Tata Advanced Systems and Dassault Aviation to manufacture Rafale jet fuselages in Hyderabad, the first outside France, is an endorsement of India’s rising industrial capability and another step towards atmanirbhar defence production.
Taken together, these developments point to the emergence of a new industrial landscape—one where technology, innovation, and indigenous capabilities converge to transform the nation’s economy. The path forward demands continued reforms, easier regulations, and continued development of world-class infrastructure to attract global investment.
Addressing business leaders in Stockholm—including Jacob Wallenberg, scion of the Swedish family behind dozens of companies like ABB, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nasdaq, SKF, Atlas Copco, and Saab AB, among others—Goyal invoked Rabindranath Tagore: “You cannot cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
The world, it seems, has taken the plunge, with GCCs leading the way.
