Global Capability Centers generate USD 64.6 billion in India

Global Capability Centers (GCCs) generated USD 64.6 billion in India in FY2024, including USD 36.4 billion from engineering, research and development (ER&D). India hosted more than 1,700 GCCs, about 55% of the global total, with more than 1.9 million installed professionals and over 2,975 operating units.

How large are GCCs in India?

GCCs are a large and expanding part of India’s enterprise technology base, with more than 1,700 centres operating in FY2024. A GCC is a centre established by a global enterprise to deliver technology, operations, engineering or product work for the wider company. India’s more than 1,700 GCCs accounted for around 55% of the world total and operated through over 2,975 units, showing that many enterprises maintain more than one Indian operating location.

The number of GCCs increased by more than 400 between FY2019 and FY2024, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 4.6% to 5%. CAGR measures the average annual growth rate over a stated multi-year period. Installed GCC talent exceeded 1.9 million in FY2024 and grew at a 6.3% CAGR from FY2019, indicating that workforce expansion outpaced the increase in the number of centres.

Regional expansion remains limited relative to the total workforce but is measurable. More than 82,000 professionals worked from Tier-II and Tier-III cities in FY2024, equal to less than 5% of the more than 1.9 million installed GCC talent base. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune remain key GCC locations because of talent pools, infrastructure and cost advantages, while the presence outside these hubs creates demand for broader enterprise connectivity.

Why do GCCs generate USD 64.6 billion in India?

GCCs generate USD 64.6 billion in India because their work has expanded from back-office support into engineering, product development and digital transformation. GCC revenue rose from more than USD 40 billion in FY2019 to USD 64.6 billion in FY2024, a reported 9.8% CAGR over five years. Revenue therefore grew faster than the approximately 4.6% to 5% growth rate in GCC numbers, consistent with an increase in the value or scope of work performed at existing centres.

ER&D contributed USD 36.4 billion of FY2024 GCC revenue. ER&D covers engineering, research and product-development activities, rather than routine support operations. The USD 36.4 billion contribution equalled about 56% of the USD 64.6 billion total, calculated from the reported figures, making ER&D the largest identified part of GCC revenue.

The reported shift in activity explains why ER&D has become material to GCC revenue. GCCs initially established for support functions now undertake research and development, digital transformation, product engineering and artificial intelligence-led work. Artificial intelligence, or AI, uses computer systems for tasks associated with human intelligence; machine learning, or ML, is an AI method that identifies patterns from data. The source also identifies Internet of Things, or IoT, technologies as part of the investment supporting engineering activity.

What supports high-skill GCC work in India?

India’s engineering and architecture talent base supports GCCs’ higher-value mandate. India accounted for 32% of global engineering talent and 20% of global architectural talent in the FY2024 GCC landscape. Those shares provide a workforce basis for global enterprises to assign product, engineering and research work to Indian centres rather than solely standardized operational tasks.

Skills development is an identified condition for continued GCC expansion. India ranked first globally in AI skill penetration in the Stanford AI Index Report 2024, while the government and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) launched FutureSkills Prime to address a projected 3.5-times digital-technology talent gap by 2026. The programme targets skills in AI and other emerging technologies relevant to GCC engineering workloads.

The wider information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) market provides an additional demand setting. IT-BPM export revenue was USD 200 billion in FY2024 and was estimated at USD 224 billion in FY2025, while domestic IT-BPM revenue was estimated to rise from USD 54 billion in FY2024 to USD 58 billion in FY2025. Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) represented 40% of estimated FY2025 export revenue, demonstrating the concentration of export technology demand in one major enterprise category.

How do GCCs affect infrastructure requirements?

GCCs increase requirements for cloud, data-centre, connectivity and cybersecurity infrastructure as they take on engineering workloads and handle critical enterprise data. The source links AI model training, product lifecycle management and research activity to demand for high-performance computing and secure storage. High-performance computing means systems designed to process complex, data-intensive workloads at high speed.

Cloud adoption is a mechanism behind these requirements. GCCs are reported to be moving towards cloud-first and hybrid-cloud models, in which on-premises systems operate alongside cloud services. This transition requires modernization of legacy systems and supports demand for infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and cloud-native architecture; however, the source does not quantify GCC spending on cloud or data centres, so USD 64.6 billion of GCC revenue is not a measure of infrastructure expenditure.

Cybersecurity needs also rise when GCCs manage intellectual property and core business functions. The source identifies zero-trust architectures, AI-driven threat detection, endpoint security and compliance automation as relevant tools. Zero trust is a security model requiring continuous verification of users and devices, while the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is identified as a policy factor increasing data-protection and compliance requirements.

Regional growth adds a network requirement. The more than 82,000 GCC professionals in Tier-II and Tier-III cities require enterprise broadband, localized infrastructure and edge computing, which processes data nearer to where it is generated. The Software Technology Parks of India has 65 centres, including 57 in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, providing a wider infrastructure footprint beyond the largest technology hubs.

Conclusion

India’s GCC base combines scale with a shift towards higher-value work. More than 1,700 GCCs generated USD 64.6 billion in FY2024, while ER&D supplied USD 36.4 billion, or about 56% of revenue. Revenue growth of 9.8% a year from FY2019 to FY2024 exceeded the reported growth rate in centre numbers, indicating that expansion has involved increased engineering and digital activity as well as new locations.

The next updates should show whether skills and regional capacity support this mandate. FutureSkills Prime is intended to address the projected 3.5-times digital-technology talent gap by 2026, while the FY2024 data provides no forecast for GCC revenue or infrastructure spending after that year. Later data on ER&D revenue, installed talent, new GCCs and Tier-II and Tier-III employment will indicate whether the higher-value expansion continues.