According to a Press Information Bureau report, India now hosts more than 1,700 Global Capability Centers (GCCs) that employ over 1.9 million professionals, contributing significantly to the country’s technological and economic advancement.
In 2025, there was also a progressive shift in their work models toward AI, engineering, product ownership, and cyber resilience. Having served as the support hubs for their parent companies, these GCCs have become strategic growth engines across diverse verticals. As we look ahead to 2026, they are ready for a new cycle of innovation, scale, and an operational ecosystem.
Rewinding 2025: The Trends that Propelled GCCs Forward
GCCs have been stepping beyond their “extended team” framework to assume a more decisive role in business transformation. The trend picked up pace in 2025, and the top 5 changes observed this year were:
- AI in routine work layers
With the growing use of ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot for routine work, AI adoption signaled its first real proliferation. Stepping ahead of isolated pilots, GCCs started infusing secure GenAI tools into design, development, operations, and support services. Intelligent automation has seeped into marketing, sales, finance, supply chain, and customer experience processes, delivering tangible efficiency gains.
- Product and platform ownership
As centers started handling larger slices of the technology stack, they became home to critical engineering, data analytics, digital transformation, and cybersecurity capabilities. Recent NASSCOM studies show that a growing number of Indian GCCs now manage end-to-end platforms, customer-facing products, and R&D mandates, which has also led to the creation of intellectual property (IP) in India.
- Role of cloud and X-as-a-Service platforms
The maturity of cloud environments is seen in more consolidated platforms, improved observability, tighter governance, and reduced operational complexity. GCCs are increasingly leveraging their agile, scalable architectures, supported by advanced technologies, to accelerate modernization across global business units. Cloud-based collaboration has made collaboration between remote teams easier, and its pay-as-you-go model has optimized IT spending.
- Cybersecurity and compliance capabilities
Indian GCCs have begun to transition into cybersecurity centers of excellence (CoE), designing solutions for threat detection, vulnerability management, incident response, security analytics, and compliance administration. NASSCOM’s India GCC Landscape Report mentions cybersecurity as a key growth lever for these organizations.
- Widened scope of talent strategies
Hiring by GCCs leaned toward AI engineering, data science, cloud, product design, and risk management. Fresher hiring surged with many firms almost doubling the intake of new graduates from colleges. Tier II and III cities also gained prominence as centers of operations that help to expand diversified talent pools and cut attrition.
Overall, 2025 solidified the foundation for a more ambitious era. Indian GCCs became centers where global companies test new ideas, build core platforms, and shape digital strategies. As their responsibilities continue to mature, GCCs are positioned to handle higher stakes.
The GCC Ecosystem In 2026
The beginning of every year brings new milestones and roadmaps to reach them. In 2026, GCCs enter a phase of expansion defined by differentiated strengths, capability depth, product thinking, and cross-enterprise influence.
From here on, we expect to see:
- AI-Native GCCs Enabling Enterprise-Level Transformation
GCCs that have completed pilots in advanced analytics, forecasting, system integration, and automation are now positioned to guide enterprise-wide transformation at scale. They will standardize more data, align AI investments with business requirements, and ensure responsible deployment across functions. Their evolution over the past year empowers them to guide AI journeys, unlock cross-business efficiencies, and reduce time-to-value for global enterprises.
- Product and Innovation Ownership Deepening Further
After years of being restricted to delivery-focused execution, GCCs are now actively co-creating global IP. As product roadmaps evolve faster, Indian teams will help decide what gets built and why. Integrated pods that combine design and engineering are expected to become the standard, supported by more global roles based in India: Distinguished Engineers, Product Owners, Principal Architects, and others. GCCs will therefore expand their roles as end-to-end product innovation hubs rather than as downstream contributors.
- Tier-II and Tier-III Towns Becoming a Part of the Hub and Spoke Model
From 2024 to 2025, we saw GCCs expand beyond their centralized base in metros. Capability-led growth rather than cost-saving motives will now drive this shift. Organizations are ready to form experienced design, engineering, and cybersecurity teams in emerging cities with reliable network and technology infrastructure. Smaller or ‘nano-GCCs’ can also grow into multi-discipline hubs as companies extend their talent pipelines. The new locations will help them scale faster, diversify risk, and build more resilient, distributed operating models.
- Cybersecurity and Digital Resilience as Core GCC Charters
With attacks and data breaches growing more frequent, cybersecurity is set to become a frontline capability inside GCCs. More teams will help in real-time monitoring, advanced threat intelligence programs, continuous vulnerability assessments, zero-trust policy orchestration, and secure-by-design engineering for global platforms. Some organizations are also ready to take on unified responsibility for AI model security and guardrails. The new roles make Indian centers integrated cyber command units and global anchors for digital resilience.
- Rise of Platformization and Internal Digital Ecosystems
GCCs are expected to build standard rails that enterprises can run on. With reliable digital platforms that an entire enterprise can plug into and improve, every team does not need to invent its own individual data pipelines, AI services, or automation tools. Work on unified, reusable stacks will also create new roles in GCCs: platform product managers, ecosystem architects, and experience owners who ensure these platforms remain simple, scalable, and valuable for companies worldwide.
Stepping into the New Era of GCC Leadership
As 2026 begins, it is clear that GCCs have moved well beyond their original process-handling tasks. The next wave will be about shaping business transformation from the inside and at scale. AI-native operations, product ownership, distributed capability hubs, robust cyber resilience, and shared digital platforms have made India a strategic nerve center for global companies. As the GCC model enters a phase where its influence expands from operational expertise to enterprise-wide impact, 2026 will be another pivotal year for innovation and value creation.