How India's GCCs are becoming global AI command centres

For nearly three decades, multinational companies came to India for technology talent, operational scale and lower costs. Their global capability centres (GCCs) built software, managed infrastructure and supported enterprise operations from afar. Artificial intelligence is changing that equation. 

As global companies race to embed AI across products and operations, India's GCCs are taking on more strategic responsibilities - from designing AI platforms and governing enterprise data to building products and influencing business decisions. Increasingly, they are moving beyond execution to ownership.

The government believes the shift could redefine India's role in the global economy. Speaking at the CII GCC Business Summit in New Delhi last month, Electronics and IT Secretary S. Krishnan said the government would assess how AI is changing the pace and nature of GCC expansion, adding that India has the potential to become "the office space of the world" and not merely a back office but a location from which front-end operations are run.

From delivery centres to decision makers

However, the biggest change, experts believe, is not technological, but organisational. Traditionally, GCCs were measured by headcount, productivity and cost efficiency. AI is shifting the focus towards ownership of products, platforms and business outcomes.

"Historically, GCCs have been measured on efficiency metrics, such as cost per employee, productivity improvements and SLA adherence," said Karan Dhundia, principal at ZS, in an earlier interview. "In an AI-led environment, that model no longer holds. As AI agents take on a larger share of operational work, GCCs will increasingly evolve into AI command centres responsible for designing, deploying and governing intelligent systems at scale."

According to Dhundia, the difference between an AI delivery centre and an AI command centre is authority. To move beyond execution, GCCs need end-to-end ownership of data, platforms and business outcomes rather than simply implementing strategies designed elsewhere.

The latest Nasscom-Zinnov GCC Landscape 2026 report points in the same direction. India is now home to more than 2,100 GCCs employing about 2.36 million professionals, with the sector approaching $100 billion in value. More importantly, the report suggests leading GCCs are evolving into enterprise hubs that own products, innovation and AI-led transformation rather than acting as offshore delivery centres.

AI is becoming the foundation

Recent investments show AI is increasingly becoming the reason companies establish or expand GCCs and is not simply another capability within them.

UK-based insurance broker BMS, for instance, set up a Mumbai GCC focused on data, analytics and AI. Group chief executive Nick Cook described it as "a genuine centre of excellence for the group, not just a support function," underscoring the company's intention to position the India centre as a strategic contributor to its global business.

Existing GCCs are also being reshaped. HCLTech's acquisition of Guardian Life's India GCC and the partnership's focus on agentic AI, application modernisation and joint AI-led intellectual property highlight how enterprises are redesigning captive centres around AI rather than traditional IT services.

The broader ecosystem is evolving too. According to the Nasscom-Zinnov report, leading GCCs are increasingly collaborating with universities, startups and technology partners to accelerate AI innovation while shifting away from headcount-led growth towards capability building and productivity.

Governance could be India's edge

If AI is changing what GCCs build, it is also changing what they are expected to govern. As enterprises deploy AI across banking, healthcare, insurance, and manufacturing, questions related to explainability, security, compliance, and accountability become as important as model performance.

Dhundia believes governance could become India's biggest competitive advantage. GCCs, he argues, will increasingly define model standards, determine how AI agents operate and manage risks around bias and enterprise trust. "For GCCs to become true AI command hubs, they need clear end-to-end mandates covering data, platforms and business outcomes," he said in the earlier interview.

The next phase

The opportunity is significant, but so are the challenges. Demand for AI engineers, cybersecurity specialists, product architects and data professionals continues to outpace supply, even as companies expand into new cities beyond Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. At the same time, AI could weaken the traditional link between GCC growth and headcount, with productivity increasingly driven by intelligent systems rather than workforce expansion.

Ultimately, calling an India operation an AI hub is easy. Becoming a true AI command centre requires something more difficult: transferring ownership of products, platforms, as well as governance and business outcomes to India teams.
That transition is already underway. The next question is how many multinational companies are willing to place those strategic decisions at the heart of their India operations. The answer may define the next chapter of India's GCC story.