Nasscom policy team along with GCC team organised a roundtable discussion on the above theme during the Nasscom GCC Summit, held on May 6-7, 2026 at Mumbai.
India's Global Capability Centre ecosystem has evolved into one of the country's strongest strategic growth engines. What began as a cost optimisation model has transformed into a globally integrated network driving innovation, digital transformation, enterprise resilience, and next-generation technology development for multinational corporations.
Today, more than 2,100 GCCs operate across India, delivering critical capabilities spanning product engineering, AI and analytics, cybersecurity, cloud transformation, enterprise operations, and research and development. These centres are increasingly becoming global decision-making and innovation hubs for some of the world's leading enterprises.
As the sector matures, the GCC landscape is entering a new phase of expansion. While established hubs such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune continue to remain critical anchors of India's digital economy, companies are now actively exploring emerging locations across Tier-2 and select Tier-3 cities.
This shift is being driven by a combination of factors including access to untapped talent pools, operational cost advantages, improving digital connectivity, and the growing push by states to position themselves as attractive GCC destinations through targeted policy interventions.
The Emerging Hub Opportunity
The next phase of GCC growth presents India with an important opportunity to move from a metro-centric model towards a distributed, multi-city ecosystem of innovation and delivery hubs.
Emerging cities are increasingly demonstrating strong potential to support specialised GCC operations across sectors such as technology services, engineering, BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, and digital operations. Improved infrastructure, expanding educational ecosystems, and stronger regional connectivity are creating favourable conditions for businesses to establish operations beyond traditional metropolitan centres.
However, unlocking this opportunity will require a coordinated and long-term approach. Industry discussions increasingly highlight that the success of emerging hubs cannot rely solely on policy announcements or incentive frameworks. Sustainable GCC growth requires a broader ecosystem-led strategy focused on enabling business readiness and improving overall liveability.
Key focus areas include:
- Strengthening urban and digital infrastructure
- Building plug-and-play business environments with ease of compliance and operational readiness
- Enhancing quality of life to attract, retain, and grow talent
- Improving intra-city mobility and social infrastructure
- Creating stronger industry-academia linkages to develop future-ready talent pipelines
Enabling the Next Wave of GCC Expansion
Against this backdrop, the roundtable brought together industry leaders, policymakers, and ecosystem stakeholders for a focused discussion on what it will take to accelerate GCC growth across emerging hubs in India.
The discussion explored how states can move beyond positioning narratives to create differentiated value propositions aligned with evolving enterprise requirements. Participants highlighted that companies today evaluate locations not only on cost competitiveness, but also on scalability, talent availability, business continuity, infrastructure resilience, governance support, and employee experience.
A key theme emerging from the roundtable was the importance of building specialised regional strengths rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. Emerging hubs have the opportunity to carve distinct positioning based on sectoral capabilities, talent clusters, language strengths, or domain expertise.
Industry leaders also emphasised the need to address operational bottlenecks proactively. Faster approvals, simplified regulatory processes, ready-to-move infrastructure, and strong local ecosystem support were identified as critical factors influencing location decisions.
At the same time, participants noted that talent continues to remain the central pillar of GCC expansion strategies. States and cities that can combine employability, quality of life, affordability, and career opportunities are likely to emerge as strong contenders in the next phase of GCC growth.
Building India's Distributed GCC Future
India's GCC story is no longer confined to a few established metropolitan centres. The next decade of growth is expected to be shaped by the rise of emerging hubs that can combine infrastructure readiness, talent depth, policy support, and ecosystem collaboration.
For India to fully realise this opportunity, collaboration between industry, government, academia, and ecosystem enablers will remain essential. Building globally competitive emerging hubs will require sustained investment, long-term planning, and execution-focused partnerships.
As enterprises continue to diversify their global operations and build resilient digital capabilities, India is uniquely positioned to lead the next generation of distributed GCC growth. The conversations at the roundtable reinforced a shared view that emerging hubs can play a defining role in shaping the future of India's digital and innovation economy.
Director - Public Policy