GCCs in India are driving global innovation concur experts

Global capability centres (GCCs) have become the growth engines for India's technology industry, and the developer community in the country is driving the innovation agenda with a worldwide impact, according to experts from the industry.

At the recently conducted DevSparks 2025 summit organised by YourStory in Pune, industry experts highlighted how GCCs in India are no more just offshore development centres but are key pillars for companies' global innovation agenda.

At a panel discussion on 'GCCs and developers: Driving India's tech growth,' Monika Potharkar, Executive Director (Director, FSS & GIC Site Lead), General Mills, said every GCC has become integral to the enterprise; along with driving revenue and profitability, it is also a key force for technology innovation.

Today, GCCs in India have moved away from cost arbitrage and have become centres for key technology decisions as well as product development.

According to Saj Sekhon, CTO, Group Functions Technology, UBS, India is the only country in the world where companies can realistically aspire to build a scalable operation given the size of the developer talent pool.

GCCs in India generally have the presence of senior leadership. which leads to decision making.

Manoj Garg, DevOps CoE Lead, NatWest Group, said GCCs in India are at the forefront of credible technology innovation, based on the requirements of the business.

Garg also said newer technology platforms like artificial intelligence and machine learning are witnessing faster adoption from GCCs in the country. He believes AI has unlocked immense innovation among GCCs.

According to Potharkar, the key success element of GCCs in India will be at the intersection of business, technology and scale, which can deliver measurable value. She further remarked that innovation can emerge only when technology has certain empathy with the business problem.

The growth of GCCs in India also brings forth the point about how new technologies are being implemented and ingrained by the developer community.

Sekhon was categorical in stating that technology never displaces or replaces jobs; it is only the question how people are able to adapt to as well adopt these new technologies. He strongly believes that newer technologies like AI will only unlock more opportunities.

The panel members also highlighted how their organisations conduct deep-dive sessions on reskilling and upskilling. These include taking employees through structured programmes on imbibing latest technology platforms like AI. They were also clear that developers need to be open minded, adaptive, and have the attitude of continuous learning.

Providing insights on the GCC sector in India, Viji George, Board Member, Country Head, Nutrien Ag Solutions, said India is a rich place for talent and its intersection with technology is driving innovation.

Today, GCCs are present not only in the sectors of technology, finance and manufacturing; they have also expanded to the agriculture industry, and Nutrien is a classical example of this, providing crop inputs and services.