India aims to lead GCCs, not just host them: Sitharaman

New Delhi: India wants to be a strategic leader in global capability centres, not just a host, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday, outlining a vision for GCCs to drive next‑generation products, frontier technologies and enterprise strategy from India.

Addressing the CII GCC Business Summit 2026, Sitharaman noted the rapid acceleration in GCC formation — from one new centre a week in 2024 to roughly one a day now — placing India as home to more than half of the world’s GCCs. The country currently hosts over 2,100 GCCs, employs about 23 lakh professionals directly and generates nearly USD 100 billion in annual revenue, she said.

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“Our aspiration is not merely to host the world’s capability centre or centres, but to shape next‑generation technologies and products and enterprises of the future,” the minister said. “India’s GCC journey is much larger than the story of one successful sector. It is about making India indispensable to the world’s knowledge economy and strengthening our long‑term economic resilience.”

Sitharaman said scale alone is no longer the standard of success. Indian GCCs are increasingly taking on leadership mandates — from strategic decision‑making to patenting and product ownership — shifting the country’s value proposition from cost efficiency to capability leadership. She added that about two‑thirds of Fortune Global 2000 firms have yet to set up GCCs in India, identifying a substantial untapped investment opportunity.

To realise the next phase of growth, the minister urged industry to work with state governments, educational institutions and local communities to prepare Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 cities for GCC expansion. She also called on companies to move up the value chain: create intellectual property, lead frontier research, develop AI applications, and ensure innovations move seamlessly from labs to markets.

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The government, Sitharaman said, recognises the need for an enabling policy ecosystem that reduces friction, improves regulatory certainty and supports long‑term investments. Several such measures were included in the 2026‑27 Union Budget, she noted, aimed at consolidating India’s push from capability to global leadership.

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