The country’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) industry recorded revenue of $98.4 billion in FY26, while the number of GCCs in the country rose nearly 32% from FY21, according to a joint report by Awfis Space Solutions and Zinnov.
The report, The Great Workplace Reset: How India GCCs are Redefining Work, Worker, and Workspace, put the number of GCCs in India at 2,117 in FY26. These centres operated 3,728 units across multiple cities and employed more than 2.36 million professionals. The report’s FY26 figures are marked as estimates.
The number of Global 2000 companies with GCCs in India stood at 506 in FY26. The report said the GCC ecosystem had also expanded beyond large multinational corporations, with private equity backed companies, mid market enterprises and digital native companies increasingly adopting the model.
“With 2,117 GCCs operating 3,728 units across multiple cities, enterprises are building distributed capability networks,” the report said, adding that this reinforced India as a long term strategic platform rather than a single location destination.
The nearly 32% increase in the number of GCCs between FY21 and FY26 also reflected a change in the role of these centres. According to the report, GCCs increasingly took ownership of products, platforms, artificial intelligence and enterprise functions.
“As GCCs take ownership of products, platforms, AI, and enterprise functions, the conversation has moved from how many centers India hosts to how much enterprise value those centers create,” the report said.
GCCs moved beyond cost arbitrage
India’s GCC ecosystem moved significantly beyond its traditional cost arbitrage model during this period, with newer centres taking on product development, research and development, engineering, AI and other higher value mandates.
The report found that the time taken by GCCs to reach higher levels of maturity had also fallen sharply. Centres established between 2002 and 2015 took around five to 10 years to reach maturity, while those established from FY21 onwards reached comparable levels in less than five years.
Further, 96% of GCCs established since FY21 started with a product, R&D or engineering mandate, indicating that the traditional commodity work model had largely disappeared from new centres.
The report classified India’s GCCs into four stages: outpost, satellite, portfolio hub and transformation hub. In FY26, 13% of GCCs were classified as outposts, 43% as satellites, 39% as portfolio hubs and 5% as transformation hubs.
Nilesh Thakker, President, Zinnov, said the next phase of India’s GCC growth would depend on the complexity and strategic importance of the work being handled by these centres.
“India GCCs have already proven scale. The next frontier is work itself — its complexity, ownership, and strategic value,” Thakker said.
“As AI reshapes how work gets done, the centers that redesign around it will not just support the enterprise; they will set the standard for how the enterprise works,” he added.
AI became a bigger part of GCC work
Artificial intelligence emerged as a major driver of the changing GCC model. More than 1,200 GCCs in India had AI and machine learning capabilities, according to the report.
Generative and agentic AI accounted for 52% of AI use cases in Indian GCCs, surpassing traditional AI and machine learning for the first time.
AI use cases had spread across industries and functions. Software and internet companies used AI for software development, products, knowledge systems and cybersecurity, while BFSI companies deployed it for fraud detection, risk management and regulatory compliance. Healthcare GCCs used AI for clinical documentation, risk prediction and patient analysis.
The report also found a significant difference between companies building AI capabilities and those adopting third party AI. AI builders placed twice as much “Rocket Science” work in India as AI adopters, indicating that India had increasingly become a location for frontier engineering, product and platform work.
GCC hiring shifted towards specialised skills
The changing nature of work also altered the hiring requirements of GCCs. Recruitment shifted from generic roles towards specialised and AI led capabilities.
The report said demand increasingly centred on professionals who combined AI engineering with domain expertise, product thinking and enterprise leadership. Engineers were also increasingly required to build production grade AI systems using technologies such as RAG, LLMOps, agent frameworks, Docker, Kubernetes and AI platforms.
“The highest demand is no longer for AI specialists alone, but for professionals who combine AI engineering, domain expertise, product thinking, and enterprise leadership to deploy AI at scale,” the report said.
The work portfolio itself also moved up the value chain. Commodity and procedure based work declined significantly between 2015 and 2026, while higher value work increased. The report said Indian GCCs were driving nearly the same volume of frontier work as their headquarters, with almost half having an equal or higher share of “Rocket Science” work.
Workspace became a strategic decision
The expansion of GCCs also changed the role of office space. According to the report, workspace increasingly became an operating and business decision rather than simply a real estate requirement.
Amit Ramani, Chairman and Managing Director, Awfis, said India’s GCC ecosystem had entered a new phase of growth driven by speed, agility and access to talent.
“India’s GCC ecosystem is entering a new phase of growth, one that is defined by speed, agility, and talent access,” Ramani said.
He said flexible and managed workspaces were increasingly helping GCCs accelerate market entry, optimise capital deployment and build future ready operations.
The report also highlighted the expansion of GCCs into newer and Tier II locations. Flexible and managed workspaces offered companies greater speed in entering new markets and flexibility in managing changing headcount, it said.
Overall, the FY26 data showed that India’s GCC industry had moved from a cost and capacity model towards one centred on ownership, innovation and strategic enterprise functions. With 2,117 GCCs, 3,728 units, more than 2.36 million professionals and $98.4 billion in revenue, India had further strengthened its position as a global GCC hub.
