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India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are on track to significantly boost the country’s economy, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman predicting they could contribute up to US$200 billion by 2030, creating millions of jobs in the process. Speaking at the CII-GCC Business Summit, Sitharaman highlighted the sector’s rapid growth, with one new GCC setting up shop every week in 2024 and half of Fortune 500 companies establishing GCCs in India.

“India’s GCC sector contributes US$68 billion as direct gross value addition (GVA), i.e. around 1.6% of the national GDP. By 2030, the gross value addition from GCCs could potentially range between US$150-200 billion. That is the scope we have before us and the potential we can see,” Sitharaman said at the CII-GCC Business summit. Sitharaman said on an average one new GCC per week was set up in 2024 and approximately 50% of Fortune 500 companies have set up their GCCs in India.

“Our talent is more cost-effective compared to other countries. It is estimated that it costs 30-50% less than the US, UK and Australia. Over the past decade, India’s GCC ecosystem has matured significantly, moving beyond execution to become centres of strategic leadership and transformation,” the finance minister said. 

Many GCCs now house high-end roles, including product managers, architects, data scientists and global function heads. A recent survey found that over 35% of transformation hubs in India report a strong presence of architects, demonstrating the growing complexity and global ownership of tech mandates. 

Global roles within Indian GCCs are expected to increase from 6,500 today to over 30,000 by 2030, supported by robust in-house training programs that nurture global-ready leadership.

GCCs employ nearly 2.16 million professionals in India, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11% over the last 5 years. It is expected to reach 2.8 million by 2030. “And I guess this is a very conservative number,” Sitharaman said.
The setup rate of engineering research & development GCCs has grown 1.3 times faster than the overall GCC setup over the last 5 years, indicating a clear shift towards high value-added work in India, she added.

“People who are returning to India are staying put because they are seeing high-end opportunities now in India,” she said.  

Globally, Sitharaman said that 28% of the STEM workforce and 23% of the global software engineering talent was in GCCs, but that 32% of the global GCC talent was currently based in India.