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In a country where tech hubs are jostling for global relevance, Hyderabad is rewriting the playbook and pulling ahead of the other competing metros. The recent decision by Heineken, the world’s second-largest brewer, to set up its first Asia-Pacific Global Capability Center (GCC) in the city, with an investment of ₹2,500–3,000 crore, is more than just another high-profile entry, it’s a marker of how decisively Hyderabad has positioned itself at the front of India’s booming GCC economy.

According to media sources, Heineken’s upcoming centre in HITEC City will house up to 3,000 professionals and focus on emerging tech like AI, while also consolidating shared services in finance and HR. It’s not the only one making that bet. Over the past two years, the city has drawn a roster of global majors, from American Airlines and Eli Lilly to Inspire Brands and Marriott International, all of whom are planting their digital and innovation flags in Hyderabad.

As of early 2025, Hyderabad hosts over 355 GCCs employing roughly 300,000 professionals, accounting for close to 15% of India’s total GCC presence, according to Zinnov. That share has grown from 14% to 19% in just five years, a signal that Hyderabad’s climb has been anything but incidental.

Much of that success can be traced back to deliberate, long-term planning by the Telangana government. According to the policy tracker GCC Rise, initiatives such as TS-iPASS, which promises industrial clearances within 15 days, and a suite of tax and land incentives, have dramatically lowered entry barriers for global companies. There’s a 100% income tax exemption for five years in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and no stamp duty on lease agreements – policies clearly built with GCCs in mind.

But Hyderabad’s story isn’t just about government SOPs. The state has backed these with infrastructure that actually delivers. The city’s 70-kilometre metro rail, growing network of SEZs, and the upcoming Elevated Bus Rapid Transit System are designed to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly scaling services economy. According to Zinnov, the city now rivals global tech hubs in terms of office quality, connectivity, and digital infrastructure.

There’s also a quiet but critical investment that sets Hyderabad apart: talent. Over 55% of the city’s GCC workforce operates in high-skill sectors like software, BFSI, and semiconductors. Institutions like IIT-Hyderabad and JNTU feed directly into this pipeline, and state-led programmes including the Telangana State Skill Development Policy and Community Skill Development Centers are helping ensure the supply doesn’t lag demand.

In fact, a new BFSI consortium has been established to train 10,000 students annually starting January 2025 aligning curriculum with real-time industry needs. Add to that the collaborative muscle of T-Hub and We Hub, two of the country’s most prominent startup incubators and you get a tightly knit innovation ecosystem that global firms increasingly want to be part of.

American Airlines became the first major international airline to open a tech hub in India with its Hyderabad centre in 2025. Around the same time, Evernorth, a healthcare subsidiary of Cigna, unveiled what it calls a “grassroots innovation place” to develop AI-led healthcare solutions.

These aren’t just shared services back offices. Hyderabad’s GCCs are increasingly anchoring core business innovation: developing products, deploying AI tools, and even driving digital transformation at headquarters abroad. The Telangana government seems to have anticipated this shift early. The Industries and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu had announced the government’s intentions in November last year to launch a dedicated GCC policy, sometime in 2025, targeting high-value sectors like life sciences and BFSI with further sector-specific interventions.

Projections from Nasscom suggest that by 2030, India could be home to over 2,400 GCCs, generating US$100 billion in revenue and 4.5 million jobs. Hyderabad, by all metrics, is poised to lead that charge.

In a landscape where buzzwords like “innovation hub” are liberally thrown around, Hyderabad’s ascent has been refreshingly grounded in execution: fiscal incentives with timelines, infrastructure that connects rather than promises, and a talent pipeline that doesn’t wait for crises to course-correct. The GCCs aren’t just coming, they’re staying, expanding, and evolving.

And if the trajectory holds, Hyderabad won’t just be India’s GCC capital – it may well become its most consequential global tech brand yet.