India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) have long been heralded as back offices-turned-centres of excellence, now numbering over 3,000, employing nearly 1.9 million professionals, and contributing more than US$65 billion annually. But those figures are beginning to feel fragile. With generative AI tearing through global value chains, GCCs—once celebrated for their scale and efficiency—now face an urgent question: what exactly is their role in a world where intelligent systems can replace entire workflows?
AI is not simply another productivity tool layered onto legacy structures. It represents the dismantling of those structures altogether. Tasks that previously took days – compliance reviews, code refactoring, and user testing – are now completed in minutes. In the first quarter of 2025, demand for GenAI-related roles within GCCs rose by over 30% year-on-year. But this is not a hiring boom—it is a skills pivot. The platforms that once thrived on predictable, repeatable tasks now face redundancy not through layoffs but through irrelevance. The work is disappearing. And the operating model must evolve before it does, too.
Inside the AI Engines That Outgrew the Back Office
Look closely, and the contours of the next-generation GCC are already beginning to take shape. JPMorgan’s GCCs in India are no longer passive extensions of their global headquarters. Today, they power more than 400 AI-enabled applications spanning fraud detection, risk scoring, marketing intelligence, and digital banking. The firm’s proprietary CodeWhisperer-style assistant is reportedly boosting engineering productivity by 10%–20%, enabling developers to focus on high-leverage innovation. That’s not a minor efficiency gain; it’s a fundamental shift in creating value.
Walmart Global Tech provides another compelling example. Its internal AI assistant ecosystem has saved over four million developer hours globally, much of that anchored in India. One such tool, Wallaby, a large language model developed in-house, now powers critical internal workflows, including inventory forecasting, last-mile logistics, and policy guidance. Wallaby doesn’t merely assist; it makes decisions. The India GCC is not a satellite; it is the central nervous system.
Honeywell, long seen as a legacy industrial player, tells a similar story. Its India operations have quietly become the backbone of its global software ambitions. Over 60% of Honeywell’s software engineers are now based in India. The Forge AI platform, significantly developed in Bengaluru, is a key driver of its aviation and energy efficiency solutions. Honeywell India is expected to cross US$1 billion in annual revenue by the end of this year. The work conducted there is no longer transactional—it is foundational.
Still, for every success story like JPMorgan or Walmart, there are dozens of GCCs trapped in outdated models—measuring success by SLA compliance, not product shipped; by full-time equivalents, not patents filed. A recent BCG study revealed that only 8% of India’s GCCs have matured into genuine innovation hubs. The rest remain in a holding pattern—proficient at doing more for less, yet unclear on how to do things differently.
There’s a cultural and skills dimension to this, too. GenAI proficiency is not about prompt engineering alone—it requires a mindset shift. Engineers must now think like product owners. Designers must understand model limitations. Managers must prioritise outcomes over processes. And yet, AWS-backed research shows that while 64% of Indian enterprises view GenAI as a strategic priority, 75% lack any formal change management strategy to implement it. The gap isn’t technical—it’s imaginative.
Two Paths: Automated Obsolescence or AI-Catalysed Reinvention
India’s GCCs are approaching a fork in the road. One path is to continue chasing cost efficiency and headcount growth—a race they are unlikely to win against increasingly intelligent systems. The other is to reimagine themselves as creators of original, enterprise-grade value.
This transformation begins with redefining success. GCCs must no longer be measured solely by operational metrics. They need to be evaluated by the quality of IP created, the commercial outcomes delivered, and the platforms and tools they design. Teams must evolve into cross-disciplinary pods—bringing together product managers, AI experts, domain specialists, and designers—to build, not just deliver. And GCC leaders must transition from operations managers to intrapreneurs, capable of owning charters, taking strategic bets, and being accountable for outcomes, not just inputs.
Encouragingly, some systemic support is emerging. Uttar Pradesh’s GCC policy aims to create over 200,000 high-paying jobs, not just by offering plug-and-play real estate, but potentially by enabling IP-sharing models and structured AI testing zones. If executed well, such initiatives could help position GCCs as part of India’s enterprise innovation architecture, not as outsourcing footnotes.
Still, policy can only enable. The real shift must come from within. Enterprises must begin to view their GCCs as strategic partners, not delivery arms. Boards must grant them the autonomy to invent, not just execute. India has a rare combination: depth in STEM talent, adjacency to global enterprises, a maturing start-up ecosystem, and the trust of Fortune 500 boardrooms. If these forces are brought into alignment, GCCs could become the crucibles where the next generation of AI-native business systems are imagined, built and scaled.
But none of this is guaranteed. Organisational inertia is a formidable opponent. Metrics calcify. Structures resist change. And the temptation to cling to what has always worked is often strongest just before it stops working.
The AI wave will not destroy India’s GCCs. But it will remake them decisively and comprehensively. Those that fail to adapt may not be replaced by competitors but rendered redundant by the systems they helped build. Yet those who lean in—who reframe their identity from execution engines to originators of enterprise innovation—stand to become foundational to the future of global business.
India’s GCCs sit at a powerful intersection: talent, trust, and technological transition. With the right ambition and investment, they can transcend their original mandates. No longer cost centres or code factories—but global command centres for enterprise AI, product innovation, and value creation. This is not the twilight of a model. It is the dawn of a new mandate—if we choose to see it that way.
In a world where machines are learning to think, what must we unlearn to stay relevant?
