Key Points
- India hosts 2,117 GCC firms employing 2.36 million professionals and generating $98.4 billion.
- States are deploying subsidies, skilling programmes and faster approvals to attract GCC investment
- Bengaluru leads GCC leasing, while emerging cities seek growth through policy-backed hub-and-spoke expansion
India’s global capability centre industry is entering a new phase in which competition for investment is increasingly being shaped not only by the country’s large technology workforce and cost advantage, but by state-level policies, infrastructure, artificial intelligence skills and the ability of cities to support increasingly complex global mandates, according to a new CBRE report.
The report, ‘The Policy Advantage: Powering India’s GCC Growth’, estimates that 2,117 companies operated global capability centres, or GCCs, in India in the 2026 financial year, employing about 2.36 million people and generating revenue of $98.4 billion. It expects the total number of GCC units in the country to reach 4,300-4,400 by 2030. More than 6,500 global roles are already owned end-to-end by India-based centres, underscoring their shift from back-office delivery operations towards strategic functions.
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That transition is changing what multinational companies look for when choosing where to establish or expand a centre. CBRE said GCCs are increasingly taking responsibility for research and development, artificial intelligence, data, cybersecurity, product engineering and enterprise transformation. More than half of India’s centres have matured into portfolio and transformation hubs, while about 90% operate as multifunctional units supporting areas including engineering, digital services and product development.
India’s advantage remains underpinned by scale. The country produces about 5.8 million science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates and has more than 600,000 AI professionals, according to figures cited in the report. CBRE also estimates that GCC operations in India can offer a 40% to 60% cost advantage over developed markets, although the report increasingly treats cost as one part of a wider proposition encompassing talent, infrastructure, innovation and policy.
The result is an increasingly competitive domestic market. Bengaluru and Hyderabad continue to dominate, but governments from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh to Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan are using investment subsidies, payroll support, research grants, rental assistance and faster approvals to draw GCC projects. At the same time, established states are attempting to move investment beyond their largest cities, creating a wider contest among locations such as Mysuru, Nagpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Indore and Visakhapatnam.
GCC policy race intensifies
CBRE’s analysis suggests that there is no single national GCC policy driving the expansion. Instead, companies benefit from what the report describes as a broader policy stack covering digital infrastructure, skills, investment rules, taxation, manufacturing and innovation.
Initiatives cited by the report include Digital India, BharatNet and the National Data Centre Policy for infrastructure, Skill India, FutureSkills PRIME and apprenticeship programmes for workforce development and foreign direct investment reforms, advance pricing agreements, corporate tax changes and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for the business environment. Startup India, the Atal Innovation Mission, the national AI strategy and research incentives provide a further innovation layer.
The more significant change at the subnational level is the emergence of dedicated GCC policies. CBRE examined frameworks across Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, finding significant differences in how states are positioning themselves.
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Karnataka, India’s largest GCC market, has set a target of about 1,000 centres by 2029 and annual GCC revenue of $50 billion. Its policy includes an INR 100 crore fund for GCC-academia research, an artificial intelligence centre of excellence, reimbursement of internship stipends, capital expenditure support and incentives designed specifically to push centres beyond Bengaluru.
The state’s “Beyond Bengaluru” approach provides additional incentives for locations including Mangaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad-Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Tumakuru and Shivamogga. Measures range from support for innovation laboratories and R&D infrastructure to recruitment assistance, rental reimbursement, internet subsidies and property tax relief.
Maharashtra is pursuing a somewhat different model based on the complementary strengths of Mumbai and Pune. Its policy targets 400 new centres and 400,000 high-skilled jobs by 2030, with Mumbai positioned around banking, financial services and fintech and Pune around engineering, product development and R&D.
The state provides capital or rental subsidies, payroll support for high-paid workers, power subsidies and reimbursements for R&D and patent costs. It also plans dedicated GCC parks and is seeking to extend the industry to Nagpur, Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
Haryana’s policy seeks more than 100 GCCs and 30,000 jobs by 2031, using Gurugram as its established base while encouraging expansion towards Panchkula, Hisar, Sonipat and Faridabad. Its incentives include capital and operating expenditure reimbursements, R&D support and provident fund reimbursements alongside dedicated approval mechanisms.
Uttar Pradesh is positioning itself as a lower-cost location for large-scale centres, initially building on Noida and Greater Noida while encouraging a hub-and-spoke model involving Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut and Ghaziabad. Its policy includes land subsidies, operating cost reimbursements covering expenses such as rent, electricity, bandwidth and cloud services, payroll support, capital subsidies and interest assistance.
The state has also proposed customised packages for Fortune 500 companies establishing GCCs with more than 1,000 employees, as well as a commercial property portal intended to simplify location assessment.
Delhi occupies a different position. CBRE characterises the capital more as the institutional and policymaking anchor of the wider National Capital Region than as a market driven by direct GCC incentives. Its proximity to central ministries, regulators, corporate headquarters and consulting and financial talent supports higher-value strategy, finance and regulatory functions, while Gurugram and Noida provide much of the region’s operating scale.
Tamil Nadu is seeking to build on Chennai’s engineering and manufacturing base while encouraging centres to expand into Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchirappalli. Its incentive structure includes graduated payroll subsidies for high-paying GCC jobs, while the state’s wider semiconductor, electronics, fintech, R&D and manufacturing policies are intended to support product engineering and engineering R&D mandates.
Gujarat has set a target of attracting more than 250 additional GCCs, 50,000 jobs and INR 10,000 crore of investment by 2030. The policy includes capital and operating subsidies, interest assistance, employee provident fund reimbursement and electricity duty incentives, with GIFT City forming the financial-sector anchor and Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat identified as additional growth locations.
Kerala’s draft GCC policy envisages increasing its GCC base to 120 centres by 2030. CBRE points to relatively low employee attrition, rents estimated at 30% to 40% below tier-I cities and established technology parks as potential advantages, while the state is seeking growth in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi alongside Kozhikode and Thrissur.
Rajasthan has set a target of more than 200 GCCs and 150,000 jobs by 2030, with Jaipur expected to lead the market and Udaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Ajmer forming a second tier. Madhya Pradesh is targeting more than 50 centres and 37,000 direct jobs, led by Indore, while Andhra Pradesh is building its strategy around Visakhapatnam with Vijayawada, Amaravati and Tirupati as complementary locations.
The policies indicate that competition among states is moving beyond headline subsidies. Governments are increasingly offering incentives linked to specialised functions such as AI, engineering R&D, financial services and deep technology, while also providing support for skills, university collaboration, intellectual property development and ready-to-use office infrastructure.
AI talent deepens
Artificial intelligence is becoming an important part of that competition.
CBRE said more than 1,200 GCCs in India have AI or machine learning capabilities, with over 250 operating dedicated AI or ML centres of excellence. The installed GCC AI and ML workforce exceeds 250,000 and India accounts for about 28% of the global GCC AI talent pool, according to the report.
But the talent picture is not uniformly favourable. Senior professionals make up only about 19% of India’s AI workforce, the report said, highlighting a potential imbalance as multinational companies shift more advanced research, product and decision-making responsibilities to Indian centres.
Talent is also heavily concentrated geographically. About 94% of India’s roughly 2.36 million GCC professionals work in six tier-I markets. Bengaluru accounts for about 34% of installed GCC talent, Hyderabad 14%, Pune 13%, Chennai 12%, Mumbai 11% and Delhi-NCR 10%. Emerging cities together account for only about 6%.
That concentration illustrates the central challenge behind the tier-II strategy being pursued by states. Incentives may reduce initial costs, but cities also need experienced managers, engineering talent, transport links, digital infrastructure and high-quality commercial space before they can support large global operations.
Offices become strategic
The expansion is already having a substantial effect on India’s commercial property market.
GCCs leased more than 123 million square feet of office space across nine major Indian cities between 2022 and the first half of 2026, according to CBRE. They accounted for 36% of overall office leasing in the first half of 2026. Average GCC transaction sizes have increased by about 18% to 20% since 2023 as companies consolidate operations into larger facilities.
The shift is also evident in the types of facilities being sought. Transactions larger than 100,000 square feet are becoming more important, according to the report, supporting demand for contiguous floor plates, campus-style developments and investment-grade Grade A office projects.
Technology companies accounted for 23% of GCC leasing between 2022 and the first half of 2026, followed by banking, financial services and insurance at 22% and engineering and manufacturing at 16%. CBRE also identified investment firms and private equity, aerospace and defence, consumer goods and oil and gas as emerging sources of demand.
Bengaluru remains far ahead of other cities, accounting for about 42% of GCC leasing between 2022 and the first half of 2026, followed by Hyderabad at 20%, Delhi-NCR and Chennai at 11% each, Pune at 10% and Mumbai at 4%. Bengaluru had more than 1,080 GCC units, while Hyderabad had more than 515 and Delhi-NCR more than 490, according to the report.
Within individual cities, sectoral differences are pronounced. Technology accounts for about 32% of Bengaluru’s GCC leasing, while engineering and manufacturing has a 19% share. Hyderabad is more diversified, with life sciences and BFSI each accounting for 19%, followed by technology and engineering and manufacturing at 14% each.
Mumbai remains overwhelmingly finance-led, with BFSI accounting for 73% of GCC leasing, while Pune has a more mixed base spanning BFSI, engineering and manufacturing, technology, research and consulting and life sciences. Delhi-NCR’s demand is led by technology, BFSI and engineering and manufacturing, while Chennai combines technology, engineering, financial services and life sciences.
Major transport projects will therefore become part of the GCC growth equation. The report shows Bengaluru’s metro expansion, Hyderabad’s H-CITI programme and proposed Metro Phase II, Pune’s Metro Line 3, new infrastructure across Delhi-NCR and the Navi Mumbai International Airport among projects expected to improve links between office districts and talent catchments.
But CBRE’s analysis suggests that building a second generation of GCC cities will require more than transport connectivity or financial incentives. It calls for more Grade A office supply in tier-II markets, digital connectivity, deeper talent pipelines and stronger links among universities, startups and global companies.
For developers, the report recommends large-format campuses, energy-efficient buildings and plug-and-play facilities that can shorten the time required to establish a centre. For companies, it advocates a hub-and-spoke approach combining the deeper talent pools of tier-I cities with lower costs and greater geographic resilience in emerging locations.
For governments, the next stage may require greater differentiation between states rather than broadly similar incentive packages. CBRE recommends policies tailored to specific industries and functions, including AI, engineering R&D, BFSI and deep technology, alongside faster single-window approvals and more predictable disbursement of incentives.
The report’s broader outlook is that India’s GCC proposition is becoming less dependent on labour arbitrage and increasingly tied to whether the country can support global ownership of products, technology platforms, engineering, data and business transformation.
That also raises the threshold for emerging cities. Lower operating costs can help attract satellite operations, but higher-value mandates are likely to depend on experienced talent, research ecosystems, institutional-quality offices and the ability of companies to recruit and retain specialised workers.
CBRE cautioned that its state assessments represent its interpretation of the policies rather than definitive statements about government intent or eventual outcomes. It also said its commercial real estate analysis incorporates information received up to July 2, 2026 and includes assumptions about leasing, supply completions and other transactions that may subsequently be revised.
The central question for India’s next phase of GCC growth, therefore, is no longer simply how many centres the country can attract, but how much global decision-making, intellectual property, research and product ownership those centres can ultimately control.
Your Questions, Answered
How large is India’s GCC sector?
India has 2,117 GCC firms employing about 2.36 million professionals and generating $98.4 billion in FY2026.
Which city leads India’s GCC market?
Bengaluru leads the market, accounting for about 42% of GCC office leasing.
Why are states introducing GCC policies?
States are using incentives, infrastructure support and skilling programmes to attract investment and create high-value jobs.
What is driving the next phase of GCC growth?
AI talent, R&D capabilities, policy support, quality infrastructure and expansion into tier-II cities are key drivers.