India's global capability centres (GCCs) are achieving unprecedented leadership milestones, with a growing number of leaders from India-based GCCs making their way into Fortune 500 C-suite positions. Recent examples include Kalyani Sekar, senior vice-president and chief data and AI officer at Verizon; Hari Vasudev, executive vice-president and CTO of Walmart US; Ambica Rajagopal, group chief data and AI officer at Michelin; Suresh Venkatarayalu, CTO of Honeywell; and Navneet Kapoor, executive vice-president at Maersk. As reported by The Times of India, this trend underscores the rising strategic importance of these centres and the influence of their leadership in global enterprise operations.
India's global capability centres (GCCs) are undergoing a dramatic transformation from traditional back-office operations to premium work destinations. According to reports from Mint, these centres are now generating close to $100 billion in revenue across 2,117 centres employing over 2.36 million people across Indian metros. The shift represents a move beyond cost arbitrage, with GCCs now serving as extensions of front offices housing critical functions and high-value talent. As reported by Mint, global companies are making Indian employees feel part of the wider organization through these enhanced workspace environments.
Beyond C-suite appointments, a growing cadre of GCC executives now hold enterprise-wide responsibilities that extend well beyond managing local operations. Leaders such as Sarv Saravanan, chief customer officer at Commvault; Sunil Gopinath, CEO of Albertsons Companies India; Hariharan Ganesan, vice-president, data analytics and reporting at Rolls-Royce; Ankur Mittal, senior vice-president, CTO and managing director of Lowe's India; and Vijai Kishan, India site lead and head of India enterprise technology at Fidelity Investments oversee global customer, engineering, data, technology and AI functions from India. As reported by The Times of India, as GCCs evolve from delivery centres into strategic hubs, leadership itself is becoming geographically distributed, with India emerging as an important node for enterprise-wide decision-making.
Despite leadership progress, India's GCC ecosystem faces significant AI maturity challenges. Zinnov's latest AI maturity study reveals that nearly 87% of GCCs continue to operate primarily in execution mode, with only one-third having dedicated AI leadership and just 19% owning end-to-end AI mandates. The study suggests that while GCCs have made significant progress, the transition from execution to ownership remains incomplete. As reported by The Times of India, Pari Natarajan, CEO of Zinnov, emphasizes that the pattern isn't variation in capability, but systematic constraint in the operating model, with innovation pipelines often breaking before they scale without mandate clarity, budget authority and deep domain grounding.
GCCs are implementing significantly larger workspace standards compared to traditional offices. As reported by Mint, the average per-square-foot space per employee has increased to 125–130 sq.ft., compared to 80–100 sq.ft. in traditional offices. Specialized sectors such as semiconductors require even more space to accommodate labs and collaborative work areas. Companies are incorporating hospitality-infused facilities, height-adjustable desks, dual monitors for each employee, and specialized zones for personal and collaborative work. Each workstation now features dual monitors, huddle spaces, and single-seater focus rooms for 'deep work', with meeting rooms of all sizes including colorful spaces with relaxed seating for informal gatherings.
Several major companies have established premium GCC facilities across India. Commonwealth Bank of Australia is establishing a 1.1 million sq.ft. workspace across eight levels at Embassy Manyata Business Park, featuring a massive grandstand with amphitheatre seating and stress relief zones with gaming on each floor. The facility includes stress relief zones with gaming on each floor, access to wellness and sleeping pods, and an elaborate food programme with live cooking and freshly churned-out food. Walmart Global Tech operates a large facility on Bengaluru's Outer Ring Road with meeting spaces for various session types and wellness rooms on every floor, where every floor has a wellness room, a mother's room, and a doctor's room. Sonoco Performance Hub in Hyderabad, a 125-year-old packaging firm, operates a 30,000 sq.ft. office and recently signed up 22,000 sq.ft. of additional floor space.
