A few years back, if you called a company’s customer care, chances are you spoke with an Indian customer care executive. Many international companies outsourced their customer support and back-end services to countries like India, where the labor is cheap. India is seen as an outsourcing hub, but things are improving. India's Journey from Outsourcing to Innovation Hub
Did you know that Japan has its equivalent of Google Pay, called Rakuten Pay? This was made possible by the conglomerate’s Bengaluru Global Capability Center, Managing everything from UX to new features like split pay. This is just one example of many. Gone are the days when India was secluded to back-end operations. It is now transitioning to the center of global operations, and bringing cutting-edge innovation to its parent companies.
India is emerging as a global leader, as it hosts 50% of the world’s Global Capability Centers. The GCC market size is projected to touch $110 billion by 2030, according to an EY report. It is estimated that India can have up to 2,500 GCCs by 2030, employing 4.5 million people.
Each year 1.5 million engineers graduate in India, making India a hub for tech talent. International Companies are drawn to the Indian market because of the abundance of available talent who can deliver and scale at speed with a little training.
The key drivers for this growth include software exports, expansion into tier-2 cities or satellite centers, favorable government policies, and improving infrastructure.
The Hotspots for GCCs | India's Journey from Outsourcing to Innovation Hub
Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi- NCR are popular GCC centers. But over the years, tier 2 cities such as Vishakapatnam, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Kochi, and Chandigarh, have caught the eyes of conglomerates owing to favorable infrastructure, lenient state policies, and lower real-estate and talent costs.
Even Ahmedabad, which once did not attract the technology sector, has now become an important hub because of the Gift City. IBM has recently set up a client innovation center in Gandhinagar, where it plans to tap the local talent base, including freshers.
India as a Tech enabler
JP Morgan Chase recently announced a massive expansion, opening a million-plus sq. ft space in Mumbai and Bengaluru.
“India offers highly skilled and diversified talent with in-demand skills like AI, machine learning, large language models, and Blockchain. The technologists in India are driving the wave of innovation and offering cross-learning opportunities” - Deepak Mangla, CEO of JP Morgan Corporate Centers in India and the Philippines.
Are companies ready to pay more for top talent?
The majority of tech talent in India prefers employment with tech or product-focused companies rather than retail, a hurdle many GCCs face. GCCs still have an edge as they give talent the room to grow and diversify their skills and grow into roles they weren’t hired for.
Hiring skilled talent in India, even at a slightly higher cost, is more profitable for companies. GCCs have also got a leg up in hiring because Indian unicorns like Byjus, Dunzo, and Sharechat have been laying off employees.
The Top 10 Indian IT services players have seen a headcount drop for the first time since the global financial crisis. But you wouldn’t notice any unrest and panic because GCCs absorb them.
What’s next?
India has transitioned from a cost-saving center to a profit center, focusing on generating new revenue streams for its parent companies. With a specialized talent pool and a thriving startup ecosystem, India is a hotspot for innovation with global empowerment potential.
(Author - Karishma is a content writer at Techdoquest. She offers fresh and youthful perspectives on whatever she writes about.)