India set to woo more global players to establish GCCs over next 3- 5 years: Nasscom

Bengaluru, May 30
Access to digitally-skilled talent, the drive to adopt new technologies and the imperative to make greater customer impact are driving the growth of the Global Capability Centre (GCC) ecosystem in the country, a Nasscom report said on Thursday.

India has over 1,580 GCCs with an addition of multiple GCCs every quarter, as companies navigate the complexities of today’s business environment.

According to the report by Nasscom, in collaboration with KPMG in India, the growth trajectory over the next two to three years is expected to continue with the growing number of global players across sectors establishing deep capabilities, building technology centres and transformation hubs.

The report underscored how navigating regulations is a key concern for GCCs, with over 55 per cent of leaders emphasising its importance for smooth operations.

“As GCCs continue their growth trajectory, moving up the maturity curve, with factors such as blurring geographic borders, and technology disruptions, these centres are constantly scanning the dynamic risk landscape and adapting to successfully navigate through,” said Srikanth Srinivasan, Vice President at Nasscom.

However, this rapid growth and scale of GCCs has also brought to the forefront some challenges that need to be addressed as organisations continue to evolve.

The report identified four considerations for GCCs as they move up the value chain. These include talent management, strategic emerging technology adoption, navigating regulations, and de-layering the concentration concerns.

“India as a nation, is gearing up to attract many more global players to establish and scale their GCCs over the next 3-5 years,” said Shalini Pillay, India Leader - Global Capability Centre, KPMG in India.

There is a growing demand for high-value digital skills in areas such as automation architecture, cloud development, AI/machine learning, data science, etc.

Given the competitive talent market, availability, attraction and retention of niche talent, “building a pipeline of readily deployable talent with the new emerging skills, finding and nurturing, talent equipped for global leadership positions and cost arbitrage have emerged as key challenging factors facing GCCs in India,” the findings showed.