Back office to tech powerhouse: How India is fuelling next phase of global GCC transformation through AI, TransUnion's Panda, Narasimhan explain

At the CII GCC Business Summit in Visakhapatnam, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman underlined the role of Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India's infra space, saying GCCs have a far-reaching impact on economic growth, competitiveness and human capital development, and that the Centre and states must work together to ensure India’s GCC growth is both broad-based and future-ready.  

"India’s GCC story is a transformational journey. They are cementing India’s position as the world’s GCC hub. They are innovation hubs, driving R&D, generating intellectual property and patents and enabling sustainable growth for global enterprises. This will not only consolidate India’s leadership in the GCC landscape, but also create new opportunities for innovation, job creation and inclusive regional development, eventually contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047," the FM said, adding states can play a critical role in deepening India’s GCC advantage.

The FM also talked about maximising the impact by aligning national and state-level policies and adapting policy instruments; building livability and infrastructure ecosystems that allow Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities to emerge as centres of excellence. "Well, before the Union Budget of July 2024, it was told to me that 50% of GCCs of the world are to be in India and for the rest, which are outside India, 50% of them are run by mostly Indians."

US-based global information and insights company TransUnion is among the big players investing heavily in expanding its GCC network in India. The company's India unit runs four GCCs across Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, employing across engineering and solutions development, data science & analytics, system architecture, automation, business process management and contact care centres. "We started our journey way back in 2018 with 25-odd associates, and today we have scaled up to almost 5,500-plus associates, and our GCC network is not just in India; they are across the globe," Debasis Panda, SVP and Head, TransUnion GCCs, says in an exclusive interaction with Fortune India.

As India's IT sector sees a moderation in new recruitments, GCCs are seen as a force multiplier, which is filling the gap. Their impact on the economy is growing by the day. They are no longer the back offices for these global multinationals but function like a second headquarters, with R&D and innovation hubs based in India. TransUnion has been at the forefront of this as it leverages cost to innovation. “We can transform cost into a capability leverage. Now, a portion of the cost, if we reinvest into re-skilling, for example, in AI fluency, leadership development, we are actually creating capability by repurposing the cost,” Panda says, adding that if the same operation is carried out in a developed market, the cost will be 3x or 4x.

Panda, who also heads South Africa and Costa Rica GCCs apart from India, says TransUnion, like other global players, is industrialising digital and AI at scale, with key focus on enterprise critical activities like AI, cybersecurity, product innovation -- all happening at a fraction of a cost. "AI is driving around 20 to 30% of efficiencies. We are now designing scalable AI solutions, primarily for the consumer and customer experiences...it has made many things that were thought to be impossible or difficult tasks, much easier."

In terms of cost reduction and efficiency boost, Panda feels AI has benefited the most in terms of tech solutions. "I started my career on a migration program. It had taken 27 people two months to get the (required) tools out, working day in and day out. Now these solutions are being enabled through AI quickly."

GCCs employ around 20 lakh people in India currently, and around a third of them are women. If tapped well by other key states, GCCs have the potential to contribute 50 lakh direct jobs to the economy and contribute between $155 billion and $200 billion, thereby helping the country reach closer to its $1 trillion services export target, according to Deloitte.

Panda agrees, saying that India has become a "very strategic hub" for global operations for many GCCs. Today, nearly 67% of the Fortune Global 30 companies, and over one-third of the Fortune Global 500 companies, are running GCCs in India, according to the ‘Fortune Global 500 GCCs in India Landscape Report 2025’ by ANSR.

Speaking about the challenges of running large GCCs from India and balancing global compliance demands while pursuing bold operational innovation, Panda says governance and accountability issues cause a lot of operational model complexity. "There is a complexity in governance, there is a complexity in decision, there is a complexity in accountability where the data resides."

While the first GCC was set up by General Electric in Bengaluru way back in 2000, the sector has seen huge growth in the past decade. The CII GCC Summit underscored India’s potential to lead globally in the GCC space, with Deloitte supporting a vision to scale from the current 1,800 centres (of 3300 globally) to 5,000 centres.

Talking about what India offers as a talent and ecosystem hub, Balaji Narasimhan, Senior Director and Head of Operations at TransUnion GCC India, says India has become a strategic hub for global operations for many of the GCCs. "There's a huge degree of talent in India. The world's largest STEM workforce, and if we look at the GCCs now, almost 2 million workforces there.”

On constantly upskilling talent, Narasimhan says, while the easy availability of talent is an advantage, it can potentially be the biggest bottleneck as well. "Now, since transformation cycles are compressed to three to five years, GCCs also have to mature in three to five years. And then you need strong leaders who can own, be accountable and drive the function.”

He also sheds light on TransUnion's immense focus on upskilling talent in AI, and claims that over half of the organisation has been upskilled in AI in the last two months using a unique approach rather than focusing on getting certifications. "We have something called a play framework, a complete end-to-end framework, where each associate can take their career in their own hands, and the internal play framework will suggest to them how they can upskill themselves."

On the future of India as a global GCC leader, Narasimhan says India’s GCC model, over the next five years, will see a flurry of new micro GCCs coming up in India. "A real global operating model, with India GCCs as a centre, is happening… it is AI which is going to be the key skill for the next two to three years, and we have to evolve and adapt. That is going to be the focus area."