Industry and government must join forces to drive GCC growth: DEA Secretary Anuradha Thakur

Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur today said that there is a need for the government and industry to engage further in order to identify policies that facilitate the growth of Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in the country.

“There is a need to identify policies to help GCCs grow. We have seen the GCC sector grow in the country. Industry and the government need to engage further to give a push to GCCs," Thakur said at the GCC Business Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"GCCs are large engines of revenue, growth, and employment. Strong physical and digital infrastructure in the country is driving the growth of GCCs in India,” she added.

Thakur said India has the necessary core competitive advantages for driving the phenomenal growth of GCCs, and state governments are also making significant efforts to promote their expansion.

Underscoring India’s talent strengths, Thakur pointed to the country’s large annual output of STEM graduates, a diverse workforce with significant female participation, and a young median age. “2.1 million STEM graduates are coming out annually. This has provided fertile ground and helped GCCs expand. GCCs contribute 1.8% to India's GVA,” she said.

Urging GCCs to leverage existing employment initiatives for talent acquisition, Labour Secretary Vandana Gurnani called for increased GCC engagement with existing government schemes. “There is huge scope for GCCs under the Employment Linked Incentive Scheme. The design and processes under the ELIS are very simple,” Gurnani said.

“India’s GCCs are no longer peripheral support arms; they are the strategic heart of global enterprise innovation and are moving towards being the ‘front office of the world’. With over 1,800 GCCs currently contributing to 1.8% of GDP, we’re witnessing a silent revolution. Today, GCCs are providing direct, indirect, and induced employment to 10 million people, which is expected to rise to 25 million by 2030. From AI Centres of Excellence to cognitive command hubs, India is where next-gen innovation is being architected. This is our moment to lead, to define the future,” said Romal Shetty, Co-Chair, CII Task Force on GCCs and CEO, South Asia, Deloitte.