Carlsberg Group launches first GCC in India with GSPANN

Danish brewing company Carlsberg Group is launching its first-ever IT Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India, the company announced on Wednesday.

The GCC is set to focus on managed IT services, infrastructure operations, and application support across its global operations, with an emphasis on automation-led supply chain management, and enterprise-wide standardisation, including ERP consolidation.

“With India’s exceptional technology talent and GSPANN’s support, this centre will help us strengthen our IT backbone, accelerate digital transformation, and embed new capabilities into our global operations. Beyond technology, this GCC [ensures that] we are better prepared to serve our customers, partners, and employees across 150+ global markets where our products are enjoyed,” said Esther Wu, CIO, Carlsberg Group.

The GCC is set to be managed by global IT services and consultancy provider GSPANN, with one office set up in Gurugram, and another 'backup' office to be set up in Hyderabad, ‘to access specialised skills and ensure flexible scaling.’ For now, the centre operates on a build–operate–transfer model, under which Carlsberg retains the strategic control of the GCC’s roadmap, while GSPANN manages day-to-day operations, talent expansion, and service delivery.

“This GCC gives us the ability to unify our IT landscape and scale it globally. Our focus will be on building agile technology processes that enable faster go-to-market, smarter use of data, and secure, enterprise-grade operations across our footprint,” said Anurag Pandey, CTO, Carlsberg Group.

A team of 300 employees will sit out of both Gurgaon and Hyderabad offices. Wu told Fortune India that these employees will then be inducted as full-time employees for the Group. 

Neither of the companies revealed the investment made into the setting up of the GCC. Carlsberg aims to take full ownership of the GCC operations within three to five years. In later stages, once the business matures, Carlsberg plans to focus on scaling the AI use-cases it has piloted, alongside hiring for go-to-market strategies and DevOps roles.

This announcement comes just weeks after Carlsberg announced that it will be building manufacturing facility in Karnataka, with a reported investment amount of around ₹350 crore.

Pandey said the goal is to bring in-house processes that were previously outsourced to over 26 large vendors across Europe, including in countries like France, and even to Big Four firms in India. Group executives emphasise that the move is not driven by cost-cutting, but by the need to consolidate fragmented services and advance the company’s digital transformation efforts.

Aside from lateral hiring, the group will partner with STEM institutes in India including IITs and NITs of the country and induct third year students as part of the group's graduate engineering programs set to be introduced from January next year. This is to ensure the students gain the understanding of the company culture.

AP Grover, co-founder and president, GSPANN, told Fortune India that not all roles at the centre will necessarily transition into full-time positions once it is fully managed by Carlsberg.