Will Uttar Pradesh's GCC Ambitions Have a Hard Stop at Noida?

In June, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Bengaluru, making an investment pitch to MNCs sitting in India’s Silicon Valley that India’s next global capability centre (GCC) hub will be Noida. He even signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth ₹50,000 crore.

However, Noida has an Achilles’ heel: talent attraction.

Currently, Noida hosts approximately 200–250 GCC companies across the technology, finance, and enterprise services sectors. The city’s tech ecosystem is led by Adobe, Oracle, Samsung, HCL, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Coforge, and Genpact.

Although Uttar Pradesh hopes to develop multiple GCC hubs, Neeti Sharma, CEO of tech and digital staffing company TeamLease Digital, tells AIM that the first wave of investments will naturally concentrate in the National Capital Region.

"We all know that most of the workforce from UP migrates to other regions because there is only so much employment, and the maximum is concentrated in the Noida-Greater Noida sector. There's nothing much beyond that," she notes.

Recently, Invest UP, the Uttar Pradesh government’s investment agency, signed an MoU with TeamLease Group to facilitate talent acquisition and workforce readiness for newly established GCCs in the state. UP has set a target of 500 GCCs by 2031 and wants to expand beyond Noida and Greater Noida into tier-2 and tier-3 cities, including Lucknow and Kanpur. 

The UP GCC Policy 2024 offers companies massive financial incentives, including a 100% exemption from stamp duty and registration, 50% off on land allotments, and up to ₹25 crore in capital subsidies.  

Sharma believes the state's existing industrial ecosystem is enough to attract GCC investments.

"UP already has a large chunk of Japanese manufacturing companies in the Noida-Greater Noida belt. So, it's a logical extension to get those companies to set up GCCs in the state," she says.

While the Uttar Pradesh government is also promoting Lucknow as an emerging GCC destination, Sharma believes talent availability currently gives Noida and Greater Noida a competitive edge.

"Lucknow is on the wish list, but getting talent into Noida-Greater Noida in the immediate future is easier to tap than getting people into Lucknow. Gradually, even that will expand," she states.

Rahul Takkallapally, Co-founder of cloud service provider BharathCloud, believes Uttar Pradesh already has the scale global companies look for. “It has more than 200,000 STEM graduates passing out annually and a growing network of premier institutions producing individuals with possible exposure. For this talent to translate into long-term investment and quality employment, it must be supported by a strong digital ecosystem.”

Bringing UP's Talent Back Home

For Sharma, the opportunity lies not only in creating new jobs but also in reversing decades of talent migration.

"What we've discussed initially is that people who are working in other cities but originally belong to UP—we can identify them and help them get back into their home state," she states.

Rather than depending entirely on fresh graduates, TeamLease plans to identify professionals from Uttar Pradesh currently working in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and other technology hubs, and encourage them to return.

However, Sharma acknowledges that developing a mature workforce ecosystem will take time.

"Right now it will be a combination of identifying skill gaps, ensuring the state dovetails those into the curriculum from school and higher education, and identifying people who are willing to come back to their home state," she adds.

Bengaluru's Advantage Won't Disappear

Sharma acknowledges that competing directly with Bengaluru will not be easy. She notes that even Hyderabad continues to rely heavily on Bengaluru for deeptech talent.

"Mostly deeptech and emerging tech talent has only come in from Bengaluru. I think that will continue for a while because the Karnataka government has been spending a lot of money on startups, innovation, AI and emerging technologies," she explains.

However, Uttar Pradesh has an advantage when it comes to professionals looking to return closer to home later in their careers. While Bengaluru will continue to attract young professionals starting their careers, Sharma believes changing life priorities could gradually reverse migration.

However, she cautions against expecting any company to relocate their primary operations overnight.

Beyond attracting investments, Sharma believes the long-term success of Uttar Pradesh's GCC ambitions will depend on continuous workforce development. But one thing is clear: GCCs have become a strategic priority for the state government.

"I think Yogiji will also do roadshows in other places to attract investment," she remarks.

With real estate developers and IT services companies already committing investments, Sharma believes the state already has the building blocks. However, transforming Uttar Pradesh into a major GCC destination will require sustained effort.

"It's not a one-year project," she says.

India Needs One GCC Policy

As states aggressively compete to attract multinational investments, Sharma believes India would benefit from presenting a unified investment proposition rather than multiple competing policies.

"Unfortunately, we shouldn't be fighting amongst each other. The Government of India should be taking this as one policy rather than Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh or UP going to every company," she remarks.

Drawing an analogy, she says the current approach resembles multiple sales teams pitching to the same customer.

According to Sharma, a national GCC framework would strengthen India's global positioning. "A central policy would have made a lot of sense. It would have shown a lot of cohesiveness in the country," she mentions. "One voice rather than 30 voices."