India has rapidly become a key hub for life sciences global capability centres (GCCs), with nearly half of the world’s top 50 life sciences companies establishing a presence in the country—most within the past five years, according to a new EY India report.
The report, Reimagining Life Sciences GCCs, highlighted how India’s GCCs have evolved from back-office support centres into strategic engines driving drug discovery, regulatory affairs, and commercial operations.
“This isn’t about cost arbitrage anymore, it’s about India becoming indispensable to the global R&D pipeline,” said Arindam Sen, partner and GCC Sector Lead – technology, media & entertainment and telecommunications, EY India. “Life sciences multinationals are embedding their most strategic, knowledge-intensive work here, making India the epicentre for life sciences innovation, compliance, and future growth.”
According to EY, Indian life sciences GCCs now manage integrated functions across clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, supply chain analytics, biostatistics, and enabling services such as finance, HR, IT, and data analytics.
The study shows that GCCs handle 70% of finance, 75% of HR, 62% of supply chain, and 67% of IT functions for their global firms. Core functions have also grown sharply: 45% in drug discovery, 60% in regulatory affairs, 54% in medical affairs, and 50% in commercial operations.
India’s rise as a GCC hub is driven by four key factors: policy support from central and state governments, a strong talent pool of over 2.7 million life sciences professionals, access to a mature ecosystem including CROs, universities, and startups, and widespread infrastructure with scalable Grade-A office spaces.Looking ahead, the report noted that leading life sciences GCCs are positioning themselves as “twins” of their global headquarters, co-owning innovation and accelerating outcomes. Sen added, “Their evolution will be defined by future capabilities, operating model transformation, and building agile, multi-disciplinary teams skilled in areas like generative AI, bioinformatics, and digital health.”
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