Why India’s Automotive Talent Capital Still Lives in Bengaluru’s Shadow

For years, Bengaluru has been the default answer to India’s GCC ambitions, having hosted India’s first GCC for Texas Instruments in 1985. Global companies looking to build engineering, software, AI, and product teams have gravitated towards the city’s dense network of tech talent, startups, service providers, and research ecosystems. 

Today, Bengaluru houses more than 880 centres and nearly 40% of India’s ER&D talent base, according to a Zinnov report.

But a different kind of GCC story has been unfolding in Pune. 

The city has quietly built one of India’s deepest industrial engineering ecosystems. It is now home to more than 20,000 automotive professionals and hundreds of GCC units spanning automotive, embedded systems, industrial automation, and manufacturing technology, according to Zinnov. 

Companies such as Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India, Cummins, BNY Mellon, Volkswagen, Bosch, Cummins, Eaton, Dana, Harman, Faurecia, American Express, BMW TechWorks India, and John Deere have expanded engineering operations from the city over the years.

The city also commands 65% of its talent pool in software and internet, BSFI, and automotive sectors combined, as of early 2025. Now, as automotive GCCs shift towards software-defined vehicles, AI-led engineering, and connected mobility platforms, Pune’s long-standing engineering depth is attracting fresh attention. 

The question is whether that advantage is enough to challenge Bengaluru’s dominance in the next phase of India’s GCC growth.

This comes at a time when Pune’s GCC momentum appears to be accelerating. A recent KPMG in India and AMCHAM report said the city now hosts more than 500 GCCs and has seen over 130 new or expanded centres since 2024, with growth expected to continue through 2030. 

The report also noted that nearly half of Pune’s recent GCC mandates have been AI-first, signalling a shift beyond traditional engineering. 

Where Engineering Still Matters

Many GCCs still prefer Bengaluru when expanding technology and engineering operations. That gap is now drawing attention as enterprises move beyond traditional automotive engineering and build capabilities around software-defined vehicles, AI-led engineering, cloud systems, cybersecurity, and connected platforms. 

Pune is the only Indian city with more than 20,000 domain-ready automotive professionals, as per the report. Yet Bengaluru continues to dominate India’s GCC ecosystem, accounting for nearly 34% of the country’s GCC talent base with over 8,02,400 professionals.

Zinnov’s data shows Pune accounts for nearly 3,06,800 professionals in India’s GCC talent pool. With this, Pune has emerged as a key base for automotive and industrial engineering operations.

The city is home to a significant concentration of automotive, manufacturing, and hi-tech GCCs, contributing to its growing engineering ecosystem. Nilesh Thakker, President at Zinnov, tells AIM, “The city today has over 478 GCC units, and nearly 13% of India’s installed GCC talent, but what makes Pune distinctive is not just talent scale; it is the depth of its engineering ecosystem.”

Thakker says Pune benefits from the “combination of strong academic institutions such as COEP, VIT Pune, MIT-WPU, and Savitribai Phule Pune University. This, along with proximity to OEMs, supplier ecosystems, manufacturing corridors, and industrial operations across Maharashtra, creates a much stronger connection between engineering, manufacturing, and product development.”

The Zinnov report argues that companies often overlook such domain depth when selecting GCC locations. It states that many firms choose cities before defining the centre’s long-term mandate.

Companies also usually compare cities on talent pool size, salary levels, real estate costs, and infrastructure. Domain expertise and capability alignment often receive less attention.

Bengaluru’s Software Gravity

Despite Pune’s engineering strength, Bengaluru continues to attract many automotive GCC expansions because the sector itself is changing.

“At the same time, automotive GCC mandates today are no longer limited to traditional engineering,” Thakker said.

Enterprises are increasingly building software-defined mobility, AI-led engineering, cloud, cybersecurity, and digital platform capabilities, which means location decisions are now influenced by a broader mix of ecosystem maturity, leadership availability, infrastructure readiness, and speed of digital capability scaling.

That broader digital ecosystem remains Bengaluru’s biggest advantage. The city hosts more than 370 service providers and over 3,200 tech startups, according to Zinnov.

Bengaluru is described as India’s deepest software engineering ecosystem. Hyderabad is also emerging as a strong alternative because of its BFSI and life sciences talent base. Moreover, enterprises increasingly prefer locations where AI, software engineering, industrial systems, and product development already operate together at scale.

That shift has created a more complex decision-making process for companies building automotive GCCs. Experts say firms now weigh ecosystem maturity and leadership availability alongside domain-specific engineering talent.

Yet Pune increasingly benefits from what industry observers call an “engineering-to-product loop”. 

The city’s mix of automotive plants, manufacturing clusters, software talent, and academic partnerships allows engineering teams to work more closely with industrial operations than many competing GCC hubs. KPMG argues that this has become particularly relevant as mobility companies build AI, embedded systems, and software-led vehicle capabilities. 

The Infrastructure Question

Pune still faces structural challenges despite its industrial strengths. Even Pune’s strongest backers acknowledge the gaps. KPMG identifies infrastructure bottlenecks, limited international air connectivity, weaker global visibility, and leadership talent retention as key barriers. 

The report notes that long commute times across business districts and fewer direct international routes continue to affect executive mobility and expansion planning.

“Competition for specialised engineering talent has intensified, while infrastructure bottlenecks and airport connectivity limitations have historically influenced expansion decisions for global enterprises,” Thakker said.

The report highlights that connectivity and business environment now play a larger role in GCC location strategy. Climate vulnerability and policy incentives are also becoming factors in long-term planning.

Maharashtra is now attempting to strengthen Pune’s appeal through its GCC Policy 2025. The state has positioned the automotive and manufacturing sectors as focus areas for future GCC investments.

“However, the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport and Maharashtra’s GCC Policy 2025 could become significant catalysts for the region,” Thakker said.

The policy’s focus on automotive and manufacturing sectors, combined with incentives around GCC parks, infrastructure support, and industry-academia collaboration, is likely to further strengthen Pune’s position for industrial and engineering-led GCC investments.

The Next GCC Race

The competition between Pune and Bengaluru may no longer centre only on costs or hiring scale.

Instead, companies now appear to be asking whether a city can support both industrial engineering and advanced digital capabilities within the same ecosystem. “The larger shift underway is that enterprises are no longer evaluating locations through a binary lens of cost or talent availability,” Thakker said.

Increasingly, they are looking for ecosystems that can integrate software, AI, industrial systems, and physical engineering more effectively. That is where Pune’s strengths are becoming far more strategic.

It may also not be software alone that stands at the centre of the competition between the two cities. Instead, Pune appears to be betting that the next generation of automotive GCCs will need engineers who understand both factories and code. Whether that proves enough may determine where India’s next wave of mobility and industrial GCC investments lands.