Indian IT Once Feared GCCs. Now, it is Racing to Monetise GCC-as-a-Service

When Tata Consultancy Services launched a dedicated business its Global Value & Innovation Centres (GVIC) Business Unit this month to help clients build and run global capability centres (GCCs), it wasn't entering a new market so much as formalising a shift already reshaping India's IT industry.

The new unit, which will be headed by Soumen Roy, formerly Country Head for TCS Canada and reporting directly to CEO K Krithivasan, promises to help enterprises establish AI-native GCCs and transform existing centres into "value- and innovation-led operating models."

The announcement lands at a moment when India's GCC story is gathering pace. The country currently hosts over 2,000 GCCs employing more than two million professionals. By 2030, the value of the GCC market in India is expected to reach $105–110 billion, according to a joint report by FICCI and Anarock.

For India's IT services majors, that scale represents both an opportunity and an existential question. They are racing to build the very captive centres that once threatened their business model.

Every Major IT Firm Has Made Its Move

TCS's announcement arrives as its peers are already building serious GCC practices.

Infosys moved most comprehensively. In November 2025, it unveiled its AI-First GCC Model built on its Agentic Foundry, EdgeVerve AI Next platform, and Infosys Topaz. The model combines end-to-end GCC setup, AI-powered process transformation, talent development via Infosys Springboard, and flexible operating models, including build-operate-transfer (BOT) and joint venture arrangements.

The company cited a track record of over 100 GCC engagements across industries. Its clients include Lufthansa Systems, with which it struck a $300 million IT transformation deal in February last year to establish a new GCC in Bengaluru. It also reportedly secured a $500 million deal from US-based Truist Financial to set up and run a technology and operations hub in Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, Cognizant approached the opportunity through a platform-led model. The company appointed Sailaja Josyula as Global Head of its GCC Service Line to define and execute its global GCC strategy, and positioned GCC-as-a-service as an end-to-end, outcome-driven offering with emphasis on digital engineering, data, and AI-led transformation.

In April 2025, it partnered with Citizens Financial Group to launch a GCC on its own Hyderabad campus, which has scaled to 1,000 IT and data analytics professionals.

Also, Wipro formalised its GCC play in mid-2025, appointing Sandeep Dhar, a veteran of the GCC and consulting ecosystem, as Global Head of its GCC Practice. Wipro also launched a dedicated AI-Native Business and Platforms Unit in April 2026, which intersects directly with its GCC ambitions.

HCLTech also signalled its commitment in May 2025 by appointing Kiran Cherukuri as its Global GCC Practice Leader.

Late Entry?

Given the pace of developments over the last year and a half, has TCS' arrived a little late? Gaurav Vasu, Co-Founder and CEO of business research platform UnearthInsights, acknowledges the momentum but tempers the TCS narrative. 

"TCS's announcement of a dedicated GVIC business unit is more of a formalisation of an existing market trend than a transformative strategic shift," he tells AIM. "Most leading IT services firms, including Infosys, Wipro, Persistent, and others, have already established dedicated GCC leadership teams and practices. In that context, TCS was relatively late in formally announcing a standalone GCC-focused unit."

Shalini Pillay, India Leader for Global Capability Centres at KPMG, says the GCC model has more than proven its benefits to global enterprises. "Over the past 18 months, one has witnessed every significant IT services firm establish a GCC or GVIC vertical, as they have begun to focus very aggressively on the GCC opportunity," she says.

The central dynamic driving this move is as much about structural threat as it is about opportunity. As global enterprises have grown more confident in the GCC model, they are taking delivery functions in-house that they previously outsourced. That insourcing impulse, if left unaddressed, erodes the revenue base of traditional outsourcing.

"In an attempt to preempt some of this loss of revenue, while also taking advantage of building on the existing offshore delivery centre model that IT services players had established for many of their global clients, they have all begun to pivot the offshore development centre into a GCC setup through the build-operate-transfer route," Pillay explains. 

For enterprises that want the benefits of a captive centre but are wary of doing it alone, the BOT model presents a viable opportunity.

“As the work becomes more strategic, the last thing an enterprise wants is difficult, tactical hand-offs or partners whose value proposition is essentially office infrastructure and talent supplied at a premium,” observes Praveen Bhadada, CEO and Managing Director of consulting firm Neovay Global.

"Working with an integrated player lets them combine economies of scale with a genuinely integrated experience across strategy, build, talent, and run, under one accountable relationship. It is the better outcome for the talent pool on both sides: people can see continuity, scale, and impact in one place," he adds.

New Profit Pool or Margin-Dilutive Hedge?

The question of whether the GCC services push generates genuine new profit or merely cannibalises existing revenue remains contested. 

"It is a combination of a defensive response to some extent, but more importantly, it is a real opportunity to leverage scale, capacity, and tech capabilities, and to gear up for the GCC opportunity," Pillay acknowledges.

Vasu is more sceptical. "GCC services are not necessarily a new profit pool for the industry. Enterprises are increasingly choosing to build their own GCCs rather than relying entirely on traditional outsourcing models. As a result, IT services firms are helping clients set up capabilities that they might otherwise have delivered themselves through offshore outsourcing engagements. In that sense, GCC enablement is partly cannibalising the traditional outsourcing opportunity. It is also typically a lower-margin business than large-scale outsourcing contracts."

As the GCC enablement market expands, so does the diversity of players. While specialist firms such as ANSR and Zinnov pioneered the space. Big Four consultancies, strategy firms, real estate platforms, and now every major IT services provider is hoping to grab a share of the growing pie.