(MENAFN- Live Mint) More than 67% of the Fortune Global 30 and 174 of the Fortune 500 have GCCs in India-marking a decisive pivot from traditional outsourcing to embedded strategic ownership, according to a recent report by ANSR. Indian GCCs now house senior functional leaders with global P&L responsibilities. In many cases, they serve as global centres of excellence for AI, GenAI, cybersecurity, and product engineering.

But as the global business landscape shifts toward innovation, digital transformation, and rapid decision-making, India's GCCs are undergoing an identity reboot. Major changes are underway in global talent policies, regulations, and trade realignments.

To understand the evolution of GCCs in India and their future trajectory, Mint, in association with Oliver Wyman, organised a roundtable discussion recently on 'Architecting the GCCs of the Future'.

The leaders seemed unfazed by the proposed US tax on overseas operations, even though such a policy shift could potentially rattle an industry employing over 2 million people and contributing nearly $46 billion to India's exports.

“Policies may shift, but innovation endures,” said Kavita Mehra, Senior Consultant–Dell Technologies.“You can regulate cost, but you can't contain innovation. GCCs are now integral to global operations - there's no reversing that.”

Across the room, there was consensus that India's GCC story is not just intact-it's accelerating into its next phase.

“It's a net positive opportunity. Ours is a huge company headquartered in a tiny city. So, for the kind of skills and scale we need, there will always be an opportunity,” agreed John Dawber, corporate vice president & managing director for global business services at Novo Nordisk.

Many agreed that the long-term financial impact of new US policies would be negligible.“The shifting ecosystem is a big reason for it being an opportunity for both India and the US. Since most big corporations are now setting up GCCs in India, they don't necessarily have to be present in the US to service clients. For the US, it's a good way to filter the talent they really want to be there in terms of value addition and skillset,” said Kishore Seshagiri, Chief Digital Officer, Broadridge India.

What's Next?

The panel then shifted gears to the bigger question: What next for GCCs?

In the new paradigm, GCCs will no longer be insular entities; they will become nodes in a global innovation network.“Integrated operations, powered by AI and automation, will deliver 60% productivity gains. But scalability will come from partners, not ownership,” said Krishnan Iyer, chief growth officer of LTIMindtree.

This ecosystem model will mark a turning point. Instead of competing with service providers, GCCs will collaborate with them-and with startups, academia, and niche AI firms-to accelerate innovation.

In fact, the line between what's outsourced to third-party GSIs and what sits within GCCs will blur.“We'll see hybrid or augmented global business units where internal teams and service partners collaborate seamlessly. Maybe we should start referring to GCCs as Global Value Ecosystems (GVes) or Global Impact Ecosystems-because value and impact define their identity in today's reality, not cost” said Sumit Sarawgi, head India of Oliver Wyman.

A few GCCs, such as Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), now run engineering, product customization, and even market-facing functions designed for local needs but scaled globally.“We actually fall into the 'multi-format' GCC category,” said Dattatri Salagame, managing director, CEO & President of Bosch Global Software Technologies.“Our organization manages $200 million in independent business - about 15% of our total turnover.”

That shift-from dependency to autonomy-signals a new era for GCCs.

The GCC journey has passed through clear phases: from cost to skill to value creation to value realization. But what lies ahead isn't about scale or headcount; it's about value arbitrage-leveraging India's talent, tech maturity, and innovation ecosystem to outpace global peers.

Kaustubh Deshpande, managing director for India centre at SAP Fioneer, noted that the US may no longer be the automatic career destination for young professionals.“We're the world's largest digitally native, English-speaking workforce-and historically we have always adapted seamlessly to changing global contexts,” he said.

In short, India isn't just the back office of the world anymore. It's fast becoming the brain.

The Leadership Deficit

The panel agreed on one thing: the transition from execution to strategy cannot happen without rethinking leadership. For many GCCs, the challenge is not technical capability but cultural readiness.

“It's not about having a seat at the table. It's about whether you're having impactful conversations to influence decisions,” said Vivek Veeraraghavan, senior vice president - digital transformation for APAC at Northern Trust.

That sentiment captured a fundamental change sweeping across India's GCC ecosystem. Once designed primarily to cut costs and execute defined mandates, these centres are now being seen as incubators of innovation and talent. But to truly move from GCCs to GVCs, it will not be about headcount growth but about impactful leadership, the panellists said.

Whether that leadership would be internally nurtured or brought in from overseas was a matter of much debate. Some argued for the slow burn of developing leaders internally, while others felt that external infusion is essential to challenge entrenched thinking.

“It depends on where you are in your journey,” said Arvind Vaishnav, head of Philips Innovation Campus.“If your organisation is accelerating, internal growth makes sense. But if you're at a reset point, you need outside perspectives to redefine what success looks like.”

True leadership, the experts agreed, is contextual. It depends on whether the organisation is in a phase of growth, transformation, or reinvention.

Sanjay Menon, managing director of Publicis Sapient India made a key point:“We are culturally the best in the world at helping someone else succeed,” he said.“If we don't tell our own stories with pride and belief, we'll always be seen as the support act.”

Others agreed that GCCs need to invest more in narrative-building-creating videos, visual stories, and thought leadership content that demonstrate not just capability but impact.

“Different leaders will have different strong skill-sets, and one can't be expected to master all. Some don't have that much knowledge but are great storytellers, so it's important to embrace risk and accountability,” said Tarun R. Kodnani, co-founder of Flowace, while making a point about risks in choosing the right leader.

Culture, Courage, and Change

Culture, several leaders agreed, remains the invisible hand shaping leadership outcomes. Indian organisations, while efficient and rule-abiding, often depend on formal validation to assume authority. That hesitation can cost Indian professionals opportunities for global roles.

Flexibility and adaptability emerged as other critical traits. Brathaban Karuppaiah, country general manager of SBM Offshore India pointed out that while many aspire to global roles, few are willing to relocate or take on cross-cultural assignments.“You can't say you want to be a global leader but also insist on staying in one place. Mobility and mindset go hand in hand,” he said.

A new challenge on the horizon is the changing aspirations of younger professionals. The impatience of Gen Z employees-who seek impact and recognition now, not years later-is forcing organisations to rethink leadership development.

A few panellists noted that managing hybrid and remote teams during the pandemic exposed leadership gaps that still need to be addressed.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the discussion was the shift from cost optimisation to value engineering. Murali Krishna K., chief global officer and country head of Providence summed it up: "The competencies required for value creation are fundamentally distinct from cost optimization. We need to nurture leaders to be value-oriented innovators, and that takes intent and investment.”

This requires GCCs to stop thinking of themselves as back-office functions and start behaving like businesses in their own right-taking accountability for outcomes, revenues, and transformation.

That readiness, everyone agreed, depends on building an entrepreneurial culture that celebrates innovation, risk-taking, and collaboration across functions.

The discussion ended with a candid reminder that not all challenges are external.“Some of the problems we face were created by us,” said Lalji Goswami, head DDAP GCC - R&D PPM of GSK.“We talk as if these issues just happened, but they evolved organically because we let them.”

His solution: deliberate self-disruption.

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