India’s Global Capability Centres are moving quickly from small AI trials to large scale enterprise use. According to the GCC Pulse Survey 2025 released on Sunday, fifty eight percent of centres are now investing in agentic AI, while another twenty nine percent plan to expand these projects in the coming year. The report also states that eighty three percent of GCCs are investing in generative AI, with pilot projects rising from thirty seven percent in 2024 to forty three percent this year.
The findings strengthen India’s position as a growing global innovation hub. GCCs are using generative AI most actively in customer service at sixty five percent, followed by finance at fifty three percent, operations at forty nine percent, and IT and cybersecurity at forty five percent. Business intelligence adoption has risen to eighty six percent from eighty percent last year. Centres with a defined data strategy have increased to sixty seven percent from fifty one percent. Two thirds of GCCs are also building dedicated innovation teams and incubation programs to test and scale solutions from India.
The report highlights that India based GCCs are gaining more decision making authority. Fifty two percent now share accountability for global decisions, and twenty six percent are formally consulted on enterprise level matters. Twenty percent are moving toward full ownership of select global functions. Key responsibilities being led from India include global strategy leadership at forty five percent and leadership pipeline development at thirty five percent.
Manoj Marwah, Partner and GCC Sector Leader for Financial Services at the firm that conducted the survey, said, “Global enterprises are rethinking how they run their operations. They want simpler models, tighter oversight and a place where AI, data and risk teams can operate in sync.” He added that India offers the maturity and talent that global firms cannot easily replicate.
Arindam Sen, Partner and GCC Sector Leader for Technology, Media and Entertainment and Telecommunications, said GCCs are entering a new phase. “They are creating innovation arbitrage, beyond just cost advantage,” he said.
Digital transformation is the top operating priority for sixty one percent of GCC leaders over the next year, followed by cost reduction at fifty four percent and expanding functional scope at fifty one percent. Technology and transformation will receive the highest share of budgets at twenty five percent, while twenty three percent will focus on talent and workforce development. Ninety two percent of centres aim to deliver value beyond cost savings, and eighty seven percent plan to manage end to end processes. In house operations remain the main model at eighty four percent, while outsourcing has risen to twelve percent from eight percent last year.
Talent strategies now focus on deeper expertise rather than large scale hiring. Reskilling at seventy one percent and tech led growth at seventy percent are top priorities. Sixty three percent are hiring for niche skills. Eighty one percent are training employees in generative AI. Centres also prioritise domain expertise at sixty six percent, AI and machine learning at sixty three percent, and data engineering and business intelligence roles at fifty four percent. Attrition has dropped to nine percent in 2025, down from thirteen percent in 2023.
Cybersecurity maturity remains moderate for most centres, and only seven percent have a fully developed centre of excellence. Monitoring of third party data access has grown from forty four percent in 2024 to sixty percent this year. Transfer pricing remains the top regulatory concern at sixty three percent. Concerns about compliance complexity and data privacy have risen to forty two percent from thirty two percent. Issues tied to SEZ and STPI rules, labour laws, currency policies and double taxation have eased.
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