India’s Global Capability Centres (GCC) are entering a new phase where their purpose is no longer limited to cost advantages or access to talent. Many organisations are now rethinking how these centres operate, recognising that long term value comes only when the GCC moves beyond short term execution and becomes a driver of strategic capability. This requires clarity on what products, ownership and outcomes the GCC will lead over the next 3 to 5 years and how leadership within the centre will evolve to meet that future vision.
As companies look ahead, they are beginning to define the skills, accountability and innovation capacity that GCC leaders must hold. This is giving rise to the micro CEO concept, where functional heads take full responsibility for business outcomes instead of managing tasks. Even established GCCs are reassessing their structure to understand who owns which results and how leadership can shift from operational oversight to entrepreneurial thinking. This approach is relevant for new centres and mature ones that want to break inertia and drive stronger value.
Embedding this mindset starts with simple changes in everyday routines. Traditional update meetings are being replaced with outcome reviews where leaders present their portfolios the way a business owner would, focusing on customer value, decisions taken and experiments run. This shift helps teams think beyond activity and towards impact. When leaders own a product or function end to end, they focus on real world performance, customer experience and continuous evolution. Their priorities move from completing tasks to asking whether the work pushed the business forward, which naturally supports customer obsession and intrapreneurship.
A stronger operating model becomes essential for this transformation. If decision making stays centralised at headquarters, the micro CEO approach cannot succeed. Trust and investment are needed so that GCC leaders can take full responsibility for outcomes. Once this trust is built, barriers fall quickly because talent is already available and capability is not the issue. These centres can then operate with a true product mindset, where product managers act as vision holders and align technology, processes and business goals. This shift enables GCCs to move from cost centres to engines of innovation, resilience and long-term growth.
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