India has become the global hub for life sciences Global Capability Centers, with 23 of the world’s top 50 life sciences companies setting up operations in the country, most of them within the last five years.
These centers have transformed from handling back-office roles to becoming key innovation engines. They now manage global mandates such as drug discovery, digital therapeutics, and real-world evidence analytics, often using artificial intelligence to accelerate pipelines and drive patient-focused innovation, according to EY India.
EY India’s latest report, ‘Reimagining Life Sciences Global Capability Centers,’ highlights India’s expanding role in pharmaceutical research, innovation, and value creation. Modern centers handle integrated functions across the ecosystem, including clinical trial operations, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, supply chain analytics, and biostatistics, along with enabling services like finance, HR, IT, and data analytics.
The report shows that penetration across both enabling and core functions has increased significantly in the last five years. Today, GCCs in India manage 70% of finance, 75% of HR, 62% of supply chain, and 67% of IT operations for global life sciences firms. Their influence has also expanded in core areas, with 45% involved in drug discovery and development, 60% in regulatory affairs, 54% in medical affairs, and 50% in commercial operations. This shift demonstrates India’s move from being a support hub to a strategic center for end-to-end innovation.
Arindam Sen, Partner and GCC Sector Lead at EY India, commented, “Our analysis highlights how India has rapidly evolved from a support base to the very center of innovation for global pharma and healthcare. In just five years, GCC penetration in enabling functions like finance, HR, supply chain, and IT has crossed ~60%. But what truly stands out is the deepening role in core functions from drug discovery and regulatory affairs to medical and commercial operations.”
He added, “This isn’t about cost arbitrage anymore, it’s about India becoming indispensable to the global R&D pipeline. Lifesciences multinationals are embedding their most strategic, knowledge-intensive work here, making India the epicenter for life sciences innovation, compliance, and future growth.”
The report notes that leading centers are positioning themselves as “twins” of their global headquarters, co-owning innovation and collaborating with the wider ecosystem to deliver outcomes.
The evolution of life sciences centers in India will be driven by three key priorities: building future capabilities through resilience and collaboration, transforming operating models from transactional to outcome-driven, and developing multi-disciplinary talent with skills in areas such as generative AI, bioinformatics, and digital health.
India’s rise as the backbone of life sciences GCCs is built on four strong foundations: government policy support including investment incentives, a vast pool of over 2.7 million professionals and a strong pipeline of STEM graduates, access to a mature ecosystem of CROs, academic institutions, startups, and unicorns, and the availability of high-quality infrastructure across major cities and emerging hubs.
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