India's GCCs are accelerating Agentic AI adoption with 58% investing now and 29% scaling soon, marking a shift from experimentation to enterprise-scale AI use. Innovation teams and strategic decision-making roles are expanding, while digital transformation and talent development lead priorities, establishing India as a global innovation hub.
India's Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are boldly advancing beyond artificial intelligence experimentation to large-scale implementation, with 58% currently investing in Agentic AI, a form of intelligent automation that functions autonomously to execute complex tasks. According to the EY GCC Pulse Survey 2025, another 29% of GCCs plan to scale their Agentic AI capabilities within the next year, positioning India as a critical innovation hub on the global stage.
Key shifts in the Indian GCC landscape show more than just technical adoption—these centres are expanding their strategic roles in global enterprises while simultaneously building sophisticated innovation ecosystems.
Innovation Expansion Highlights
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Accelerated AI Adoption: 83% of India GCCs invest in Generative AI, with pilot programs rising from 37% last year to 43% this year.
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Innovation Teams: Two-thirds (67%) of GCCs have established dedicated innovation teams and incubation programs to foster and globalize ideas.
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Business Intelligence Growth: Use of business intelligence tools jumped from 80% to 86%, while data strategy adoption increased from 51% to 67%.
Strategic Enterprise Roles
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Expanded Decision-Making: Over half the GCCs (52%) share accountability for global decisions, with 26% consulted on strategy and 20% moving toward full ownership of select functions.
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Critical Responsibilities: Leadership in global strategy (45%) and leadership pipeline development (35%) are now driven from India GCCs.
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Operating Models Evolving: 92% aim to deliver value beyond cost savings, with 87% managing end-to-end processes globally.
Sector Impact and Workforce Trends
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GCC hubs primarily cluster in Bengaluru (46%), Pune (39%), and Hyderabad (24%) with emerging activities in tier-2 cities.
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Talent focus has intensified on upskilling in AI/ML (63%), domain expertise (66%), and data engineering (54%), with attrition rates dropping to 9% in 2025.
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Budgets are primarily allocated toward technology transformation (25%) and talent development (23%).
The report underscores that the combination of India’s talent pool, cross-functional maturity, and a rapidly advancing AI ecosystem uniquely equip these GCCs to innovate and create business value beyond traditional cost arbitrage. GCCs are transforming into decision centers that shape enterprise strategy relating to risk management, product innovation, and digital transformation on a global scale.
This survey, conducted by EY with leaders across multiple sectors, marks a definitive structural shift, portraying India GCCs as emerging forces in global innovation and enterprise agility.
Source: EY GCC Pulse Survey 2025, IANS, Business Standard, ANI