News and Insights
Hyderabad and the case for decentralising India’s GCC economy
October 6, 2026
Over the past decade, India has run large national campaigns on manufacturing, startups and digitalisation to signal capability and attract investment. The next question is whether the Global Capability Centers (GCC) industry needs a similarly clear national economic proposition. Can we move from a set of successful corporate investments to a coordinated engine of growth?
Hyderabad offers useful evidence. In FY25, the city added about 70 new GCCs, compared with 30–35 in Bengaluru. By March 2026, Hyderabad’s GCC base stood at around 515, employing over three lakh people. Telangana is now targeting another 50–70 GCCs over the next year. These numbers raise a simple question: how much are corporate location decisions being shaped by proactive government policy and ecosystem design?
Telangana has started to treat GCCs as part of a broader economic architecture. The state is linking these centres with urban infrastructure, commercial real estate, talent pipelines and university research. This suggests a different role for the government: less as a recruiter of individual companies, and more as an architect of the ecosystem around them.
This distinction matters because a GCC’s success is increasingly determined by what happens outside its office walls. When a global firm decides whether a city should host a global engineering function, a finance hub or an R&D centre, it is not just looking at cost and office space. Companies evaluate the depth of the local talent market, the quality of nearby universities, regulatory predictability and the ease of doing business.
That makes future GCC policy an exercise in economic decentralisation: giving states and local institutions greater agency to shape the environment where global enterprises operate. To make this work, the Centre and the states must play distinct but coordinated roles.
The Centre’s role is to set a stable national framework for taxation, trade, investment and cross-border mobility. This includes clear rules on data, intellectual property, labour standards and compliance that apply across states. With that stability in place, states can focus on land, local infrastructure and targeted skill programs, while cities influence daily liveability through transport, housing and public services. At the same time, universities can align curricula and research projects with the skills and problems these global enterprises actually face. The combined effect of these parts working together is larger than any single tax incentive.
Historically, India competed for global investment by offering basic “factors of production”: people, space, connectivity and cost. Today, GCCs create an opportunity to compete on “institutional capability.” The new national proposition is straightforward: India is a place where a multinational can build, govern and scale a critical part of its global enterprise with confidence.
A national GCC framework should therefore focus on coordination, not just promotion. Its value will depend on whether it can align fragmented systems that determine competitiveness—from taxation and infrastructure to skilling and research. For example, a Centre-led GCC taskforce with representation from key states could agree on common standards for data security, labour portability and compliance, while allowing states to design cluster-specific incentives tied to local strengths. States could then develop GCC clusters around research parks, specialised training centres and industrial corridors, instead of scattering locations across a metro.
Hyderabad’s GCC growth is concentrated in sectors like BFSI, pharma, life sciences, semiconductors, aerospace and automotive technology, supported by a deep talent pool and cost advantages. It serves as a live model for how national ambition can translate through state policy and city infrastructure. The real test of India’s upcoming GCC policy will be whether it can coordinate these conditions across the country, so that global companies see multiple Indian cities as viable places to place the heart of their business. India needs to move from competing for GCCs to designing an economy that enables them.
Takeaways for global communications leaders:
- From employer brand to GCC reputation. As GCCs take on greater enterprise ownership, the reputation agenda will expand to business impact, leadership, innovation and HQ confidence.
- Make the case for greater enterprise ownership. Communications can help GCC leaders demonstrate capability and make the case for more strategic mandates through thought leadership, executive visibility and ecosystem engagement.
- From storytelling to strategic proof. As GCCs evolve, sustained external visibility can become evidence of the capability, influence and enterprise value being built on the ground.
Building the next chapter of your GCC
As your GCC evolves, your communications should evolve with it – from telling stories about what you do to demonstrating the value you create.
SPAG FINN Partners helps GCCs build the positioning, visibility and leadership narratives that strengthen reputation and support the case for greater enterprise ownership.
Talk to us about your GCC communications strategy
Sources
- Economic Times HR – “Hyderabad houses 515 Global Capability Centres, to add 50–70 in next 1 year: FICCI–Anarock report” https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/hyderabad-houses-515-global-capability-centres-to-add-50-70-in-next-1-year-ficci-anarock-report/134230990
- Deccan Chronicle – “GCC Expansion May Add 8–12 mn sq. ft Office Demand” https://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/gcc-expansion-may-add-812-mn-sq-ft-office-demand-1986520
- MSN / Oneindia coverage on Hyderabad’s GCC growth vs Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/economy/hyderabad-s-rise-as-gcc-powerhouse-why-global-firms-are-expanding-operations-in-the-city/ar-AA2bZ42K
- Hommea Homes – “Hyderabad Outpaces Bengaluru in GCC Additions, Set to Add 50–70 More Within a Year” https://www.hommea.homes/news/hyderabad-outpaces-bengaluru-in-gcc-additions-set-to-add-50-70-more-within-a-year
- Telangana Tribune – “Hyderabad GCC Expansion to Drive 8–12 Million Sq Ft Office Demand” https://www.telanganatribune.com/hyderabad-gcc-expansion-to-drive-8-12-million-sq-ft-office-demand/
TAGS: Global Capability Centers (GCCs), Technology
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