<h2>Executive Summary</h2><ul><li><p>India’s GCC story remains heavily skewed geographically, with the <strong>South commanding a dominant share</strong> of global operations.</p></li><li><p>The southern states have converted early advantages into sustained advantage through steady collaboration between government, academia and industry.</p></li><li><p>Despite its excellent <strong>connectivity, premier institutions and proximity to policymakers</strong>, the North is yet to convert potential into presence.</p></li><li><p>Drivers such as <strong>infrastructural development and a policy push </strong>in UP and Haryana are starting to reposition the North as a credible GCC destination.</p></li><li><p>Strong <strong>political alignment across Delhi, Haryana and UP</strong> offers a rare window to harmonise regulation, rebuild perceptions and craft a unified ‘northern narrative’.</p></li></ul>.<p>India’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) landscape reflects both, remarkable scale and uneven distribution. Over the past 30 years, while the southern corridor (mainly Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai) has consolidated its grip, the North, despite comparable potential, remains on the margins of this vital growth story. Concentration levels are striking, with Bengaluru and Hyderabad together accounting for 45% of India’s 1,700 GCCs. Mumbai, Pune and Chennai add another 33%, leaving the NCR with a modest 16% share, according to Vestian Research. For the South, early policy moves have fostered institutional depth, aided by consistency in governance, education and infrastructure development. The North’s advantages, by contrast, are spread thin. This paper, based on a series of interviews with GCC leaders, explores why the region has lagged in attracting GCCs, how the South has sustained its lead, and systemic barriers that the North must address if India’s GCC geography is to become more evenly spread.</p><h2><strong>Institutional Depth: The Southern Advantage</strong></h2><p>The South’s dominance stems from decades of alignment between policymakers, educational institutions and enterprise. From the early 1990s, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu institutionalised collaboration between government and industry, creating an environment where global firms could scale with predictability and continuity. As a result, today, Bengaluru’s GCCs span high-value functions, from R&D (<strong>Apple</strong>) and AI-led demand forecasting (<strong>Walmart</strong>) to portable ECG innovation (<strong>GE Healthcare</strong>). Financial majors such as <strong>Goldman Sachs</strong> and <strong>JP Morgan</strong> have built global analytics and compliance functions from their Bengaluru hubs, while Hyderabad hosts Amazon’s largest campus globally, and Google’s second largest.</p><p>Southern cities also command an unparalleled concentration of talent. According to research by Zinnov, Bengaluru accounts for ~40% of India’s engineering R&D workforce and ~33% of its IT workforce, with Hyderabad and Chennai following similar trajectories. As the India MD of a global technology and materials firm, observes, ‘The South as a whole offers a mature ecosystem and a conducive environment from a talent standpoint.’</p><p>According to an ICRA report, between FY23 and FY25, GCCs leased nearly 28 million square feet of Grade-A office space, with Bengaluru (40%), Hyderabad (18%) and Chennai (16%) leading the way. These figures illustrate not just <em>concentration</em> but a <em>compounding</em> of ecosystem advantages. In a nutshell, the South’s edge rests on four interlinked pillars:</p><p><strong>Education-enterprise integration</strong>: Southern universities and engineering institutes have long served as direct feeders for corporate hiring and R&D collaboration.</p><p><strong>Ecosystem density</strong>: Clusters of service providers, start-ups and R&D partners have built operational reliability.</p><p><strong>Policy continuity</strong>: State governments engage industry well beyond the initial-investment phase, ensuring predictability. Karnataka’s GCC Incentive Clinic reimburses companies for internship stipends, skilling and innovation related expenses while Telangana’s AI Mission (T-AIM) and its active industry bodies foster predictability and responsiveness – attributes that companies value as much, if not more, than fiscal incentives.</p><p><strong>Brand equity</strong>: Southern cities have successfully positioned themselves as innovation-driven and globally competitive centres of excellence.</p><h2>Strength Without Scale: The North Struggles</h2><p>Despite strong fundamentals, the North has not been able to translate potential into scale. The region combines an enviable mix of factors – robust connectivity, deep talent pools and proximity to decision-makers – yet its advantages remain underleveraged. North India hosts some of the country’s leadings universities, including IIT Delhi, Delhi University and ISB Mohali, drawing talent from across the country. Yet, the bridge between education and employability remains weak, limiting the region’s ability to convert its academic strength into sustained capability.</p><p>A handful of success stories underscore the North’s latent potential. <strong>Samsung’s</strong> Noida centre has emerged as a global R&D hub for telecom innovation, while <strong>Mercer’s</strong> Gurgaon facility drives HR analytics and digital transformation across Asia-Pacific. <strong>Pfizer’s</strong> Gurgaon GCC has advanced AI-led drug discovery and strengthened global supply chains, particularly during the pandemic. Leading professional services firms, such as <strong>Accenture</strong> and <strong>EY</strong> anchor key finance and digital delivery operations from the NCR, illustrating how aligned capability and governance can yield outcomes comparable to India’s most mature GCC hubs.</p><p>Yet these examples are the exception rather than the norm. As Dimple Kaloya, CHRO of <strong>HSBC India</strong>, notes, ‘Talent mobility is driven by opportunities rather than regional differences. The South has marketed itself better. It’s not just about talent availability, but about how consistently governments and industry work together to create opportunities.’ Perception adds a layer of complexity. The India COO of a major professional services firm remarked, ‘Noida still carries the perception of being an unsafe city, while Pune and Vizag are seen as safer alternatives.’ Concerns around safety and air quality continue to influence workforce preferences and consequently, corporate decisions. Google’s recent announcement that it will set up its largest AI hub outside the US in Visakhapatnam is but one case in point.</p><h2>Looking Beyond Incentives: at Ecosystem-level Thinking</h2><p>There is general agreement that North India has fallen behind on GCC attractiveness owing not so much to a lack of intent or policy ambition, but the absence of a cohesive ecosystem. Uttar Pradesh’s 2024 GCC Policy represents an important step in that direction, but its success will hinge on coordination across departments and consistency in implementation. Industry leaders repeatedly emphasise that predictability matters more than one-time benefits. What truly distinguishes mature clusters is continuity of engagement, an institutional rhythm where facilitation extends beyond the investment phase, policy stability and responsive governance. For the North, building such institutional depth will require not just competitive incentives but sustained collaboration, anchored in trust and shared accountability.</p><h2>Turning the Tide: New Enablers</h2><p>What will it take to deepen and broaden the North’s appeal? At one level, this is already starting to happen, thanks to a mix of hybrid work models, infrastructure development and more proactive state-level policies, all of which are creating new options for investors. As the India COO of a major professional services firm noted, while the southern cities remain the default choice, new entrants are increasingly eyeing the NCR. ‘Demarcating locations for setting up GCCs,’ he adds, ‘would give investors clarity and direction.’ Plainly, better spatial planning and inter-state coordination can strengthen investor confidence.</p><p>Infrastructure projects are creating momentum. Projects such as the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and the Jewar International Airport are reshaping logistics and accessibility, while the NCR’s proximity to national decision-making centres positions it strongly for functions in finance, compliance and governance. Emerging hubs such as Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow are also beginning to feature in GCC considerations as potential secondary locations, if not (yet) primary ones.</p><p>The India CEO of a global investment management firm believes that having the same party in power in Delhi, Haryana and UP provides a rare window of opportunity for inter-state coordination in harmonising regulations, aligning infrastructure priorities and crafting a unified narrative of northern competitiveness. Yet, he cautions, much depends on how investors view policy developments, with concerns around safety, air quality and liveability continuing to influence location choices even as the ground realities improve.</p><p>All said, with sustained alignment across policy, infrastructure and governance, supported by a healthy dose of PR, the North could emerge as a complement to the South, expanding India’s GCC map from a regional success story to a truly national one.</p>
<h2>Executive Summary</h2><ul><li><p>India’s GCC story remains heavily skewed geographically, with the <strong>South commanding a dominant share</strong> of global operations.</p></li><li><p>The southern states have converted early advantages into sustained advantage through steady collaboration between government, academia and industry.</p></li><li><p>Despite its excellent <strong>connectivity, premier institutions and proximity to policymakers</strong>, the North is yet to convert potential into presence.</p></li><li><p>Drivers such as <strong>infrastructural development and a policy push </strong>in UP and Haryana are starting to reposition the North as a credible GCC destination.</p></li><li><p>Strong <strong>political alignment across Delhi, Haryana and UP</strong> offers a rare window to harmonise regulation, rebuild perceptions and craft a unified ‘northern narrative’.</p></li></ul>.<p>India’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) landscape reflects both, remarkable scale and uneven distribution. Over the past 30 years, while the southern corridor (mainly Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai) has consolidated its grip, the North, despite comparable potential, remains on the margins of this vital growth story. Concentration levels are striking, with Bengaluru and Hyderabad together accounting for 45% of India’s 1,700 GCCs. Mumbai, Pune and Chennai add another 33%, leaving the NCR with a modest 16% share, according to Vestian Research. For the South, early policy moves have fostered institutional depth, aided by consistency in governance, education and infrastructure development. The North’s advantages, by contrast, are spread thin. This paper, based on a series of interviews with GCC leaders, explores why the region has lagged in attracting GCCs, how the South has sustained its lead, and systemic barriers that the North must address if India’s GCC geography is to become more evenly spread.</p><h2><strong>Institutional Depth: The Southern Advantage</strong></h2><p>The South’s dominance stems from decades of alignment between policymakers, educational institutions and enterprise. From the early 1990s, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu institutionalised collaboration between government and industry, creating an environment where global firms could scale with predictability and continuity. As a result, today, Bengaluru’s GCCs span high-value functions, from R&D (<strong>Apple</strong>) and AI-led demand forecasting (<strong>Walmart</strong>) to portable ECG innovation (<strong>GE Healthcare</strong>). Financial majors such as <strong>Goldman Sachs</strong> and <strong>JP Morgan</strong> have built global analytics and compliance functions from their Bengaluru hubs, while Hyderabad hosts Amazon’s largest campus globally, and Google’s second largest.</p><p>Southern cities also command an unparalleled concentration of talent. According to research by Zinnov, Bengaluru accounts for ~40% of India’s engineering R&D workforce and ~33% of its IT workforce, with Hyderabad and Chennai following similar trajectories. As the India MD of a global technology and materials firm, observes, ‘The South as a whole offers a mature ecosystem and a conducive environment from a talent standpoint.’</p><p>According to an ICRA report, between FY23 and FY25, GCCs leased nearly 28 million square feet of Grade-A office space, with Bengaluru (40%), Hyderabad (18%) and Chennai (16%) leading the way. These figures illustrate not just <em>concentration</em> but a <em>compounding</em> of ecosystem advantages. In a nutshell, the South’s edge rests on four interlinked pillars:</p><p><strong>Education-enterprise integration</strong>: Southern universities and engineering institutes have long served as direct feeders for corporate hiring and R&D collaboration.</p><p><strong>Ecosystem density</strong>: Clusters of service providers, start-ups and R&D partners have built operational reliability.</p><p><strong>Policy continuity</strong>: State governments engage industry well beyond the initial-investment phase, ensuring predictability. Karnataka’s GCC Incentive Clinic reimburses companies for internship stipends, skilling and innovation related expenses while Telangana’s AI Mission (T-AIM) and its active industry bodies foster predictability and responsiveness – attributes that companies value as much, if not more, than fiscal incentives.</p><p><strong>Brand equity</strong>: Southern cities have successfully positioned themselves as innovation-driven and globally competitive centres of excellence.</p><h2>Strength Without Scale: The North Struggles</h2><p>Despite strong fundamentals, the North has not been able to translate potential into scale. The region combines an enviable mix of factors – robust connectivity, deep talent pools and proximity to decision-makers – yet its advantages remain underleveraged. North India hosts some of the country’s leadings universities, including IIT Delhi, Delhi University and ISB Mohali, drawing talent from across the country. Yet, the bridge between education and employability remains weak, limiting the region’s ability to convert its academic strength into sustained capability.</p><p>A handful of success stories underscore the North’s latent potential. <strong>Samsung’s</strong> Noida centre has emerged as a global R&D hub for telecom innovation, while <strong>Mercer’s</strong> Gurgaon facility drives HR analytics and digital transformation across Asia-Pacific. <strong>Pfizer’s</strong> Gurgaon GCC has advanced AI-led drug discovery and strengthened global supply chains, particularly during the pandemic. Leading professional services firms, such as <strong>Accenture</strong> and <strong>EY</strong> anchor key finance and digital delivery operations from the NCR, illustrating how aligned capability and governance can yield outcomes comparable to India’s most mature GCC hubs.</p><p>Yet these examples are the exception rather than the norm. As Dimple Kaloya, CHRO of <strong>HSBC India</strong>, notes, ‘Talent mobility is driven by opportunities rather than regional differences. The South has marketed itself better. It’s not just about talent availability, but about how consistently governments and industry work together to create opportunities.’ Perception adds a layer of complexity. The India COO of a major professional services firm remarked, ‘Noida still carries the perception of being an unsafe city, while Pune and Vizag are seen as safer alternatives.’ Concerns around safety and air quality continue to influence workforce preferences and consequently, corporate decisions. Google’s recent announcement that it will set up its largest AI hub outside the US in Visakhapatnam is but one case in point.</p><h2>Looking Beyond Incentives: at Ecosystem-level Thinking</h2><p>There is general agreement that North India has fallen behind on GCC attractiveness owing not so much to a lack of intent or policy ambition, but the absence of a cohesive ecosystem. Uttar Pradesh’s 2024 GCC Policy represents an important step in that direction, but its success will hinge on coordination across departments and consistency in implementation. Industry leaders repeatedly emphasise that predictability matters more than one-time benefits. What truly distinguishes mature clusters is continuity of engagement, an institutional rhythm where facilitation extends beyond the investment phase, policy stability and responsive governance. For the North, building such institutional depth will require not just competitive incentives but sustained collaboration, anchored in trust and shared accountability.</p><h2>Turning the Tide: New Enablers</h2><p>What will it take to deepen and broaden the North’s appeal? At one level, this is already starting to happen, thanks to a mix of hybrid work models, infrastructure development and more proactive state-level policies, all of which are creating new options for investors. As the India COO of a major professional services firm noted, while the southern cities remain the default choice, new entrants are increasingly eyeing the NCR. ‘Demarcating locations for setting up GCCs,’ he adds, ‘would give investors clarity and direction.’ Plainly, better spatial planning and inter-state coordination can strengthen investor confidence.</p><p>Infrastructure projects are creating momentum. Projects such as the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and the Jewar International Airport are reshaping logistics and accessibility, while the NCR’s proximity to national decision-making centres positions it strongly for functions in finance, compliance and governance. Emerging hubs such as Jaipur, Chandigarh and Lucknow are also beginning to feature in GCC considerations as potential secondary locations, if not (yet) primary ones.</p><p>The India CEO of a global investment management firm believes that having the same party in power in Delhi, Haryana and UP provides a rare window of opportunity for inter-state coordination in harmonising regulations, aligning infrastructure priorities and crafting a unified narrative of northern competitiveness. Yet, he cautions, much depends on how investors view policy developments, with concerns around safety, air quality and liveability continuing to influence location choices even as the ground realities improve.</p><p>All said, with sustained alignment across policy, infrastructure and governance, supported by a healthy dose of PR, the North could emerge as a complement to the South, expanding India’s GCC map from a regional success story to a truly national one.</p>
