India’s GCCs are leading the shift to Intelligent, AI-native enterprises

In brief

• Agentic AI investments are rising, with 58% GCCs currently investing and another 29% planning to within a year.
• Reskilling initiatives have grown to 71% in 2025, highlighting the focus on talent and future-ready skills.
• Cybersecurity maturity is improving; 42% GCCs are using advanced frameworks though only 7% have established dedicated CoEs to manage risk.

India’s Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are undergoing a decisive transformation in both purpose and potential - powered by the rapid adoption of Agentic AI, GenAI, and enterprise-grade automation. With 58% of GCCs now investing in Agentic AI and 83% scaling GenAI, the shift from cost-efficient support functions to strategic intelligence hubs is unmistakable. These centers are becoming the engines where AI, data, and R&D converge - fundamentally reshaping how global enterprises operate, make decisions, and innovate. 

As per the EY GCC Pulse Report 2025, 92% of leaders affirm that GCCs now contribute far beyond cost arbitrage, demonstrating a transition toward innovation arbitrage, driving business transformation, operational excellence, and value creation at enterprise scale. AI-driven capabilities, strengthened talent strategies, and technology-first investments are enabling GCCs to take on end-to-end ownership, influence global strategy, and become decision-making centers that shape the future of the business.

Strategic evolution: Leading beyond cost efficiency

India’s GCCs are redefining their mandates, moving from cost-saving hubs to strategic partners in enterprise decision-making. The survey included more than 65 leaders of GCCs across multiple industries, operating from India as well as key international hubs and an average headcount of about 800 employees.

Digital transformation tops the priority list for the next 12 months for 61% of centers, while 54% continue to focus on cost optimization, signaling a balanced but forward-looking strategy. Functional expansion, once a dominant theme, has declined from 86% in 2023 to 51% in 2025, reflecting a shift toward deeper strategic value rather than just breadth of operations.

GCCs are increasingly influencing enterprise strategy, with 87% taking ownership of end-to-end global processes and 45% participating in global decision-making, positioning themselves as integral collaborators across industries. Budget allocations mirror this shift, with 25% of resources going into technology and transformation initiatives and 23% toward talent development, allowing centers to be equipped to lead innovation and drive enterprise-wide impact.

AI, data and technology: The next frontier

AI is no longer experimental; it is a cornerstone of GCC strategy. GenAI adoption leads the way and we see that GenAI applications are focused on high-value functions such as customer service (65%), finance (53%), and operations (49%), and IT and cybersecurity (45%), demonstrating a clear alignment between AI adoption and business outcomes.

Meanwhile, 86% of GCCs are operationalizing business intelligence and 67% are formalizing data strategies. The establishment of dedicated innovation teams further emphasizes the shift toward embedding innovation into the operational fabric of GCCs, transforming creative ideas into measurable impacts.

In line with this accelerating AI-led shift, EY has launched its AI-powered Intelligent GCC solution suite, which helps organizations design AI-native centers, modernize value chains through autonomous intelligence, build AI-ready talent, and strengthen responsible-AI governance. Drawing on the EY.AI platform and the firm’s experience with over 500 GCCs, the suite aims to provide a clearer pathway to smarter, agent-ready operations.