Major retailers, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and international brands are going big on global capability centres (GCCs) in India. Over the next three years, the number of retail GCCs is expected to rise to between 90 and 100, including new setups and expansions of existing centres.
India’s deep pool of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) talent, which is powering the development of critical global technology solutions, is powering this surge.
Beyond technology, many of these centres have matured into comprehensive hubs, encompassing finance, supply chain, human resources, research and development, marketing and other key functions, effectively serving as “second headquarters” for their parent companies.
According to Zinnov, a global management and strategy consultancy firm, India accounts for 25 percent of global retail/CPG GCCs. With more global roles being anchored here, these centres are now driving enterprise-wide impact, not just digital efficiency and back office technology support.
Srikanth Srinivasan, vice president and head, membership and outreach, from industry body Nasscom said, “The number of retail GCCs getting into the country has definitely been on the upswing in the last few years. Probably when Lowe's and Target were set up, they were just single-digit retail companies. Now we are about 70 plus companies in that space, and nearly 50 percent of that came up in the last seven-eight years.”
“This will grow to 90 to 100 retail companies having GCCs in India in the next two-three years. That's the kind of growth we are seeing.”
GCCs are strategic units of MNCs located in different countries that perform a range of functions including IT, finance, HR, and R&D.
Karthik Padmanabhan, managing partner, Zinnov said retail and CPG companies are accelerating their GCC bets in India, not just for cost arbitrage but to unlock innovation at scale.
“The projected increase in retail and CPG GCCs in the next two–three years signals a shift from transactional operations to deep product, tech, and CX (customer experience) ownership being driven out of India,” he said.
For instance, Target GCC, one of the earliest retail centres that came up in early 2000s, went from being an IT function hub from India, to evolving into a multi-function GCC.
Target eventually designated the GCC as its second headquarters, moving 12 functions, including merchandising, marketing, finance, HR, and supply chain, to it.
According to ANSR data, between 2021 and 2024, 16 new GCCs came up in this space including prominent names such as Kraft Heinz, Columbia, Adidas, Hy-Vee, Best Buy, Baskin Robbins and Dunkin parent Inspire Brands, Neiman Marcus, Wayfair, Zooplus among others.
Smitha Hemmigae, MD, ANSR, which helps in setting up GCCs, said, “Retail and CPG segments are extremely mature in the GCC space. We have worked with Target, Lowe’s, Victoria’s Secret, Marks & Spencer, IKEA. Several of the Fortune 500 companies have GCCs in India. Next up, Fortune 2000 and mid-market companies are expanding into India.
“Several new GCCs are in works. Expect four-five big retailers and CPG players among Fortune 500 to announce their GCCs in India in the next few months.”
Indian GCCs as second HQs
Home improvement retailer Lowe’s India set up a GCC in Bengaluru in 2014 and now has a workforce of more than 5,500 including 600-700 vendor partners here.
Ankur Mittal, chief technology officer and managing director at Lowe's India, told Moneycontrol that the company’s India GCC has every single corporate function which is in the US too. From technology to merchandising, marketing, supply chain, finance, HR, legal and sourcing, all functions are being carried out from Bengaluru, he said.
“So around 50 percent of the global technology workforce is based out of India and the rest of the workforce is representing all the other functions. In technology, a lot of the functions are led by the teams based out of India. For example, our search on Lowe's.com, to order management systems, to point of sale, checkout systems, inventory management, last mile delivery, enterprise platform, supply chain, warehouse management systems, those kind of things are significantly based out of India,” Mittal said.
“We don't really differentiate India and Atlanta or Boston teams. We are like one global team. We have a location strategy based on a very clear framework as to what's high touch versus what's low touch,” said Hari Krishna Verma Nadimpalli, managing director, Global Innovation Center, Inspire Brands whose portfolio of quick service restaurants include Dunkin, Baskin Robbins, Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings and more.
Inspire Brands’ GGC opened in Hyderabad in 2023 and has a core tech team of 400 along with over a 100 plus employees as contractors.
The India team of the QSR business has majorly been working on data analytics tracking around 35,000 stores globally.
“We have customer data coming in from all over the world. Physical stores where people walk in versus commerce websites, mobile apps, social media, call centres, and all the emerging channels,” Nadimpalli said.
A similar trend of multi-functional retail GCCs and core retail tech being built out of India has followed for several brands.
Tesco’s Bengaluru hub, for instance, is orchestrating transformation across CX design, supply chain digitisation, and ESG-aligned retail operations, Zinnov said.
Adidas recently set up a GCC in Chennai, its first Asia centre outside China, focusing on global integration and talent-led transformation.
Target’s Bengaluru GCC built and scaled Store Companion, a GenAI-powered chatbot now live at more than 2,000 US stores, driving productivity and in-store efficiency.
“Nearly 70 percent of retail GCCs in India today operate as multi-functional control towers, connecting the dots across supply chain, payments, fulfilment, and customer analytics. These aren’t support arms—they’re the digital nerve centres of global retail giants,” Padmanabhan said.
The next frontier
While Bengaluru and Hyderabad have been the epicentres for GCCs in India, the retail and CPG segment is shifting towards a multi-city strategy. Most new players, including Wayfair, Inspire Brands, Lululemon, Hy-Vee and Adidas, have chosen cities like Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai.
India is home to around 1,700 GCCs, employing close to 2 million people and are poised to contribute 3.5 percent to the GDP by 2030.
The 70 plus retail company GCCs employ more than 85,000 people, which is expected to grow significantly over the next three years, ANSR’s data shows.
Zinnov expects new jobs roles to emerge in areas like GenAI product leads, responsible AI and compliance architects, global ESG reporting and supply-chain decarbonisation and omnichannel personalisation and CX design.
India’s AI-native talent pool of 120,000 AI/ML professionals and more than 185 AI centres of excellence, which have enabled companies to scale experimentation into production, have been a key attraction for global players to set shop in the country, industry analysts said.
Inspire Brands’ Nadimpalli said though the company only had about six of its brands and 20 stores in India, the country’s perception changed after seeing the performance of the GCC in the past two years.
“Seeing the success of the GCC and how we were able to do things here, India is our top five priority markets in the world for us now… We are hiring local teams here. Earlier, India used to be an afterthought, being managed out of Middle East or London, (but) that is not the case now. We are hiring people here. We're establishing capability to sign deals and grow brands in India,” he said.
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