Karnataka wants to be home to 15% of global GCCs by 2030, eyes 1 million jobs

Karnataka IT minister Priyank Kharge launching the GCC Landscape Report on July 15.

Karnataka has set a target to host more than 15 percent of the Global Capability Centres (GCC) of the world’s top 2,000 companies by 2030, which will generate more than 10 lakh jobs, information technology (IT) minister Priyank Kharge has said.

“We are implementing strategic interventions and facilitators to establish a resilient business and operational ecosystem for GCCs. We are coming up with the first GCC Policy in India to better support the GCCs looking to start operations in Karnataka,” Kharge said after launching the “Karnataka GCC Landscape Report” on July 15

At present, Karnataka hosts GCCs of almost 275 Forbes Global 2000 companies, employing more than 5.5 lakh professionals.

A GCC is an offshore unit set up by a company in a foreign country to in-source IT and other related business functions.

The report said 25 percent of India’s digital talent is based in Bengaluru, as the city is a hub of startups, enterprises, and GCCs.

Karnataka is home to more than 570 out of the 1,600 GCCs in India, the report prepared by the department of electronics, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), and ANSR said.

Moneycontrol reported on July 12 that Karnataka is set to be the first state in the country to come up with a dedicated GCC policy to attract higher investment in the sector.

Also read: Karnataka set to be the first state to come up with GCC policy by August

“Karnataka has introduced incentives, regulations, and new policies supporting GCC setups in both Bengaluru and emerging tech clusters such as Mysuru, Hubbali, and Mangaluru,” Kharge said. The measures would attract the next wave of enterprises aiming to enhance their digital capabilities.

Among sectors, about 42 percent of the global retail companies’ GCCs are in Bengaluru. These include Target, H&M, ABInBev and Walmart.

In the banking, financial services, and insurance sector, more than 33 percent of them, including Citi, PayPal, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, have set up their captive centres.

In the report, ANSR, which helps companies set up GCCs, has focussed on six broad parameters that enterprises need to evaluate for a successful GCC setup.

These are: sponsorship and active support of CXO leadership, availability of talent in GCC location compared to headquarters, partnerships with academia & institutes, the cultural orientation of existing employees towards the GCC location, strategic partnerships to co-locate service provider esources and maturity of the start-up ecosystem in the GCC location.

Also read: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu woo GCCs with incentives in state budgets

The report also underscores the importance of “Spoke-shore Initiative” to expand company bases beyond Bengaluru.

Accordingly, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Belagavi, and Mysuru have been identified as emerging tech clusters in Karnataka for which task forces have been set up to help build a supporting ecosystem.

An early indicator of the Spoke-shore Initiative is that over 25-30 GCCs are exploring setting up base locations. For example, IBM has set up a GCC unit in Mysuru, which employs over 250 people.

KDEM said it is enabling future digital jobs in artificial intelligence and cyber security in cities like Mysuru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi and Belagavi.