We have long noted that global capability centres (GCCs) in India are becoming integral to global enterprises. In the AI era, their role is evolving rapidly. The next generation of GCCs will not merely deliver solutions; they will shape enterprise outcomes, redesign work, orchestrate ecosystems, and accelerate AI adoption at scale. This was the key takeaway from a Times Techies discussion held last week in partnership with Accenture.
Lalit Ahuja, founder and CEO of ANSR, a leader in establishing and operating GCCs, emphasized that AI adoption is heavily dependent on context. To remain relevant in the AI age, GCCs must integrate more deeply with business functions and serve as repositories for enterprise context. He noted that this shift is already underway. Newer GCCs are being designed as AI-first centres from inception. Approximately 15-20% of existing GCCs are experimenting with AI across various functions, while many others are in a wait-and-watch mode. The key difference, Ahuja explained, is that new GCCs are built with the appropriate form, structure, job families, and operating models for AI, whereas older ones must retrofit AI into legacy workflows.
Paul Jeruchimowitz, senior managing director at Accenture and head of its GCC practice, shared findings from a recent Accenture survey of 250 GCC leaders. The survey revealed that 29% of GCCs qualify as “catalysts of enterprise reinvention.” These leaders are co-authoring AI strategies. “They approach the business and headquarters with an agenda, rather than waiting to receive one,” Jeruchimowitz said. He added that leading GCCs possess two additional traits: they influence how work is conducted across the business, and they invest heavily in business and AI skills. In many cases, GCCs may surpass headquarters in AI fluency, enabling new ways of working developed in India to be ported back to the global enterprise.
Foundational Changes Needed
For GCCs to scale AI, foundational changes are essential. Hari Krishna Verma Nadimpalli, managing director of Inspire Brands’ India Innovation Centre, pointed out that the problem is not AI's intelligence but the readiness of the surrounding enterprise. Inspire Brands, which owns Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, and other restaurant brands, leverages data and AI to better understand customers, predict demand, and estimate customer lifetime value. However, Nadimpalli stressed that data quality, context, and trust are foundational issues. AI works best when it has context, but if context is presented through documents and siloed data pipelines, results may be suboptimal. Enterprises must view data as an asset rather than documents as an asset and focus on building robust data pipelines.
Governance must also evolve. Traditional governance is built around control and prevention. AI, Nadimpalli said, requires instrumentation to catch errors automatically, feedback loops to generate better results, and early error detection. Ludwig Heinzelmann, India head of Deutsche Boerse, highlighted additional challenges in regulated industries. Deutsche Boerse builds and operates capital market infrastructure, where systems must be auditable and trustworthy. In large organizations, he noted, there is never a lack of data, “but there is a lack of organized and properly governed data.” Trust in AI output begins with trust in input data.
To scale AI, Heinzelmann said Deutsche Boerse created a chief digital transformation role with organization-wide remit to drive consistency. He emphasized that India is central to this journey. The company’s Hyderabad centre, launched in August, is positioned as a “talent and innovation location at scale,” fully integrated into the global organization.
A major new role for GCCs will be ecosystem orchestration. Given the rapid pace of change, not everything can be built internally; some solutions will be bought, others orchestrated through partners. Jeruchimowitz noted that GCCs have a unique advantage because they bring together technology, business functions, and talent in one location, with access to startups, academia, platform companies, and service providers. Ahuja added that GCCs are increasingly “bringing the power of the ecosystem together.”
