How to Win Headquarters’ Confidence: Insights from Global Capability Centres in India
By Shelley Singh, The Times of India, September 10, 2025
When we talk about the technological and operational nerve centers driving global companies, India’s Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune often come to mind. However, the Delhi-NCR region has quietly held its place as a significant hub for Global Capability Centres (GCCs) since their inception, historically known as captive centers. Hosting pioneering GCCs such as American Express and GE (via Genpact) in the 1990s, Delhi-NCR today accounts for approximately 15-18% of India’s 1,700+ GCCs. Many of these centres have matured into critical units responsible not only for execution but also strategic decision-making in global enterprises.
Building Leadership Beyond Execution
At the recent Nasscom Times Techies GCC 2030 and Beyond conference held in Gurgaon, four leaders representing GCCs of U.S., European, and Asian companies came together to discuss the evolving role of India’s capability centres in shaping the global enterprise operating system. A key topic was how these centres earn the confidence of their global headquarters (HQ) to move beyond transactional roles and contribute to strategy.
CV Raman, Chief Technology Officer at Maruti Suzuki India, shared his experience of gradual trust-building between Indian teams and the Japanese parent company. Initially, technology leadership was Japan-led while India managed management, marketing, sales, supply chain, and quality functions. Over time, Indian engineers demonstrated their capabilities: “By giving opportunities, confidence was built. Today, when we talk about new technology, we are at the same level as Japan.” Notably, innovations like the Maruti Suzuki Brezza and the Fronx brand were entirely developed by Indian R&D teams and later exported, including to Japan itself.
Pravin Goel, Managing Director and AI Lead for India at BlackRock, emphasized the importance of patience and persistence. Years ago, India would handle work “that no one else does.” Capability growth was slow initially, then accelerated rapidly. Demonstrating predictability and learnability enabled Indian teams to take full ownership of business units, transforming roles from routine tasks like financial statement analysis to strategic engagements.
Navigating Cultural Nuances and Building Ecosystems
Managing leadership in India requires a delicate balance of cultural understanding and adaptation. Anku Jain, Managing Director of MediaTek India, highlighted the contrast in leadership styles between East Asian headquarters and Indian teams. While Taiwan and Korea may have more hierarchical compliance, Indian employees traditionally express diverse opinions requiring consensus-building. “Trust is key to building leadership. And also adapting to the DNA of the head office,” Jain said.
MediaTek’s Indian centres have advanced from legacy work on 4G technologies to cutting-edge design of 3-nanometer chips supporting 5G and 6G networks. This progression exemplifies the growing confidence HQ places in Indian capabilities.
The leaders also pointed out the increasing importance of broader ecosystems surrounding GCCs, including supplier networks, startups, and academia. Maruti Suzuki’s CV Raman noted how critical real-time co-development with system suppliers like Bosch and Continental is to their success. MediaTek benefits from India’s significant share of chip design talent and emerging electronics manufacturing firms, laying the foundation for an integrated semiconductor ecosystem.
Barclays Global Service Centre (BGSC) India CEO Praveen Kumar gave an example of cross-border collaboration: a point-of-sale financing solution for Amazon Germany was developed by teams across Pune and Bengaluru. Barclays also partners with startups in analytics and sustainable finance, demonstrating the deepening integration of GCCs in global operations.
The Talent Challenge: Opportunity and Vulnerability
While India’s talent pool remains its greatest asset, it simultaneously presents challenges. All leaders acknowledged gaps in domain-specific skills and the need for continuous learning and innovation.
Praveen Kumar explained, “There’s fantastic talent, but domain-aligned talent is not easily available. To address this, we have partnered with academic institutions to run electives in areas like cybersecurity.”
Anku Jain highlighted semiconductor manufacturing talent scarcity beyond chip design, while CV Raman pointed out the mismatch between academic curricula and industry needs, such as continued teaching of carburetor technology when the industry is moving toward electric vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems.
Pravin Goel critiqued the educational landscape’s inertia, noting, “Parents chase placements, not innovation, and professors teach the same thing for over 20 years. If you’re not refreshing your syllabus every quarter, you are outdated. We need to reimagine education.”
The Road Ahead
India’s GCCs are evolving from cost centers to strategic hubs entrusted with innovation and leadership. This transformation is founded on persistent demonstration of capability, cultural adaptability, ecosystem development, and the urgent need to overhaul education to meet future demands.
As these centres continue to build trust with their headquarters, they are truly writing a new operating system for global enterprises — one where India plays a central role in both strategy and execution.
About the Author:
Shelley Singh has over two decades of experience in journalism focusing on technology, digital disruption, and business strategy. She has been associated with The Economic Times for over a decade and joined ET Prime in 2021. She has received multiple awards including the Citi Journalistic Excellence Award and the Shriram Award for Journalism.
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For more insights and updates, follow Shelley Singh on Twitter @shelley_singh1.
