ARTICLE AD BOX
New Delhi: In the fast-growing landscape of Global Capability Centres (GCC) in India, it is clear that Japanese companies are no longer playing a peripheral role. They are now one of the most active foreign contributors to the next phase of ecosystem growth.
A Deloitte India report states that there are more than 100 Japanese companies currently running Global Capability Centres in India, which makes Japan the largest contributor to the GCC ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region. These centres make up about 5–6% of India‘s overall GCC base and have been steadily increasing as more companies move higher value work offshore.
This growth is indicative of a general shift in the use of GCCs. These centres, which were originally used for cost arbitrage and back-office support, are now increasingly performing more complex tasks, from product engineering and embedded systems to AI development, cloud operations and digital manufacturing.
The most striking aspect of Japanese involvement is the character of the involvement. Traditionally, Japan-based companies have been cautious about expanding their operations overseas, but today they are bringing in India-based GCCs to a greater extent into global product and innovation cycles. Many of these centres are not being set up as standalone support centres, but are being integrated into the main engineering and R&D processes.
The industry estimates also indicate that the GCC sector in India is in a high growth phase. The Deloitte study estimates the economic impact of the ecosystem to be $470–600 billion by FY2030 and a significant contribution to job creation in high-skilled positions.
The geography is also changing, too. The next tier of growth is now happening in emerging cities, alongside the established hubs of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. There is increasing momentum in cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Coimbatore, and Indore, due to factors like low operating costs, better infrastructure, and policy support at the state level.
In particular, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Kochi are under the spotlight as companies seek to expand beyond the overcrowded metros. This decentralisation is a practical issue for many GCC operators – the cost of talent is on the rise, and there is greater competition for specialised engineering skills in Tier-1 cities.
On a macro level, the economic ties between India and Japan are also supporting this trend. The bilateral contacts have highlighted greater technological cooperation, manufacturing and economic security, with Japan remaining one of India’s key investment partners.
The GCC narrative is now shifting from scale to something more. The emphasis is slowly moving to capability depth, distributed operations and long-term integration with global business functions. Japanese companies, whose presence is growing, are a good example of this shift.
The next phase, as current trends indicate, will be more about what GCCs are trusted to create, rather than where they are.
English (US) ·