India aims to become strategic leader in hosting GCCs: Sitharaman

Business To Business, New Delhi, 10^th July, 2026:    Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said India is positioning itself to become a strategic leader in hosting Global Capability Centres (GCCs) of multinational corporations (MNCs), with the objective of becoming an indispensable part of the global knowledge economy.
Addressing the CII GCC Business Summit 2026, Sitharaman highlighted the rapid expansion of India's GCC ecosystem, noting that the pace of new centre additions has accelerated significantly over the past two years.
She said that while India witnessed the establishment of one new GCC every week in 2024, the country is now, on average, adding one new Global Capability Centre every day, making it home to more than half of the world's GCCs.
The Finance Minister said India's GCC landscape has evolved beyond being a destination for cost-efficient operations and has emerged as a strategic innovation hub for multinational companies.
She emphasised that the country's success is no longer measured solely by the number of GCCs it hosts, but by the increasing role these centres play in developing next-generation products, advancing frontier technologies and shaping global enterprise strategies.
According to Sitharaman, India is becoming a preferred destination for high-value functions such as research and development, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, engineering, product design and innovation, reflecting the growing confidence of global corporations in the country's talent pool and technological capabilities.
She underscored the government's commitment to creating an enabling ecosystem through policy support, digital infrastructure, skilled human resources and ease of doing business, with the aim of strengthening India's position as the world's leading destination for Global Capability Centres and a key pillar of the global knowledge economy.