India's GCC boom: 100+ new centres a year, experts say

India is adding more than 100 new Global Capability Centres every year, industry leaders said at a roundtable hosted Thursday by the Consulate General of India in Houston. The centres span technology, engineering, financial services and healthcare.

The event, called "India Spotlight: Strategic Insights for Advanced Manufacturing and Global Capability Centres," brought together executives from ICICI Bank, JLL India and KBR Inc. Consul General D C Manjunath opened the session by pointing to India's economic reforms, investor-friendly policies and incentive programmes.

Yogesh Shevade of JLL India and Atul Jain of ICICI Bank, New York, were among the panellists. They cited India's large pool of skilled talent, sector-specific industrial clusters, state-level incentives and the Production Linked Incentive scheme as reasons multinationals are expanding there.

The panel was moderated by Kishan Kunal, head of MNC USA at ICICI Bank. Natasha Frausto of KBR Inc. also participated.

India has become the world's leading GCC destination, the panellists said. The centres are shifting from back-office support to strategic hubs for innovation, research, engineering and business operations.

The consulate said it would continue promoting deeper commercial engagement between India and the US.

For context, ICICI Bank (IBN) carries an Alpha Score of 57/100, labelled Moderate, in the Financial Services sector. JLL (Jones Lang Lasalle Inc.) also scores 57/100, Moderate, in Real Estate. Both scores reflect the current market assessment of these stocks on the AlphaScala platform.