By Piyush Kedia, Co-Founder & CEO of InCommon
India’s Global Capability Center (GCC) story is entering a new phase in 2026, one defined not by scale, but by precision. For years, GCC growth was measured in size: thousands of roles, extended timelines, and enterprise playbooks that prioritised safety over speed. That model still has relevance, but it is no longer the most compelling. Today, the real momentum is being driven by mid-market companies, Series B+ startups and PE-backed firms, that are building GCCs not as cost centres, but as execution engines. Leaner, faster, and far less tolerant of friction, these organisations are quietly redefining what “success” means for India’s evolving GCC ecosystem.
From Scale to Fit
The defining shift is simple: fit now matters more than size. Mid-market GCCs are being built around clear outcomes rather than headcount targets, with teams expected to deliver product milestones, data capabilities, or operational leverage within quarters, not years.
This reframes how GCCs are structured: hiring is more deliberate and senior from the outset, ownership is embedded early, organisations remain lean with fewer layers, and speed takes precedence over theoretical optimisation. Instead of replicating enterprise GCC blueprints, these companies are creating right-sized, repeatable playbooks that can be stood up quickly and refined as the business evolves. India stands to benefit directly from this shift, as lower upfront friction and faster execution position it as a viable first choice, rather than a long-term bet requiring extended board-level patience.
Execution Is the Real Constraint
One of the clearest lessons from recent GCC builds is that talent is rarely the bottleneck; execution is. Many GCCs lose momentum not because they hire the wrong people, but because hiring, compliance, IT, payroll, culture, and leadership operate in silos. Each function may perform well individually, yet the system as a whole fails to move.
Mid-market companies cannot afford to correct this over time; a broken first six months can derail the entire India strategy. As a result, the next generation of GCCs is being designed around integrated execution: faster setup decisions, clear ownership across functions, fewer handoffs and vendors, and tighter feedback loops between headquarters and India. The takeaway is pragmatic; innovation does not come from heroic hiring, but from removing friction early so teams can actually ship.
Leadership and Trajectory Over Volume
Another clear pattern is emerging: leadership quality matters more than hiring velocity. Successful mid-market GCCs are anchoring their early teams around leaders who operate with founder-level ownership, people who can build culture, make trade-offs, and represent India credibly to headquarters. This directly influences retention. High-agency talent stays when scope is meaningful, ownership is visible, and growth paths are clear.
Perks matter less than trajectory; the strongest teams do not sell comfort, they sell impact. India’s talent market increasingly supports this model, with a deep pool of experienced operators who have already scaled products and teams and, when placed in the right context, can dramatically accelerate maturity.
Tier-2 Cities Move From Alternative to Intentional Choice
Tier-2 cities are no longer evaluated purely through a cost lens, they are increasingly selected by function. Cities such as Coimbatore, Kochi, Jaipur, Indore, and Trivandrum are emerging as strong fits for specific workloads, including engineering pods, data teams, QA, and platform support, where retention, infrastructure reliability, and long-term talent pipelines matter more than brand signalling.
The most effective GCCs are asking simpler, more practical questions: how crowded is the local market, how strong is the five-year talent pipeline, how reliable are power, connectivity, and mobility, and how quickly will the city saturate. This function-led approach spreads risk, lowers attrition, and builds more resilient operating models.
Human + AI, With Discipline
AI is now a given, but how it is deployed within GCCs is becoming far more grounded. The strongest teams are not chasing tools, they are designing workflows where AI meaningfully augments human judgment. This shows up in faster development cycles, stronger QA and monitoring, leaner support operations, and higher output without linear headcount growth.
Crucially, success is measured by outcomes rather than usage metrics. The question is no longer whether teams are using AI, but whether they are shipping more reliably with less effort. This discipline is increasingly what separates serious AI-first GCCs from experimental ones.
Culture Is Now a Design Problem
Culture is no longer treated as a by-product; it is being designed intentionally. High-performing GCCs plan for early leadership immersion, regular HQ–India interaction, shared rituals and offsites, and clear communication norms. When India is treated as core rather than remote, alignment happens faster. Teams move with confidence, and trust compounds.
Simplification Is the Big Unlock
If there is one theme that ties everything together, it is simplification. Mid-market companies want India to be easy, with one operating rhythm, clear accountability, fewer vendors, transparent costs, and the ability to scale up or pause without penalty. As a result, pay-as-you-grow models, talent guarantees, and end-to-end ownership are becoming standard expectations. This will define the next phase of GCC growth, not more scale, but better systems.
Looking Ahead
By the end of this decade, India’s GCC ecosystem will be shaped less by enterprise volume and more by mid-market execution. The companies that succeed will be those that prioritise fit over size, design for speed and ownership, combine human judgment with disciplined AI adoption, choose locations intentionally, and treat culture and execution as first-class problems.
India is no longer proving that it can support global work; it is proving that it can build global businesses. That is the real GCC story of 2026.