Bengaluru : India’s emergence as the world’s leading destination for Global Capability Centres (GCCs) has been further cemented with the unveiling of the ‘GCC Workplace Playbook 2025’—the country’s most comprehensive strategy manual for establishing, scaling, and transforming GCCs. The Playbook, published at GCC Workplace Awards 2025 held on July 11th, is a result of a landmark partnership with seven of the ecosystem’s most respected organisations: CBRE, BDO in India, TLH Advocates & Solicitors, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Adrenalin.hr, Zyoin Group, NHRD, and IIM Bangalore.
This pioneering Playbook provides global enterprises with essential frameworks and in-depth guidance across legal, financial, real estate, talent, HR, and innovation domains to help them succeed in India’s dynamic business environment. Now more than ever, as GCCs evolve from cost-saving units to transformation and innovation hubs, the need for a structured, collaborative, and insight-rich approach has never been greater. This Playbook brings that clarity.
“This Playbook is more than just a guide—it’s a blueprint for building resilient, innovative, and globally integrated GCCs in the world’s fastest-growing digital economy,” said Anuj Agrawal, Founder & CEO of Zyoin Group.
The GCC Workplace Playbook 2025 highlights India’s rapidly growing GCC landscape. The country now hosts over 1,800 GCCs employing 1.9 million professionals, with projections to reach 4.5–4.6 million in the coming years. Real estate trends reflect this surge, with nearly 80 million sq. ft. of office space leased by GCCs between 2022 and 2024, and expectations that GCCs will account for 35–40% of total office leasing by 2026. Operational efficiency remains a key advantage, with Indian GCCs enabling global firms to reduce costs by up to 42%.
In the compliance and governance sector, 79% of GCCs cite transfer pricing as a top priority, while 67% focus on labour law compliance. The recently introduced DPDP Act, 2023, signifies a transformative step in India’s data governance landscape. On the policy front, state-level incentives are accelerating growth. Karnataka alone is home to over 890 GCCs and aims to achieve a $50 billion GCC output target by 2029. States such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana are also facilitating expansion through tailored policies and infrastructure support.
The Playbook also underscores the strategic shift in talent and innovation. 66% of GCCs now invest in data-driven and skills-first hiring. Tier-2 cities are becoming attractive hubs with up to 25% lower costs per hire. GCCs in India report best-in-class attrition rates of under 10%, and are leading the adoption of future-forward capabilities such as artificial intelligence, ESG mandates, DEI practices, and Digital Twin technologies. From a sustainability perspective, over 70% of new GCC leases since 2022 are for green-certified, tech-integrated campuses.
Structured across eight key pillars—Legal & Compliance, Finance, Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Real Estate & Workspace, Driving Global Innovation, Strategic Leadership, and Government & Regulatory Engagement—the Playbook serves as an indispensable resource for both new entrants and established players in the GCC space. Whether you’re launching a new GCC, leading an existing one, a parent company optimising global operations, or a consultant advising enterprise clients, the Playbook is a must-have strategic toolkit. It incorporates months of leadership roundtables, expert panels, and policy dialogues, combining regulatory clarity with real-world playbooks and forward-looking frameworks.
The Playbook is the result of deep collaboration with leading partners from every critical GCC domain: CBRE for Real Estate & Workspace, BDO in India for Finance & Taxation, TLH Advocates & Solicitors for Legal & Compliance, KDEM for Government & Policy, Adrenalin.hr for Digital Innovation, NHRD for Human Resources, IIM Bangalore for Strategic Leadership, and Zyoin Group for Talent Acquisition. Each partner brought unique domain expertise and thought leadership to shape a holistic, future-ready reference for the industry.
