ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), a globally recognised professional accountancy body hosted an exclusive leadership roundtable at GIFT City supported by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), on Friday, August 8, 2025. The strategic dialogue brought together senior leaders from India’s top Global Capability Centres (GCCs), government stakeholders, and academia to explore how Gujarat is emerging as a vital player in the global GCC ecosystem.
The event in Ahmedabad attracted around 40 senior leaders, including top HR and finance heads from leading GCCs and other industries such as Welspun Transformation Services, Adani GCC, BNP Paribas, S&P Global, Kraft Heinz, Baroda Global Shared Services, KPMG, Cadila Pharma, Zydus, TCS, QX Global Group, Befree Global, and Pacific Group.
The distinguished speaker line-up included Stephen Hickling, British Deputy High Commissioner to Gujarat and Rajasthan; Ashutosh Sharma, Chief General Manager at IFSCA; and senior officials representing ACCA — Md Sajid Khan, Director – India; Sundeep Jakhar, Head of Public Affairs – India; and Naina VG, Strategic Head of Corporate Alliances – India who launched ACCA’s latest GCC report.
As India strengthens its position as the world’s front office, Gujarat is fast becoming the epicentre of next-generation global service delivery. The rise of GIFT City – India’s first operational International Financial Services Centre is playing a transformative role by attracting global institutions to set up operations, especially in financial services, fintech, analytics, and strategic decision-making.
GCCs are contributing directly to Gujarat’s economic diversification by creating high-quality jobs, enabling knowledge transfer, and fostering innovation. With its state-of-the-art infrastructure, progressive policy framework, and unified regulatory support from IFSCA, GIFT City offers a globally competitive environment for setting up knowledge-intensive global centres.
The roundtable discussion saw vibrant participation from GCC leaders who shared practical insights on operational excellence, talent strategies, policy enablement, and leveraging GIFT City’s unique advantages. Leaders discussed the need for continuous innovation, building globally competitive skill sets in digital finance and analytics, fostering leadership pipelines, and deepening cross-border collaboration. Participants emphasised the pivotal role of an enabling regulatory framework and public-private-academia partnerships in sustaining GCC growth momentum.
A key highlight of the roundtable was the launch of ACCA’s latest thought leadership report on GCCs. The report projects that GCCs will contribute 2% to India’s GDP and generate 2.8 million jobs by 2030. In FY24 alone, GCCs in India generated approximately $64.6 billion in export revenue, marking a significant 40% rise from the previous fiscal year.
Md. Sajid Khan, Director – India at ACCA said: ‘ India has emerged as an ideal destination for Global Capability Centres, thanks to our digitally skilled, young workforce, a stable regulatory environment, and robust digital infrastructure. Gujarat, with GIFT City at its heart, is fast becoming a preferred destination for high-value GCCs. The state’s progressive outlook, combined with a robust talent pipeline and enabling infrastructure, offers a compelling case for global companies. ACCA is proud to support this transformation by equipping finance professionals with global capabilities that meet the evolving demands of these centres’
The roundtable concluded with a call for continued collaboration among industry, academia, and regulatory bodies to ensure that India not only sustains but accelerates its momentum in becoming a strategic global delivery hub . With continued collaboration between regulators like IFSCA, industry leaders, and academic institutions, the state is well-positioned to attract high-value global operations and reinforce its role in driving India’s service-led economic growth. GCCs in Gujarat are no longer a future possibility they are a present-day reality shaping India’s rise as a trusted global partner for innovation and value creation.
GIFT City’s rise as India’s premier International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) has positioned Gujarat as a key player in the global capability delivery landscape. Its world-class infrastructure, unified regulatory framework, and tax-efficient environment are attracting global corporations to set up high-value GCCs in financial services, fintech, and innovation. This shift is driving foreign investment, creating high-skilled jobs, and exposing Gujarat’s talent pool to global finance, risk, and R&D functions. The growing GCC footprint is also fuelling a strong ancillary ecosystem spanning legal, consulting, analytics, and ESG cementing Gujarat’s role as a full-spectrum global business hub.
