Beyond Cost & Headcount: How Mid-Market GCCs Are Stepping Into Driver’s Seat
10 JUNE 2025 / 4 min read
The most interesting transformation in India’s Global Capability Center (GCC) landscape today isn’t being driven by the usual Fortune 500 suspects. It’s mid-market firms - agile, ambitious, and increasingly global in mindset - that are steering the next wave.
What’s equally, if not more striking is this: nearly 45% of the country’s 1,760 GCCs are now run by mid-market firms - companies with revenues between US$100 million and US$5 billion, according to a report by ANSR.
According to data from Everest Group, these centers collectively employ 220,000 professionals, and over 120 new ones are expected to spring up by next year.
This isn’t just another footnote in India’s GCC story. It’s a shift in power.
For decades, India’s GCC landscape has been led by multinationals, global banks, tech companies, and consumer brands. They first used India as a base for back-office work, and later for digital transformation and R&D. But what we’re witnessing now is a recalibration. Mid-tier companies are no longer just “scaling” their India operations, they’re designing their entire competitive strategies around it.
The Shape of the Mid-Market Surge
Zinnov estimates that 35% of all new GCC activity in India in the last five years is from the mid-market GCC players. The revenue figures echo this momentum. As per Everest Group, these centers are expected to grow from US$6.5 billion in 2024 to between US$7.5 and US$7.8 billion by 2026, reflecting a strong 15–20% growth trajectory in just two years.
Unlike their larger peers, mid-market GCCs aren’t weighed down by scale. Many operate like internal start-ups, agile, focused, and deeply embedded in their parent firms’ product and innovation engines. Zinnov notes that they’re 1.3x more likely to function as digital innovation hubs and are responsible for driving over 60% of enterprise product and platform portfolios.
According to a recent PwC report, there has been a surge in Neo Banks and Mid-sized Banks, also increasingly opening GCCs in India, with the neo-banking market projected to reach a value of US$395 billion by 2026, a value of US$395 billion by 2026, a huge jump from US$19 billion in 2018.
The India Advantage - Still a Winning Formula
So, what’s fuelling this growth? According to a report by Inductus GCC, India’s enduring advantages continue to be a major draw, an expansive tech talent pool of 5 million professionals, over 1 million engineering graduates every year, and operating costs that are 25%–30% lower in Tier I and Tier II cities. But mid-market firms are also tapping into newer advantages: a maturing start-up ecosystem, academia partnerships, and state-level incentives like Karnataka’s tax breaks and expedited regulatory approvals.
Models like COPO - Company Owned, Partner Operated - are also helping these firms scale efficiently. As noted by Inductus GCC, this model lets mid-sized firms operate lean while staying in control of operations and IP, avoiding the heavier capex associated with wholly owned subsidiaries.
Innovation at the Core
Mid-market GCCs aren’t just competing on cost, they’re setting the pace on innovation. According to Zinnov, many of these centers are accelerating internal leadership development pipelines up to 20% faster than their larger peers, while doubling down on high-impact domains like AI/ML, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and health analytics.
An SEO analyst at Inductus recently highlighted several mid-market GCCs driving innovation in India. FactSet Research Systems, for instance, runs a Hyderabad-based GCC that plays a pivotal role in financial analytics and technology innovation. In Bangalore, IQVIA is leading the charge in AI-driven health insights that inform critical global decisions. Fintech firm Broadridge operates out of both Bangalore and Hyderabad, driving digital transformation across capital markets. And in Pune, Envista Holdings manages engineering operations for dental and life sciences, underscoring both the sectoral diversity and strategic depth of mid-market GCCs in India.
The Giants Are Watching
It’s not that the large players are slowing down, 70% of Fortune 500 companies are expected to expand their GCCs in India by 2030, according to a report by Nasscom and Zinnov titled ‘India GCC Landscape Report: The 5-year Journey’. But what’s changing is the degree to which mid-market companies are able to compete for the same talent, build similar capabilities, and even outpace the bigger firms in specific niche areas.
As Sindhu Gangadharan, Chairperson of NASSCOM, puts it, “GCCs have rapidly evolved from being operational hubs to becoming true engines of innovation and strategic growth.” That evolution is no longer limited to the usual suspects. It now includes hundreds of ambitious, mid-sized global companies that see India not just as a support function, but as central to their future.
Challenges Remain, But So Does the Momentum
Of course, it’s not without hurdles. Mid-market GCCs face stiff competition from deep-pocketed MNCs for talent and real estate. Global macroeconomic uncertainties–tariffs, geopolitical tensions, regulatory shifts–can disproportionately impact firms with thinner buffers.
But what they lack in scale, they make up for in speed. Their ability to experiment, pivot, and build fast has kept them resilient. And increasingly, they’re building Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in fields where rapid innovation cycles are critical, think fintech, digital health, and supply chain analytics.
Looking Ahead
According to the Nasscom and Zinnov report, by 2030, India’s total GCC count is expected to reach 2,100–2,200, with combined revenues of US$99–US$105 billion and a workforce of up to 2.8 million. Of this, a significant share will come from the mid-market. These firms are no longer in the shadows of the multinationals, they’re standing shoulder to shoulder, competing not just on cost, but on capability and vision.
In many ways, India has become the ultimate test market for global ambition. And mid-market GCCs, once the underdogs, are now emerging as its most dynamic contenders.
Game on.
