Seven Indian states target 1,380 GCCs by 2031: CBRE
NEW DELHI, INDIA — Seven Indian states have formally committed to attracting 1,380 global capability centers (GCCs) and creating 1.2 million jobs by 2031, representing the most coordinated state-level GCC policy push India has seen, according to CBRE’s report “The Policy Advantage: Powering India’s GCC Growth.”
Karnataka leads with 500 GCC target as seven states set formal commitments
Karnataka leads the seven-state group with a target of 500 new GCCs and 350,000 jobs, the largest commitment of any single state in the framework. Maharashtra targets 200 centers and 400,000 jobs; Rajasthan targets 200-plus centers and 150,000 jobs; and Gujarat targets 250-plus centers and 50,000 jobs.
Existing GCCs have already leased 123 million square feet of office space across India’s nine largest cities from 2022 to mid-2026, making the combined 1,380-center, 1.2 million-job state target a significant expansion on top of an already large base.
“The pace at which state governments have formalised dedicated GCC policies is unprecedented in India’s commercial real estate landscape,” said Anshuman Magazine, chairman and CEO for India, South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa at CBRE.
GCCs shift from support function to strategic pillar as state competition widens
Kerala targets 80 GCCs and 160,000 jobs, Haryana targets 100-plus centers and 30,000 jobs, and Madhya Pradesh targets 50-plus centers and 37,000 jobs, completing the seven-state formal framework in the CBRE analysis.
Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Delhi have also introduced GCC-supportive policies, though the CBRE report covers only the seven states with formally committed numeric targets.
India’s GCC sector has shifted from delivering administrative support functions to hosting artificial intelligence (AI) research, product development, and enterprise technology operations that function as independent innovation units within multinational structures.
“GCCs have evolved from being a supporting component of the services economy to becoming a strategic pillar of economic growth,” Magazine added.
For business process outsourcing (BPO) operators and enterprise buyers evaluating India as a delivery destination, the coordinated state push signals that GCC setup costs and regulatory friction are falling as governments compete for investment through dedicated incentive frameworks.
Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Delhi’s supporting policies outside the seven-state framework suggest the formal target list understates the breadth of India’s GCC policy environment.
For companies evaluating outsourcing structures in India, the expanding set of state incentive packages means location choice now carries implications that were largely absent from GCC site-selection decisions five years ago.
