Why Global Enterprises Are Building Engineering and AI Hubs in India

The scale of what's already happening

Global companies are building important engineering operations in India; they are not just doing any experiments anymore.

As per the Nasscom-Zinnov India GCC Landscape Report for FY26, India has 2,117 capability centers (GCCs) globally across 3,728 units. These centres employ 2.36 million people and they generate $98.4 billion in market revenue. The GCCs have grown 36% from FY2021. Also, 506 companies from the Forbes Global 2000, it is more than a quarter of the world's largest public companies- now have a capability centre in India.

These numbers are significant. But what these centers are being built to do is even more important.

What these centers are actually built for

These are not back-office operation who moved to India just to reduce the cost. AI was the main focus from the start, with around 50% of the GCCs established in India from FY2021. Now, more than 1,200 GCCs have embedded AI and machine learning capabilities. All these centres are supported by 250 dedicated AI Centres of Excellence and around 250,000 AI professionals. 96% of the GCCs were established from FY2021; these were started with a clear responsibility for a product or portfolio. This means that, instead of just maintaining, these teams are responsible for building and managing technology. These centers way of working makes them more advanced; half of them are operating at the high maturity stage.

There are two roles for 64% of site leaders: managing the India site and being responsible for the global business function. This is proof that it is not just limited to development work; important product decisions are also being made from India. More than 90% of leading GCCs work with universities for research and hiring and more than half of them work with startups for developing new ideas and technologies.

What this means for a US company choosing a development partner

The pattern is not about companies coming to India to find talent when they are not able to find it locally. Global companies are coming to India as they find the base of advanced and AI-first engineering work here. So, it is becoming difficult to match the scale of India’s engineering talent in any other country. NASSCOM and Zinnov expect around three-quarters of India's current GCCs to become full Portfolio or Transformation Hubs in five years and they expect it to reach a high maturity level by 2030.

This does not show a talent gap; it shows that a lot of global product and AI engineering work is moving toward India.

How EICE Technology fits into this landscape

As an Indian IT company, we are working in the same engineering market that has already attracted this level of global investment. We have hands-on experience in custom software development, AI application development, and cloud engineering, and follow a structured process that is supported by ISO 27001 and ISO/IEC 20000 certifications, along with CMMI Level 3 and ISO 9001. We have a good amount of engineering talent that has already attracted hundreds of these companies to India. See more on our Services Page, and we’d welcome the conversation.