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This is the first issue of our new India Rising Perspective by Zinnov: “Engineering Europe’s Future with India”. I’m super excited that I have the opportunity to share this series with you, and thankful for the contribution by the Zinnov team.
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Introduction of India Rising Perspective: Engineering Europe’s Future with India
India’s rise as the world’s 3rd largest economy is not unfolding in isolation. It is being shaped through deep and strategic partnerships with Europe’s leading enterprises. Across Germany, the UK, and broader EMEA, companies are strengthening their global competitiveness by building long-term capability in India.
This story is no longer about outsourcing or cost efficiency. It is about engineering velocity, AI-driven transformation, workforce reinvention, and collaborative operating models that integrate India into the core of European enterprises.
To understand how this capability corridor is being built — and what it means for Europe’s future — we turn to one of the region’s leading advisors on Global Capability Centers and enterprise transformation.
In this series, Mohammed Faraz Khan, Partner at Zinnov, will share insights from across EMEA on how European organizations are designing, scaling, and transforming their Global Capability Centers in India — and how this partnership is reshaping competitiveness on both sides.
The author of today’s issue of the India Rising Perspective - Engineering Europe’s Future with India is Mohammed Faraz Khan, Partner at Zinnov.
Author of the India Rising Perspective - Engineering Europe’s Future with India
Faraz spearheads Zinnov’s GCC Setup and Transformation practice for the EMEA region and is based in London. He advises Fortune 500 and mid-market European organizations on designing, scaling, and optimizing Global Capability Centers to accelerate globalization and unlock long-term value.
With deep expertise spanning workforce transformation, collaborative operating models, productivity enhancement, and innovation enablement, Faraz works across industries including Industrial & Engineering, Automotive, BFSI, Software & Internet, Energy, and Semiconductors. He is actively shaping the GCC narrative in EMEA and has been featured in leading publications such as The Economic Times and Fortune India.
Through this series, Faraz brings a practitioner’s lens to the evolving Europe-India partnership — grounded in enterprise transformation, AI enablement, and strategic capability building.
Enjoy the first issue of our series!
GCC 101: Why European Enterprises Are Choosing to Build Capability in India
Part 1 of India Rising Perspective - Engineering Europe’s Future with India
By Mohammed Faraz Khan
When a German automaker builds a vehicle, they don’t rent the chassis - they own it, refine it, and iterate on it year after year. The same logic now applies to how European enterprises are building global capability.
As Europe and India deepen economic ties — most recently through the India–EU Free Trade Agreement — companies are moving beyond transactional engagement toward structural integration. They are no longer simply renting execution through vendors; they are designing and owning capability through Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India.
There are various reasons for it. The recently agreed EU-India Free Trade Agreement does not only secure tariff alignment, but provides clarity and reflects growing confidence in long-term economic interdependence. For enterprises, that confidence increasingly translates into deeper operational integration, investment in talent ecosystems, and multi-year capability commitments rather than short-term cost decisions.
Over the last decade, the conversation has shifted across Europe. The question is no longer “Can India deliver?”, but “How do we embed India into our global operating model?”. And the answer isn’t always outsourcing. It’s co-ownership: engineering, AI, transformation, and innovation built from within - not managed at arm’s length.
In this article, we’ll unpack:
What a GCC actually is (and what it’s not),
Why European enterprises are increasingly choosing the GCC model,
And why this matters in a new phase of Europe–India economic integration.
Renting vs. Owning
Imagine you want to launch a factory overseas: you would typically be presented with four models:
Outsourcing is like hiring a contractor to build and operate the factory for you. You pay for output, but you own no tools - and you rely on someone else’s operational DNA. It’s provider-owned execution with governance via SLAs. Best for transactional, well-defined processes
ODC (Offshore Development Center) is like leasing a factory space and staff. It’s dedicated, but legally and operationally managed by a partner - its culture and strategy are not yours. It’s good for speed and scale, but limited in strategic ownership
BOT (Build–Operate–Transfer) is building the factory with a partner who runs it for you and then hands it over later - valuable, but inherently transitional. While it reduces early risk, it limits long-term control
GCC (Global Capability Center) is setting up your own facility, with your staff, your leadership, your brand and culture - fully integrated and controlled. It drives innovation, IP creation, and strategic capability
This distinction matters most when capability itself becomes central to competitiveness — which is increasingly the case in Europe’s industrial and digital sectors.
Understanding the GCC Model
A GCC is not a cost lever. It is an enterprise architecture decision — similar to determining where your R&D hubs or engineering leadership centers sit.
Global Capability Centers (GCCs) are offshore units established by multinational corporations to perform strategic functions by leveraging deep knowledge talent, operational scale, and cost efficiency. These centers typically house technology, engineering, digital, and operations capabilities — including shared services functions — and operate as integral extensions of the parent organization’s global enterprise architecture.
Crucially, GCCs are captive centers: they exist to build and own capability for the enterprise itself. Unlike service providers, outsourcing vendors, or system integrators that generate revenue by delivering services to multiple clients, GCCs focus exclusively on advancing the strategy, platforms, and operations of their parent organization.
Zinnov’s GCC Landscape Report (2024) shows that India today hosts 1,700+ GCCs employing 1.9 Mn+ professionals. In fact, the GCC Market size is expected to grow from EUR 59.4 Bn (2024) to EUR 96.6 Bn by 2030. Additionally, GCCs of EMEA-headquartered companies have grown by ~41% between 2019 and 2024, reflecting accelerating strategic commitment.
Companies from Germany, the UK, and Nordic countries - have been among the fastest growing origin geographies for new GCC setups over the past 5+ years. Today, 130+ UK companies and 80+ German companies operate in India including Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, BMW, British Telecom, Barclays and many more.
Notably, Germany GCCs in India alone generated EUR 4.08 Bn revenue in 2024, underscoring the economic scale of this model.
As regulatory alignment between the EU and India strengthens under the FTA framework — particularly around digital trade, services mobility, and investment flows — the GCC model becomes even more structurally relevant. Enterprises are no longer entering India opportunistically; they are designing long-term capability footprints within a more predictable economic corridor.
Collectively, European GCCs in India now represent a multi-billion dollar capability base, and the pipeline continues to grow.
Why Europe Is Embracing the GCC Model
The rapid expansion of European GCCs in India reflects a broader shift in how enterprises organize capability across geographies. Engineering, product development, and digital innovation are increasingly distributed across global hubs rather than concentrated in a single location. Understanding the rise of the GCC model requires looking at the strategic forces shaping these decisions.
Three of those forces stand out.
1) Control Is Competitive Advantage
Industries - including Automotive, Industrial Machinery, Semiconductor, and Regulated Financial Services - place immense value on precision, compliance, and IP protection. Outsourcing and vendor models do not give full control over these elements.
With a GCC, the enterprise owns the team, the roadmap, and the outcomes.
This matters especially in:
Automotive embedded systems,
Predictive analytics for industrial operations,
Cybersecurity for financial systems,
Platform engineering for regulated domains.
In our advisory work, we regularly see GCC charters owning end-to-end development of mission-critical technology - a clear signal of the institutional trust European enterprises have placed in their India operations.
2) Talent Is Strategic - Not Transactional
Europe’s demographic challenge is well documented: an aging workforce and tightening engineering talent pools. GCCs provide access to a deep technical labor market while enabling long-term capability building - not just headcount scaling.
In fact, over 90% of Germany GCCs in India have engineering presence with the ER&D talent pool in these centers growing at 15% CAGR between 2019 and 2024.
The evolution is not just in scale, but in role composition and ownership. Modern GCCs in India now demonstrate:
Engineering Talent: Germany GCCs in India have built strong engineering depth, with ~24% of their India GCC workforce in engineering roles (FY 2024). These teams form the core technical backbone, delivering end-to-end product engineering, platform development, and next-generation technology programs across industries such as Aerospace, Defense, and Semiconductors.
Architects: ~19% of the talent in these centers constitute architect roles that define system blueprints, technology stacks, and enterprise-wide engineering standards — shaping how complex platforms and products are designed and scaled globally.
Product Management: Presence has grown to 12%, signaling rising product ownership within GCCs. These teams drive roadmap definition, customer-centric innovation, and cross-functional execution to bring cutting-edge digital and engineering solutions to market.
Global Roles: Average global role headcount per GCC has increased from 1 to 4, a fourfold expansion in mandate. This indicates growing ownership of worldwide responsibilities, with India-based leaders managing global charters rather than supporting regional execution.
Rather than scaling through contractors, European firms are building institutional capability - teams embedded within the enterprise, aligned to its strategic priorities, and accountable for innovation outcomes.
3) AI Must Be Embedded, Not Layered On
Much of mainstream AI discourse focuses on generative AI tools. Zinnov’s research grounded in enterprise adoption trends, shows that the real value lies in operationalized AI:
Predictive maintenance in factories
Risk analytics in finance
Control optimization in automotive systems
Smart supply chain platforms
GCCs are increasingly hosting AI Centers of Excellence that are integrated with product teams - not siloed as separate labs. This integration ensures that AI becomes part of the operating fabric, not a peripheral experiment.
A strong case in point is a German Financial institution's Indian technology hub: it employs 18,000+ engineers across 4 cities in India, representing 45% of its global tech workforce. As its largest innovation center globally, this strategic powerhouse drives digital transformation through next-generation AI, Cloud Computing, and Machine Learning solutions. The operation has evolved from a service provider into a key asset, pioneering proprietary technologies that shape the bank's worldwide digital future.
This is embedded AI at scale.
A Structured Maturity Curve: From Execution to Enterprise Leadership
If control, talent depth, and AI integration define why European enterprises are investing in GCCs, the next question becomes: how does this capability mature over time?
Zinnov’s GCC Maturity Framework provides a structured lens to understand this evolution — from support-oriented centers to globally integrated transformation hubs.
Source: Zinnov (2026)
At a high level, GCCs progress through four stages:
Outpost – Primarily operational centers focused on QA/QE, support functions, and limited product ownership. These centers typically execute defined mandates with minimal global charter authority.
Satellite – Centers with end-to-end ownership across select business lines. They demonstrate stronger technical integration and begin participating in global leadership structures.
Portfolio Hub – Centralized solution hubs managing multiple technology portfolios. These centers pilot emerging capabilities, host AI and digital CoEs, and anchor innovation programs.
Transformation Hub – Enterprise-level centers leading global technology transformation, strategic change initiatives, and ecosystem partnerships.
Germany-headquartered GCCs in India provide a strong illustration of this progression.
With 86% operating as Satellites or Portfolio Hubs, Germany-origin GCCs demonstrate scaled ownership and innovation-oriented mandates. While only a small share currently qualify as Transformation Hubs, the strong Portfolio Hub base indicates structural readiness for enterprise-wide leadership.
This pattern is broadly reflective of the wider European GCC landscape in India. The deepening engineering mix and rising global role ownership are reinforcing upward movement along the maturity curve — from execution support to portfolio stewardship and, increasingly, transformation leadership.
The story, therefore, is not about capability availability. It is about mandate evolution. European GCCs in India are progressively embedded into global technology decision-making — shaping platforms, portfolios, and transformation agendas rather than merely executing against them.
Strengthening Europe Through Global Capability
For European enterprises, GCCs are part of strengthening the broader capability base. They expand what companies can build and deliver globally while keeping strategic direction close to home.
The most effective Global Capability Centers do not replace European engineering - they extend it. They provide depth where talent is constrained, scale where speed is required, and resilience where global competition is intensifying. Strategic direction, product ownership, and governance remain firmly anchored at headquarters; India strengthens the execution architecture that supports them.
In a post-FTA environment, where Europe and India are committing to deeper trade, investment, and technology collaboration, the GCC model represents one of the most tangible expressions of that partnership at the enterprise level.
The strongest version of European capability today has India built into it.
The future of European competitiveness lies not in choosing geographies, but in connecting them with intent.
And that is what the Europe–India capability corridor truly represents.
Sources: Zinnov
Contact the Author & Disclaimer
If you want to explore more on this topic or have questions, please reach out to the author via LinkedIn.
Disclaimer: Any use of the data or graphics require prior approval from Zinnov.
India Rising’s Takeaway: GCCs are Strategic Enablers
Intellectual Property. Company culture. Strategic leverage. Control. Market access. All reasons for Global Capability Centers and in my view a key enabler for European businesses to unlock their potential globally and in India.
Many European businesses struggle with unlocking their vastly established core businesses in the digital age, especially in cutting edge technologies such as AI or machine learning. German hidden champions are located in smaller towns, strongly rooted in a local culture and environment. This is important to preserve, but difficult attract the key talent needed, which is why GCCs as in-house solutions actually are a natural fit for European businesses to remain in control and secure the next 20 to 50 years of business success.
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