NTT Data has launched a GCC Innovation Acceleration Programme to help multinational companies rapidly build and scale global capability centres (GCCs) and other innovation and delivery hubs in India.
Supporting more than 50 companies over the next three years, the initiative taps into India’s fast-growing GCC ecosystem, which provides IT services and back-office capabilities for multinational corporations and is projected to grow nearly 70 percent to reach US$110 billion by 2030, up from US$65 billion today.
NTT Data forecasts more than 2,500 centres and a workforce of about 4.5 million professionals in India’s GCC sector by the end of the decade.
“While GCCs in India are becoming global innovation engines, enterprise-scale AI adoption is still in its early days. Fewer than 20 percent of GCCs use AI as a core capability today,” said Avinash Joshi (top), Executive Managing Director of India at NTT Data.
Through the programme, NTT Data plans to support clients from the earliest stages of GCC planning through to ongoing operations. It will help design governance models, develop talent and optimise processes to allow new and existing centres to scale quickly.
NTT Data will leverage agentic AI, generative AI, high performance computing, digital twins, smart robotics, blockchain, and its IOWN next-generation network technologies to accelerate innovation for global clients.
The programme also emphasises co-creation, with NTT Data using its global innovation centres to take proof-of-concept projects from pilot to commercialisation. By combining advanced technologies with expertise developed across its global delivery network, it aims to boost clients’ short-term operational efficiency and strengthen their long-term competitiveness.
Early collaborations
NTT Data already works with several major GCC and innovation hubs in India, including Unilever’s GCC Hub in Bengaluru, where it has supported the development of a global innovation strategy and the application of advanced R&D technologies.
At Unilever’s Bengaluru hub, the partnership is focused on transforming how global R&D teams work. “This partnership allows us to harness advanced technologies, streamline innovation processes and deliver future-fit solutions for Unilever globally,” said Amit Tawani, Lead IT Manager, R&D IT, Unilever GCC Hub Bengaluru India.
NTT Data is also collaborating with Denso International India on digital platform development for the mobility circular economy and integrated manufacturing, and with a leading global automotive company on digital twin-based innovation and process improvements. These engagements serve as reference models for how GCCs can evolve into enterprise-wide innovation engines.
Looking ahead, the company plans to extend the GCC Innovation Acceleration Programme to a broad mix of global customers, including Japanese enterprises, by linking its India-based initiatives with innovation centres worldwide.
“GCCs are expected to evolve into an important base that supports the competitiveness of global companies. Through the GCC Innovation Acceleration Programme, NTT Data will utilise the strength of its global workforce of over 190,000, along with its broad technology portfolio, to advance co-creation R&D with a diverse range of clients and accelerate the creation of new value,” said Hiroshi Furukawa, Head of NTT Data Innovation Centre.
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