India’s Global Capability Center (GCC) landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation. What began as a cost arbitrage play has evolved into something far more strategic—a shift from back-office support to front-line innovation. With over 1,700 GCCs now operating across the country, employing nearly 1.9 million professionals and generating close to $64.6 billion in revenue, India has firmly established itself as a critical node in global tech value chains.
At the forefront of this evolution is Piyush Kedia, Co-Founder and CEO of InCommon, a full-stack GCC operator that’s challenging conventional wisdom about how global firms should approach building and scaling operations in India. Unlike traditional setup models that cobble together multiple vendors and service providers, InCommon integrates everything—strategy, hiring, operations, and culture—into a single, seamless platform designed to help mid-market and PE-backed firms move from setup to scale at speed.
In this conversation with CIO&Leader, Kedia pulls back the curtain on what’s driving Karnataka’s dominance in the mid-market GCC space, why next-generation centers are embedding AI from day one rather than bolting it on later, and how the right cultural and leadership frameworks can transform what were once viewed as cost centers into genuine innovation engines. As GenAI, agent-based workflows, and real-time telemetry reshape how work gets done, Kedia offers a compelling vision for what the next wave of GCC evolution in India will look like—and why firms that move fastest will capture outsized value in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Co-Founder & CEO
InCommon
CIO&Leader: India’s GCC landscape has matured rapidly, from cost arbitrage to innovation leadership. How do you see this transition redefining India’s role in global tech value chains, particularly for growth-stage startups and PE-backed firms?
Piyush Kedia: India is now home to over 1,700 GCCs, employing nearly 1.9 million professionals and generating close to US$64.6 billion in revenue. This rapid evolution signals a decisive shift in India’s positioning, from being a cost-efficient outsourcing destination to becoming a strategic hub for innovation, product development, and global delivery.
For growth-stage and PE-backed firms, this opens a powerful opportunity. India now offers the ecosystem, talent depth, and operational maturity to build teams that don’t just execute, but innovate, driving global products, customer experiences, and business outcomes. With the right model in place, companies can leverage India to accelerate growth, scale efficiently, and create true centers of excellence rather than support functions.
CIO&Leader: Karnataka now accounts for nearly half of India’s mid-market GCCs. What unique ecosystem advantages, talent density, policy, or innovation culture make the state a magnet for next-gen centers?
Piyush Kedia: Karnataka has emerged as the epicenter of India’s GCC wave, attracting nearly half of the country’s mid-market GCCs. The following are the reasons behind this:
- Deep talent base: Bengaluru, often called India’s tech capital, offers an unparalleled pool of engineering and product leadership talent, professionals who have built, scaled, and shipped global products across industries.
- Progressive policy framework: The state’s dedicated GCC Policy (2024–29) provides a strong push through fiscal incentives, infrastructure support, and a streamlined setup process designed to attract and retain global firms.
- Thriving ecosystem: Karnataka hosts a dynamic mix of startups, corporates, and service providers, creating a fertile environment for innovation, speed, and cross-pollination of ideas.
For mid-market firms, Karnataka offers the trifecta of talent, policy, and ecosystem, all in one place. And with other states now stepping up with similar initiatives and incentives, India’s GCC landscape is set to become even more competitive and innovation-driven.
CIO&Leader: InCommon positions itself as a *full-stack operator* for GCCs. How does your model blend technology, culture, and leadership to help global firms accelerate from setup to scale seamlessly?
Piyush Kedia: We integrate strategy, setup, hiring, operations, and culture into a single, seamless flow, eliminating the need to coordinate across multiple vendors.
- Our referral-driven hiring platform helps tap into India’s top 1% of talent across engineering, creative, and operations roles.
- We embed a strong site or country head early to establish culture, accountability, and delivery excellence from day one.
- From the start, we align on measurable outcomes—speed, quality, and shipped value —ensuring every effort drives toward those goals.
CIO&Ledaer: How are mid-market GCCs approaching AI and automation differently from large enterprise centers, and what lessons can traditional firms learn from their agility and experimentation?
Piyush Kedia: Mid-market GCCs are increasingly AI-first by design, not “AI-later.” Unlike traditional setups that layer AI as an afterthought into existing workflows, these centers are built with intelligence at the core, embedding analytics, AI agents, and feedback loops right from the start. This early integration allows them to make faster, data-led decisions, iterate rapidly, and deliver tangible outcomes without being weighed down by legacy systems or rigid processes.
For larger enterprises, there’s a valuable lesson here: innovation thrives when friction is reduced and teams closest to the work take ownership. By empowering these teams and shifting focus from plans to shipped outcomes, organizations can unlock the same speed, adaptability, and continuous learning that define successful mid-market GCCs.
CIO&Leader: There is a shift in mindset from “cost center” to “innovation engine.” What cultural and leadership frameworks does InCommon implement to help organizations make this leap sustainably?
Piyush Kedia: To shift GCCs from cost centers to true innovation engines, we focus on cultural and leadership frameworks that empower teams and drive outcomes. Decision-making sits at the edge, with site leads and pods closest to the work, ensuring agility and ownership without dependence on distant layers. We anchor strong leadership early to set the tone, standards, and culture that enable accountability and innovation to thrive. And we make outcome metrics visible and actionable, measuring release frequency, learning velocity, and value delivered, so performance is defined by impact, not just cost or headcount.
CIO&Leader: Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, which technology trends — cloud-native architectures, GenAI, or digital twins —do you believe will most significantly shape the next wave of GCC evolution in India?
Piyush Kedia: GenAI and agent-based workflows are set to become integral to how work gets done, not just tools that sit on the sidelines. Organizations will increasingly design systems that enable intelligent agents to handle routine decisions, freeing teams to focus on higher-order problem-solving and innovation. Hybrid cloud and infrastructure stacks will play a key role in balancing the need for speed, scalability, and data control.
As operations evolve, real-time telemetry — tracking how fast teams ship, how often incidents occur, and how quickly they learn — will serve as the new operating scorecard, redefining performance management in GCCs. India is uniquely positioned to lead this next phase, with its deep talent pool, expansive GCC ecosystem, and supportive policy frameworks, fueling the creation of next-generation AI-driven global centers.