5 Policy Reforms That Can Supercharge India's GCC Growth in 2025

What if India could leapfrog from being the world's back-office to becoming its brain trust?

As boardrooms around the world rethink cost, resilience, and innovation, India stands on the brink of its biggest transformation in decades—a shift from scale to strategy, from services to solutions.

India stands at the cusp of becoming the world's GCC hub, with over 1,900 Global Capability Centers (GCCs) already anchoring here. As the global tech landscape shifts rapidly—powered by AI, digital transformation, and the decentralization of talent—India has an unprecedented opportunity to cement its leadership. But seizing this opportunity will require more than market potential. It will demand decisive policy reform.

In this article, we explore five high-impact policy reforms that could turbocharge India’s GCC momentum in 2025. Whether you're a policy thinker, CXO, or GCC leader, these reforms are not just desirable—they’re essential.

Policy Reform: The Key to India’s GCC Growth

India has everything going for it—talent, scale, cost-efficiency, and digital maturity. What’s missing is policy reform that actively removes friction, simplifies compliance, and promotes long-term global investment.

As we enter 2025, India's ability to become a true global business hub depends not just on its raw potential, but on its ability to act decisively. These five policy reforms will do exactly that.

1. Simplify Labor Laws for the Digital Economy

   One of the most pressing areas for policy reform is India's outdated and fragmented labor laws. While the central government has consolidated 29 labor laws into four labor codes, implementation remains inconsistent across states.

   What Needs to Change:

   • Introduce single-window digital labor law compliance for GCCs.
   • Exempt knowledge workers from some legacy compliance norms, such as biometric attendance or factory-style wage formats.
   • Enable remote-first GCCs with portable employee benefits, including PF and ESI contributions that support WFH or hybrid structures.

   Why it Matters: Most GCCs today are hybrid or fully remote. Antiquated labor codes hinder flexibility, restrict operations, and increase risk for global investors. This policy reform will remove major scalability bottlenecks.

2. Special Tax Benefits for GCCs

   Despite being knowledge and innovation engines, GCCs are often taxed like traditional service exporters. This ignores their unique business model and higher-value functions like R&D, compliance, and AI/ML product development.

   Policy Reform Recommendation:

   • Create a special tax bracket or deduction for qualifying GCCs that conduct high-end work like digital transformation, product innovation, or AI model training.
   • Offer sunset clause-based tax incentives for new entrants who create IP or generate employment beyond a threshold.

   Example: Singapore and Ireland offer tax credits or exemptions to innovation-led firms. India must match this if it aims to become the preferred talent hub for AI and digital talent.

3. Boost AI Tools and Digital Infrastructure

   GCCs thrive on cutting-edge tech—cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and data analytics. But in India, digital infrastructure deployment is throttled by licensing delays, data localization uncertainty, and compliance ambiguity.

   Key Policy Reform Measures:

   • Streamline approval and licensing for AI/ML-based HR tech platforms, including AI recruitment tools.
   • Provide a sandbox framework where GCCs can pilot AI hiring, productivity, and compliance software.
   • Offer digital infrastructure credits to incentivize Tier-II/Tier-III cities for new GCC locations.

   Why it Matters: GCCs rely heavily on AI recruitment tools to scale fast. India must enable, not regulate them out of efficiency.

4. Clarify Rules for Build-Operate-Transfer Models

   The Build-Operate-Transfer model is becoming increasingly popular among multinational corporations. It allows a vendor to set up and operate a GCC, which is then handed over to the client.

   But this model hits roadblocks due to:

   • Ambiguity in ownership transfer (IP, talent, leases)
   • Delays in cross-border capital movement
   • Confusion over GST implications during asset transfer

   Urgent Policy Reform:

   • Define a clear BOT Policy Framework under DPIIT or MEITY.
   • Permit fast-track approvals for transfer of leases, talent, and assets with minimal regulatory drag.
   • Offer BOT-specific tax clarity and cross-border movement simplification.

   Global Capability Centers powered by BOTs can be India's fastest route to scaling white-label innovation. It’s time to make the model mainstream through smart policy reform.

   The Indian government has already laid foundational groundwork through various policy guidelines and frameworks. A dedicated BOT policy, aligned with these existing reforms, would offer clarity and speed to international investors and GCC operators alike.

5. Launch a Unified GCC Talent Visa

   India’s ability to dominate as a GCC hub is intrinsically tied to cross-border collaboration. Today,

   GCCs in India struggle with:

   • Delays in short-term business visas for inbound expats
   • Red tape for outbound employee deployments
   • Complex FRRO norms for foreign GCC staff

   Game-Changing Policy Reform:

   • Launch a dedicated GCC Solutions Visa under the IndiaStack/MEA framework for:
   • Short-term knowledge transfers
   • Talent Solutions consultants
   • Internal transfers across geographies
   • Integrate this visa with India's digital ID ecosystem to ease onboarding, taxation, and mobility

   Why it Matters: GCCs are not just about local talent. They’re about global collaboration. A GCC Solutions Visa will enable India to play as one unified global business hub.

Set Up a National GCC Policy Taskforce

To ensure these policy reforms don’t remain just whitepapers, the Indian government should create a high-level GCC Catalyst Taskforce. This body could include representatives from:

• MEITY, DPIIT, and Ministry of External Affairs
• Industry bodies like NASSCOM, CII
• Leading GCC operators, service providers, and AI policy experts

This taskforce can:

• Track real-time hurdles faced by GCCs
• Create data-backed quarterly progress dashboards
• Recommend iterative tweaks to the policy reform roadmap

In fact, the Indian government has previously published task force reports, showcasing a strong precedent for using cross-functional expert panels to guide national tech strategy. A similar initiative focused on GCCs could dramatically accelerate India’s positioning as a global innovation and capability hub.

The 2025 Vision: India as the GCC Powerhouse

If even three of the five policy reforms are implemented by mid-2025, the domino effect will be enormous:

• India can attract 300+ new GCCs in the next 24 months.
• Tier-II cities like Coimbatore, Indore, Bhubaneswar could emerge as micro hubs.
• Over 2 million digital jobs could be created, with 40% in next-gen domains like AI, cybersecurity, and green tech.

India's positioning as a talent hub for high-value GCC functions will deepen, diversifying from just tech support to product, compliance, and innovation roles.

Final Thoughts

India has the scale. It has the talent. It has the narrative. What it needs is actionable, bold policy reform that unlocks the next phase of GCC evolution. These five reforms—rationalized labor laws, special tax regime, fast-tracked digital approvals, streamlined Build-Operate-Transfer, and mobility-enabling visas—can catalyze not just growth but transformation.

2025 can be the year India doesn’t just participate in the global GCC race—but leads it.

At Anlage, we provide end-to-end GCC solutions—helping global companies set up, scale, and optimize their India capability centers with speed and strategic clarity.

Let’s not waste this inflection point. Let’s reform to perform. Reach out to us to explore how we can support your GCC journey in India.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does India need policy reform for GCC growth?

   Outdated laws, unclear tax structures, and slow approvals often slow down expansion. Smart policy reform can make it easier, faster, and more attractive for global companies to invest in India.

2. What challenges do GCCs currently face in India?

   Labor law complexity, infrastructure bottlenecks, tax ambiguity, and visa delays are some of the biggest pain points. These issues often impact speed and scalability.

3. How will tax benefits help GCCs grow?

   A special tax regime for high-value GCCs—especially those working on AI, R&D, and product innovation—will encourage more global players to expand operations in India.

4. What is the Build-Operate-Transfer model?

   In this model, a service provider sets up and runs a GCC on behalf of a global company, and later transfers it back to them. It’s a fast, low-risk way to enter India—but it needs clear policies to thrive.

5. How does Anlage support companies setting up GCCs in India?

   Anlage offers end-to-end GCC solutions—from hiring and compliance to real estate and operations—making it easier for global firms to build and scale successful centers in India.