Scaling Up: Mantras that Could Drive Hypergrowth-focused GCCs

As Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India evolve from cost centers to innovation engines, the playbook for building and scaling them is being rewritten. Nayeema Kouser, Centre Head GCC at Sinch, whose rich experience across sectors—from financial services to consumer goods and tech—has shaped her nuanced perspective on what drives GCC excellence. In this candid conversation, Nayeema unpacks the success factors behind high-performing GCCs, offers mantras for hypergrowth, and shares how leadership, talent, and purpose can turn execution hubs into global strategic powerhouses.

GCC Pulse: You’ve helped build and scale GCCs across industries — from financial services to consumer goods to tech. What common threads or success factors have you seen in building high-performing GCCs?

Nayeema: A lot of common threads when you build or scale up an organization, and these are industry-agnostic. The success of any GCC starts with multiple factors:

• •  Clear strategic purpose and alignment- High-performing GCCs should be established with a clear purpose, whether it’s cost arbitrage, innovation, digital transformation, or operational excellence. A  combination of all the above needs to be tightly aligned enterprise goals and integrated with global business units rather than operating in silos else the strategy fails miserably.
  • Strong leadership and governance – Bringing on board experienced, empowered leaders who understand both global business expectations and local execution is the key. Establishing clear KPIs, risk/compliance frameworks, and decision-making protocols to ensure visibility and accountability.
  • Focus on talent and capability development – Hiring for potential, not just skills, recruiting top talent with adaptability, critical thinking, and cross-cultural collaboration skills, and once you hire competent staff, it’s all about continuous upskilling, leadership development, and access to global mobility or exchange programmes.
  • Transition from support to value-creation – Moving from transactional operations to high-value areas like analytics, AI/ML, cybersecurity, R&D, and product development, and driving digital transformation, IP creation, and even new product incubation within the GCC.
  • Agile and scalable operating model – Adopting agile delivery that allows for responsiveness to changing global demands, matrix org. structure, and promotes federated models allowing specialization without rigid hierarchies.
  • Cultural integration and collaboration – Creating programmes for cultural sensitization, reverse mentoring, and embedded expatriates or global rotations, and implementing tools and work practices that support asynchronous work and round-the-clock collaboration.
  • Focus on metrics and continuous improvement – Using both operational (cost, efficiency, quality) and strategic (innovation, value delivered, stakeholder satisfaction) metrics with embedded continuous process improvement initiatives.
  • Evolution and maturity journey – Maturity Curve Awareness: Recognizing and planning for the journey from stage 1 (execution) → stage 2 (enablement) → stage 3 (innovation & leadership), and never settle. To continuously redefine the GCC’s value proposition to stay ahead of internal and external expectations.

GCC Pulse: From your experience, how have GCCs evolved from being cost centres to becoming true strategic and innovation partners for global enterprises?

Nayeema: India has firmly established itself as the premier global hub for Global Capability Centres (GCCs), playing a vital role in enabling multinational corporations (MNCs) to drive innovation, operational efficiency, and digital transformation at scale.

Several key factors have positioned India as the global destination of choice for setting up and scaling GCCs:

Talent advantage: India boasts one of the world’s largest and most dynamic pools of STEM talent, with over 3 million graduates entering the workforce annually. The country’s strong emphasis on technical education, coupled with a growing startup culture, supports a highly skilled, adaptable, and cost-effective workforce.

Digital and innovation ecosystem: India’s thriving tech ecosystem—with leading innovation hubs in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Gurugram—enables GCCs to collaborate with startups, academia, and research institutes to develop next-generation products and solutions.

Operational maturity: GCCs in India have evolved from low-cost support centres to strategic units that deliver end-to-end ownership of key business functions. Many are today leading enterprise-wide transformation, data strategy, and customer experience initiatives for their global parent organizations.

Government support and infrastructure: India’s proactive policies, robust digital infrastructure, and focus on ease of doing business have further streamlined the establishment and growth of GCCs. Special economic zones, tax incentives, and investment in smart cities have also enhanced the overall ecosystem.

As businesses increasingly adopt global operating models and prioritize resilience, agility, and innovation, India’s role as a strategic hub for GCCs is only set to deepen. The future of global enterprise is being co-created in India, where scale meets skill, and vision meets execution.

GCC Pulse: What are the most critical capabilities GCC leaders need to build in their teams today to stay competitive and future-ready?

Nayeema: Global Capability Centre (GCC) leaders today must equip their teams with a blend of technical, strategic, and adaptive capabilities to remain competitive and future-ready. The evolving role of GCCs—from cost arbitrage hubs to innovation and transformation engines— demands a deliberate focus on building future-forward skills and mindsets, including some of the critical capabilities to stay competitive.

1.Digital & tech fluency – Tech is no longer a support function—it is a competitive differentiator. GCCs must lead in building platforms and digital capabilities for the enterprise.

2. Product thinking & customer-centricity – As GCCs take on more ownership of platforms and services, building intuitive, value-driven experiences is critical.

3. Data-driven decision-making – Teams must move from reporting to insight generation and proactive interventions using real-time data.

4. Business acumen & strategic insight – High-performing GCCs act as strategic partners, not just delivery arms. Teams need to speak the language of business.

5. Agility & resilience – Speed to market and resilience in uncertain conditions are key differentiators.

6. Global collaboration & cross-cultural competence – GCC teams must work seamlessly with global stakeholders, often leading virtual, multicultural teams.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series featuring Nayeema on the mantras powering the next generation of Global Capability Centers in India.

In Part 2 of this leadership blog series, we go deeper into India’s evolving strategic advantage, emerging sectoral opportunities, and Nayeema’s vision for the future of GCCs in India. We also explore her personal leadership mantras and advice for the next generation of global leaders.

Stay tuned!