Asia’s Biggest GCC Workplace Innovation Summit Brings Together Global Industry Leaders in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Bengaluru once again reinforced its position as the Global Capability Centre (GCC) capital of India by hosting one of Asia’s largest gatherings dedicated to the GCC ecosystem—the GCC Workplace Innovation Summit & Awards 2026. Held at the Hilton Bengaluru, the summit brought together senior government officials, Fortune 500 executives, GCC heads, CHROs, CFOs, technology leaders, startup founders, workplace strategists and policymakers to discuss the future of Global Capability Centres under the theme “Vision & Execution – Building GCCs That Deliver at Scale.”

Organised by Zyoin Group in association with the GCC Workplace Awards, the event showcased how India’s GCC landscape has evolved from shared service centres into global hubs for innovation, product engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, semiconductor design and enterprise transformation.

The day-long summit featured keynote addresses, high-impact panel discussions, networking sessions, breakout workshops, the launch of the GCC Innovation Playbook 2026, and concluded with the Leadership Excellence Awards and an exclusive CXO dinner.

Government and Industry Unite to Shape India’s GCC Vision

The summit opened with an inaugural ceremony followed by addresses from senior government dignitaries including B. Dayananda Rao of Bengaluru Airport City Limited, Seeram Sambasiva Rao, IAS from the Government of Kerala, P. Bharathi, IAS from the Government of Gujarat, Bhaskar Katamneni, IAS representing the Government of Andhra Pradesh, and Dr. Manjula N., Chief Personnel Officer at Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited.

Their addresses highlighted the increasing collaboration between governments and industry to strengthen India’s position as the preferred global destination for Global Capability Centres. Discussions focused on infrastructure, policy stability, digital transformation, talent development and innovation ecosystems that can sustain the country’s next phase of growth.

The event also witnessed the official launch of the GCC Innovation Playbook 2026, a strategic report capturing industry insights and emerging trends shaping the future of India’s GCC ecosystem.

Leadership Discussions Focus on Execution Over Expansion

The summit’s first panel discussion, “From Boardroom to Outcomes: The Leaders Playbook for Innovating, Adapting & Executing Global Strategy Locally,” was moderated by Vishal Agarwal, Partner at Citrin Cooperman India LLP.

Joining him on stage were Ramesh Narahari, Rency Mathew of Sabre Corporation, Sarish Paul of Allstate India and Srinivas Chamarthy from Diligent.

The panel explored how GCCs have evolved from cost centres into strategic business units responsible for innovation, customer experience, product engineering and enterprise transformation. Speakers agreed that leadership today is measured not by operational efficiency alone but by measurable business outcomes and innovation delivered globally from India.

Workplaces Becoming Competitive Advantages

The next session titled “The Office as a Talent Magnet: Designing GCC Workspaces That Win the Top Talent War” examined how physical workplaces continue to influence employee engagement even in the era of hybrid work.

Moderated by Ashwin Shrivastava of Knowledge Realty Trust, the discussion featured Kamal Sahdev from Delta Electronics, Magam Siva Krishna of 2Gethr, Shesh Rao Paplikar from BHIVE and Sunitha Gangadharan of STP Investment Services.

The panel discussed flexible work environments, employee wellbeing, collaboration spaces and workplace innovation as key differentiators in attracting and retaining global talent.

Building High-Performance GCC Operating Models

Another engaging discussion centred on “The Execution Engine – Talent Density, Tech Stack & Operating Models That Don’t Fall Apart.”

Moderated by Rakesh Ranjan of Zyoin Group, the panel included Diwakar Rai of Diebold, Himanshu Varshney from Think41, Sudish Lambodara Panicker of BNY and Tushar Gawande representing Anglo-Eastern.

The speakers shared best practices on scaling engineering organisations, creating resilient operating models and building technology stacks capable of supporting rapid enterprise growth.

Banking Sector Sees Strategic Role for GCCs

The morning concluded with a keynote by Joohi Smita Sinha from State Bank of India (SBI), who discussed the banking sector’s increasing reliance on Global Capability Centres for digital innovation, operational resilience and technology-led customer transformation.

CFOs Drive Enterprise Value

Following networking sessions, the afternoon opened with a discussion titled “From Efficiency to Enterprise Value: The Evolving Mandate of the GCC CFO.”

Moderated by Amit Rajawat of Citrin Cooperman India LLP, the panel featured Deepthi Jandhyala of Computershare, Rajesh Krishna from Nokia and Srividya S representing ABB Business Services.

The conversation explored how finance leaders are now strategic partners driving transformation, governance, sustainability and long-term enterprise value rather than simply managing costs.

Measuring What Truly Matters

The panel “From Output to Outcomes – How the Best GCCs Measure What Actually Matters” brought together Divesh Singla of Veradigm, Mihir Duggal from Sanofi, Vineet Dwivedi of Gilead Sciences and Vishnu Patwari from BDO RISE under the moderation of Souradithi Ramachandra of Lightcast.

The discussion focused on outcome-based performance measurement, business impact, innovation metrics and customer value rather than traditional productivity indicators.

Learning from Two Decades of Deep-Tech Innovation

Delivering another keynote, Vasanthi Ramesh from NetApp reflected on two decades of India’s engineering evolution and explained how Global Capability Centres have transformed into globally recognised innovation and product engineering hubs.

AI is Reshaping Every GCC

Artificial Intelligence remained one of the dominant themes throughout the summit.

The panel titled “AI & GCCs – How HR Leaders Must Reshape Talent Strategies When AI Rewrites Every Job” featured Harsha Peter of Workday India, Sujatha Subramanian from Automovio India, Thara Raju of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and independent GCC HR leader Yasmeen Shaikh.

Moderated by Kasturi Cotha of Subex, the discussion highlighted continuous reskilling, AI-ready leadership and workforce transformation as essential priorities for future-ready organisations.

GCC 2030: Building AI-Native Enterprises

One of the day’s most anticipated sessions, “GCC 2030: AI-Native, Autonomous & Globally Strategic Value Creators,” was moderated by Anuj Agrawal, Founder and CEO of Zyoin Group.

The panel featured Kaustubh Dawande from Citi, Pawan Panjwani of AllianceBernstein, Ravi Nalwaya from Staples India and Suresh Narayan representing Baker Tilly One India.

The discussion explored how AI-native organisations will redefine enterprise operations, decision-making, automation and customer experience over the coming decade.

India Emerging as the World’s Co-Innovation Capital

The session “India as the Co-Innovation Capital: Startups, GCCs and the Next Decade” showcased growing collaboration between startups and multinational enterprises.

Moderated by Mahesh D from Workplace Company, the panel included Arun Shetty of Cisco, Madhurima Agrawal from Microsoft, M. Naveen Kumar of NetApp and Praveena Bhimavarapu representing Maximus India.

Speakers agreed that startups will increasingly become innovation partners for Global Capability Centres rather than merely technology vendors.

Workplaces Designed Around Innovation

Another panel titled “The Room Where It Happens – Why the Next Wave of GCC Innovation Will Be Designed into the Workspace, Not Bolted On” featured Arpit Mehrotra of Colliers as moderator alongside Dhirendra Vashisht from Toyota Automated Logistics, Matthew Parambil of COWRKS, Rajesh Menon from CrowdStrike, Sharada Nandakumar of Voya India and Vybhava Srinivasan of Availity.

The discussion examined how workplace design, collaboration spaces and organisational culture directly influence innovation outcomes.

Talent Will Define India’s GCC Leadership

The panel “India’s GCC Moment: Can Talent Strategy Keep Up With Innovation Ambition?” featured Basavaraj Angadi of H&M, Mayur Ashok Mamidwar from Sanofi, Shweta Desai of SEI and Sidharth Gupta representing Bupa GCC.

Moderated by Rakesh Ranjan, the discussion emphasised that India’s greatest competitive advantage remains its talent pool, making continuous learning and leadership development essential.

From Cost Centres to Global Product Companies

One of the concluding sessions, “From Cost Center to Code Center: Can India’s GCCs Build the Next Billion-Dollar Product?” brought together Kamal Sharma of Carrier, Sanjeev Gupta from Wayfair India TDC and Venkateshan Ramasubramanian of ZoomInfo under the moderation of Rakesh Asuti from Blackhawk Network.

The discussion explored how Indian GCCs are increasingly leading global product development, engineering excellence and intellectual property creation rather than merely supporting headquarters.

Exclusive Interaction with Global Business Line

On the sidelines of the summit, Global Business Line held an exclusive interaction with Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, a veteran with more than four decades of experience in the GCC ecosystem and one of the industry’s most respected voices.

Gupta observed that Global Capability Centres have undergone a remarkable transformation over the past five years, evolving from support functions into strategic innovation engines responsible for developing products, creating new business portfolios, generating customer insights and driving enterprise-wide digital transformation. He stressed that artificial intelligence and cybersecurity have become central pillars of modern GCC strategy, while mid-market enterprises are demanding measurable returns within six months of establishing operations. Speaking about the future workforce, Gupta noted that technology skill cycles have reduced dramatically to nearly two-and-a-half years, requiring continuous reskilling and dynamic talent development. He also highlighted the need for India to build a complete technology ecosystem around data centres, including communication protocols, operating systems and cybersecurity capabilities, while emphasising Karnataka’s policy consistency and strong innovation ecosystem as key reasons behind its continued leadership in attracting global investments.

Breakout Sessions Explored Sector-Specific Challenges

Alongside the main conference, the summit hosted several closed-door breakout sessions for invited delegates. These included discussions on healthcare and life sciences leadership, innovation partnerships, GCC hiring strategies for AI talent, employee financial resilience, open-source technologies in regulated industries, building India’s next GCC destinations with state governments, talent location strategies, treasury and employee financial wellness, CHRO-CFO collaboration, and the future of workforce planning.

Celebrating Excellence Across the GCC Ecosystem

The summit concluded with the Leadership Excellence Awards Ceremony, recognising outstanding achievements across India’s Global Capability Centre ecosystem, followed by networking sessions and an exclusive CXO dinner.

As India continues to strengthen its position as the preferred destination for Global Capability Centres, the GCC Workplace Innovation Summit & Awards 2026 demonstrated that the country’s next phase of growth will be driven not by cost arbitrage but by innovation, artificial intelligence, product engineering, digital transformation and world-class talent. With Bengaluru at the heart of this transformation, the summit reinforced Karnataka’s role as the innovation capital powering the future of global enterprise operations.