India's next phase of global capability centre (GCC) expansion will be far more geographically diverse, with Tier-II and Tier-III cities emerging as key hubs of innovation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.
Addressing the CII National GCC Business Summit 2026 here, the Finance Minister said the first 2,000 GCCs were largely concentrated in metropolitan centres, but the next wave of growth is expected to spread across a wider range of cities as the geography of global value creation undergoes a transformation.
FM Sitharaman said future breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, engineering design and product development could emerge from cities such as Varanasi, Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam, Tiruchirappalli and Mysuru, just as readily as from established technology hubs like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram.
"This locational choice is deliberate because the next phase of our GCC story cannot remain confined to a handful of metropolitan centres," the finance minister said. The Finance Minister said that whenever a GCC establishes operations in a city, it creates a multiplier effect by generating demand for advanced skills and specialised training.
It also boosts start-ups, professional services, housing, urban infrastructure and research collaborations, while strengthening partnerships between universities, industry and local institutions. "When a GCC establishes itself in one of these cities, there is a multiplier impact.
It creates demand for advanced skills and specialised training," FM Sitharaman mentioned. The finance minister said such developments help transform cities into vibrant innovation ecosystems and position GCCs as important drivers of balanced regional economic development.
"In doing so, GCCs become catalysts for balanced regional development. This presents an important partnership opportunity for GCCs in shaping the next generation of innovation-led economic regions across India," FM Sitharaman explained.
Highlighting the role of states, FM Sitharaman said the response from state governments has been encouraging, with each state possessing distinct competitive advantages.