What is a Global Capability Center (GCC)?

A Global Capability Center (GCC) is a centralized offshore unit established by an organization to deliver strategic services such as IT, engineering, analytics, finance, and R&D to support global operations.

What is an Offshore Development Center (ODC)?

An Offshore Development Center (ODC) is a dedicated team located in a different country that focuses primarily on software development, application maintenance, and technology support for a client.

What services are commonly delivered through a GCC?

GCCs provide services such as IT operations, product engineering, data analytics, cybersecurity, finance and accounting, HR services, and research and development.

What are the key benefits of setting up a GCC?

Key benefits include cost optimization, access to global talent, operational scalability, faster innovation, improved control, and long-term strategic value creation.

Which industries commonly use GCCs and ODCs?

Industries such as technology, banking and financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecom, and automotive commonly leverage GCCs and ODCs.

What locations are popular for setting up GCCs and ODCs?

Popular locations include India, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Philippines due to strong talent pools and cost advantages.

How long does it take to set up a GCC or ODC?

The setup timeline can range from a few weeks to several months, depending on factors such as location, scale, infrastructure requirements, and governance model.

Is a GCC or an ODC better for long-term growth?

A GCC is generally better for long-term strategic growth and innovation, while an ODC is ideal for rapid execution, flexibility, and short- to medium-term technology needs.

How do GCCs and ODCs help with cost optimization?

They reduce costs by leveraging lower labor expenses, optimizing resource utilization, minimizing infrastructure investments, and enabling round-the-clock development through time-zone advantages.

How is data security and IP protection handled in GCCs and ODCs?

Data security is ensured through strict compliance frameworks, secure infrastructure, access controls, legal agreements, and adherence to international standards such as ISO, SOC, and GDPR.

Zero-Trust Security Framework for Modern India GCCs

The Global Capability Centers (GCCs) of India are no longer just engines of back-office costs, but they are hubs of strategic innovation. There are more than 1,900 GCCs in India that generate billions in revenue and contribute huge shares of the country’s service exports. GCCs will grow tremendously by the year 2030 and will drive more employment and advanced work on global businesses.

This development creates an urgent need for cybersecurity. The Indian cybersecurity market is growing at a tremendous rate; the latest estimates indicate that the market will grow to be within the multi-billion dollar bracket by 2024 and has a good CAGR up until 2030 as organisations seek to upgrade their security systems. The protection of intellectual property, controlled data, and the business concept itself are now strategic investments for GCC business operations and offshore development centers.

Zero Trust: A Business-Orientated Definition

Zero-Trust Security is not a list of tools but a change of mindset towards GCC Business Operations and Offshore Development Centres. Practically, it implies identity-first controls; least-privilege access; micro-segmentation of assets; continuous verification; and quick containment in the event of inevitable compromise. This approach balances security with business outcomes, including safe IP monetisation, guaranteed service quality for clients abroad, and reduced regulatory burden.

Why India GCCs Need to Go Faster with Zero-Trust

From hundreds to thousands of workforce members and contractors are increasing the surface of the insider and lateral-movement risk.

Regulators and clients are pushing towards showing data controls: India is advancing with Digital Personal Data Protection rules, which will make privacy compliance operationally binding. GCCs need to incorporate controls whenever audits and contractual requirements are due.

The world is going faster towards the use of Zero Trust: According to the latest industry polls, a significant portion of enterprises have already moved to or are in the process of moving to Zero Trust concepts, and it has become the baseline of current cybersecurity. Slow GCCs will be disadvantaged in respect to competition and contracts.

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Practical Zero-Trust Implementation

The following is a brief, business-orientated roadmap that is specific to GCC Business Operations and Offshore Development Centres. At every stage, security work is harmonised to quantifiable business commitments.

Phase	Focus	Business Promise
Visibility & Inventory	Assign identities and devices and workloads to the cloud and on-prem.	Eliminate the blind spots; the basis risk.
Policy & Identity Hardening	Enforce MFA, SSO, RBAC, and credential hygiene	Reduce account compromise risk
Micro-segmentation & Data Controls	Workload segregation with Network and sensitive IP DLP.	Restrict lateral blast radius; safeguard trade secrets.
Constant Monitoring and Autonomic Reactions.	Analytics of behaviour and machine containment.	Reduce dwell time; ensure uptime and SLA.

Economic Benefits

Zero-Trust security is an economic lever to invest in. Strong controls allow GCCs to open up more important parent organisation requirements, such as product engineering, IP development, training AI models, and monetisation.

The same trust translates into increased billing rates, responsibilities, and quantifiable contributions to host states as well as India on the whole. According to recent economic studies, the GCC sector plays an overly significant role in employment and output; security maturity supports that trend.

Operational Implementation

Identity-first: Assume all users, machines, and APIs are untrusted before they are authenticated and authorised.
Secure the developer Lifecycle: Implement the protection of the CI/CD pipeline and secret management within offshore development centers to avoid supply-chain attacks.
Control Shadow AI: Adopt usage policies, model access controls and telemetry to control unauthorised usage of LLM within GCCs.
Third-party hygiene: Vendor attestation and ongoing monitoring are required; extended ecosystems are common vectors of breach.
Measure the KPIs of the Business: Mean time to detect, mean time to contain, and percentage of critical assets segmented. Not just security teams, but company executives should be informed about these.

Conclusion

Zero-Trust security will identify which GCCs will become cost centres and grow into global strategic allies. The most valuable mandates will be captured by GCC Business Operations, who implement a modern security framework that is identity-first, continuous, and automated. The regulatory environment of India is becoming stricter, with clients requesting better guarantees and coverage, so Zero-Trust investment is not an offensive cost but an enhancer of expansion, strength and reputational assets of the offshore development center in India.

When your GCC requires a custom Zero-Trust roadmap that is tightly integrated with its maturity and business objectives, the second step is a brief visibility scan that visualises identities, sensitive data and workflows of high risk and then a prioritised, business case-driven implementation roadmap.

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frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is a Global Capability Centre (GCC)?

A GCC is an offshore facility of a multinational company that undertakes niche roles such as research and development, information technology service and strategic management.

What is the Stand-Up India scheme?

It is a government program that gives the women entrepreneurs up to 1 crore in bank loans to fund greenfield projects.

What are the challenges associated with women in tech?

Personal responsibilities and unconscious bias are the factors that lead to their mid-career attrition and slow them down in their careers.

What is the effect of women leaders in the innovation process?

They introduce new ideas, understanding, and team-oriented leadership that speeds up the advancement of such areas as AI and cybersecurity.

What does the future of women in the leadership of the GCC hold?

By 2030, women are expected to take up 25-30 per cent of GCC leadership positions, which will be paramount to the growth of the Indian market.

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Aditi

Aditi, with a strong background in forensic science and biotechnology, brings an innovative scientific perspective to her work. Her expertise spans research, analytics, and strategic advisory in consulting and GCC environments. She has published numerous research papers and articles. A versatile writer in both technical and creative domains, Aditi excels at translating complex subjects into compelling insights. Which she aligns seamlessly with consulting, advisory domain, and GCC operations. Her ability to bridge science, business, and storytelling positions her as a strategic thinker who can drive data-informed decision-making.