India, Vietnam, or Eastern Europe: Who Wins the Next ODC Gold Rush?

India remains the largest and most reliable offshore destination in the world. According to NASSCOM, India’s IT and commercial services exported $194 billion, and more than 1,900 global capability centers (GCCs) are being operated in the country.

Major Features:

• Deepening of the workforce: More than 5.4 million technical professionals, of which 650,000 will be added in FY 2024.
• AI and GenAI Upskilling: India is a pioneer in adopting AI, where more than 45% of ODCs are now integrating AI/ML capabilities in their delivery.
• Cost proficiency with value: Despite increasing wages, India provides an unmatched cost-value balance through Tier 2 cities such as Coimbatore, Indore, and Kochi.
• Economic stability: India is now the 5th largest global economy, which by 2027 is expected to reach a 5 trillion GDP (IMF) by 2027.

From digital product engineering to full-scale pod setup, India has moved beyond low-cost outsourcing to a strategic innovation center.

Vietnam’s technical ecosystem has become a serious contender in the offshore development market with an increase of 30% annually from 2022. Cities like Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi are developing into small technical groups.

Opportunity:

• Less labour costs compared to India or Eastern Europe
• Fastly emerging software talents with over 450,000 technical graduates
• Government investment in digital infrastructure

Boundaries:

• Limited scale and language obstacles
• Still maturation in handling large-scale ODC

Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic are the Eastern Europe IT outsourcing centers. Their attraction lies in time-regional alignment and cultural compatibility with Western Europe.

Strengths:

• Extremely efficient workforce; Poland alone has more than 500,000 software engineers.
• Close and shared business culture with the European Union and Britain.

Obstacles:

• Rising cost (average hourly growth rate $45-70)
• Political instability in the region due to the proximity of the Ukraine conflict.
• Eastern Europe’s tech talent is small compared to India.

India’s lead in the offshore Development Centre (ODC) scenario has developed from a cost transfer destination to become one of the world’s strongest and most flexible global technical outsourcing hubs. India’s digital economy maturity, huge stores of trained engineers, and government-backed digital infrastructure initiatives have created a self-sufficient ecosystem for innovation.

Additional Strategic Benefits:

Startup and Research and Development Coordination: India has more than 110,000 active startups, many of which cooperate directly with global GCCs for research and development and artificial intelligence (AI) product experiments. This startup-GCC cooperation is becoming a blueprint for ODC innovation.

Policy-operated Technical Communications: India’s “Digital India” and “Skill India” missions for electronics and semiconductors, with incentives, are enabling long-term technical infrastructure that directly supports ODCs.

City-Based Expertise:

• Bangalore: Janei, Fintech, and Cloud-Environment POD
• Hyderabad: Pharma-Tech, Data Engineering
• Chennai and Pune: Automotive, BFSI, Embedded System
• Tier 2 City: Emerging Cost-Effective ODC Centre with talents

IP Safety and Compliance Readiness: With strong structures like the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, India is rapidly making its place as a safe, IP-responsible destination for ODC setup in India.

India is in 1st place globally in terms of technical capacity, digital maturity, and scale-readiness—more than 70% of the new GCCs are choosing India as their innovation hub.

The ODC model is developing in the coming years:

• India will play a leading role with co-conscious laboratories and GenAI-based distribution.
• Vietnam will provide specific product outsourcing and cybersecurity services.
• Eastern Europe will specialise in regulated industries and European Union Products.

The global ODC gold race is intensifying, but the winner is determined not only by geography but also by strategy. For enterprises seeking scale, flexibility, and innovation, India remains the most favourable overall offshore development center destination.

India is a pioneer in strategic alignment not only in numbers but also with its multifaceted ecosystem and with global enterprise requirements. The Indian ODC strategy is renewing the way the manufacture of digital products in the world works, from BFSI giants setting up AI laboratories in Bangalore to the healthcare technology firms that make prototypes in Hyderabad.

In India, partnership with Inductus GCC to create safe, measured, and innovative offshore development centers. We offer custom-made ODC with domain-specific agile teams, fast ramp-up capabilities, and complete compliance. From GenAI to Cloud Environment, our delivery ecosystem is designed for speed, price, and change.