Today, India is home to over 1,800 Global Capability Centres (GCCs), representing nearly 55% of the global total. These centres employ around 1.9 million professionals and contribute USD 64.6 billion in exports. The GCC footprint in India is projected to expand to over 2,400 centres, creating employment for 2.8 million people and generating an estimated USD 110 billion in economic value.

However, the poignant growth of GCCs also means an array of compliances tagging along. A typical GCC in India must manage 537 legal obligations- 443 at the Central level and 94 at the State level, amounting to over 2,000 annual compliance activities. Among these, 90 provisions carry imprisonment clauses, primarily under labour-related laws.

This report focuses on key compliance priorities for GCCs, now including data privacy and cybersecurity, guided by the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) 2023 and intellectual property protection frameworks to safeguard innovation. Labour and workforce compliance is evolving with state-specific diversity norms and national labour codes, while women’s safety and inclusion are reinforced through POSH, maternity, and night-shift regulations.

To ease compliance complexity and accelerate India’s emergence as a global GCC hub, the report recommends harmonising central and state laws, accelerating RegTech adoption, and fostering a trust-based, digital compliance ecosystem that empowers enterprises to grow responsibly.