Kerala Positions Itself as India’s GCC Talent Hub

KOCHI:

Kerala IT, in association with The Economic Times, hosted 100-plus leaders from Global Capability Centers, highlighting the state’s forthcoming policy for growth and urged them to consider building their innovation hubs in God’s Own Country.

The Government of Kerala reinforced its ambition to become India’s next hub for Global Capability Centres (GCCs), unveiling plans to deepen collaboration between global corporations and the state’s thriving startup ecosystem.

At ET SURGE 2025, held during 12th-14th September, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced his commitment to making the state future-ready by cutting through red tape and creating a boilerplate that will help Kerala go from 40 GCCs now to 120 by 2030.

This was further amplified by Seeram Sambasiva Rao, Special Secretary for Electronics and Information Technology, Government of Kerala, in his remarks. “Kerala is one of the very few places that is going to undergo rapid transformation in the next few years,” Sambasiva said at the premier residential summit for GCC leaders.

Through the course of the discussions, stakeholders underscored Kerala’s strengths: a highly skilled and stable talent pool, world-class social infrastructure, and a sustainable model of urban development.

Industry leaders welcomed the state’s forward-looking approach, while calling for sectoral positioning in areas such as BFSI, insurance, healthcare, shipping & logistics, cybersecurity, and data engineering.

“Kerala’s journey in the digital domain has been guided by a clear and inclusive vision to build an innovation driven economy that empowers every citizen and every enterprise. It is not just about infrastructure, it is indeed an intentional design about creating ecosystems where technology meets purpose,” said S.D. Shibulal, Vice-Chairman, High Power IT Committee, Government of Kerala.

A panel discussion between Seeram Sambasiva Rao, Jison John, MD & CEO, Allianz Services India, and Hari Prasad, Vice-President & Managing Director, H&R Block GCC envisaged ways to scale GCCs in emerging Indian cities and brought forth welcoming notes from other dignitaries.

Additionally, Sambasiva held marathon meetings with dozens of GCC leaders present at ET SURGE, paving the way for meaningful dialogue and a new-found interest for investments in Kerala.

Suja Chandy, MD&CEO – Zafin India and Chief Sustainability Officer- Zafin , Deva Joseph, VP – Air India Centre of Digital Innovation, Sanjeev Sudheer, VP – Reply India, Joseph Samuel, VP – SOTI were among the other GCC leaders present from Kerala. “We are currently exploring, from a business continuity standpoint, if we can migrate our overseas setup to India and Kerala can definitely be one of the options. In my current centre, about 20% of the team members are from Kerala, and they have been doing exceedingly well,” said Amit Grover of global cloud communications firm Avaya.