As the United Kingdom and India move steadily toward signing of their historic Free Trade Agreement (FTA), there is growing recognition of the FTA’s potential to redefine bilateral economic engagement. Among the most promising areas of collaboration is the rapidly evolving ecosystem of Global Capability Centres (GCCs) — a sector where India leads, and the U.K. can be a pivotal partner.
India is already home to more than 1,500 GCCs, employing over 1.9 million people and contributing significantly to the global innovation and digital transformation agendas of multinational corporations. Increasingly, British companies are looking to India not just as a cost-effective back office, but as a strategic partner for research and development, analytics, cybersecurity, and emerging tech solutions.
The FTA could be a catalyst for deeper engagement in this space. By easing regulatory barriers, facilitating smoother movement of professionals, and harmonising digital and data governance standards, the agreement can support the expansion of GCCs that serve U.K.-headquartered businesses — or leverage British expertise to serve global markets from India.
Much potential
The U.K.’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited India within weeks of his taking office, demonstrating commitment towards the partnership with the U.K. The Business and Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds’ visit ahead of resuming FTA negotiations, following suit. At the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), we think that there is real potential to further increase our trade, investment, and wider partnership. Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Narendra Modi also had an extremely productive meeting at the G-20 Summit in Brazil, in 2024, agreeing to take the relationship to new heights.
From the U.K.’s perspective, the FTA is a timely opportunity to secure access to one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies, while reinforcing its global services and innovation footprint post-Brexit. For India, greater U.K. investment and collaboration in the GCC space aligns perfectly with its digital economy ambitions, skilling objectives, and goal of becoming a global hub for high-value services.
The UKIBC has long championed the idea that the future of trade lies not just in goods but also in the services, skills and technology that power the new global economy. The GCCs stand at the intersection of all three.
The FTA can pave the way for easier cross-border collaboration, robust intellectual property frameworks, and smart mobility solutions that allow talent to move where it is most needed.
A well-crafted agreement can also address the practical challenges businesses face such as double taxation, data localisation mandates and misaligned standards, that often inhibit the scaling of GCCs. Addressing these through the FTA, or individually, will send a strong signal to investors and businesses in both nations.
According to a white paper released by Deloitte India, the country is making strides in the global GCC game, as India-based GCCs have emerged as strategic hubs for multinational companies to manage complex global tax operations, including corporate tax, indirect tax, transfer pricing, and litigation,
India’s current policy environment is highly conducive for GCC growth, even without a dedicated national GCC policy at the moment. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has formed an industry-led panel — including the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Zinnov, KPMG, and Invest India — to design the national GCC framework outlined in Budget 2025. Its goal is to guide States in promoting GCCs, improving talent, infrastructure, innovation, and legal facilitation.
State government policies
Other than central government endeavours, we also see State governments rolling out landmark policies. Uttar Pradesh hosted its first “GCC Conclave” under Invest UP, bringing together policymakers and industry heavyweights (Microsoft, TCS, HCL, Standard Chartered). The event showcased U.P.’s infrastructure, incentives, and intent to host GCCs beyond National Capital Region cities, in Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur and Prayagraj.
In this context, the UKIBC recently held a closed-door consultation to bring together a distinguished group of leaders and experts to explore the expanding role of GCCs in driving innovation and economic growth in India. The group deliberated on a set of recommendations including global best practices from a governance perspective to help India achieve its economic ambitions set for GCCs. It also discussed these: whether there is a need for a dedicated national GCC policy now; whether organic growth from the past is best achieved in the absence of any such policies; or if having multiple State-level policies create unwanted competition instead of overall national progress. The need for honing talent diversity as well as skilfully managing the diversity of GCC’s themselves, was also underscored.
Some of the legal hurdles and the market outlook was touched upon, with some practical experiences of Indian and U.K. companies being shared. Additionally, the overall impact of India’s economic diplomacy efforts through FTAs on the Indian GCC ecosystem was touched on. These included aspects of how the U.K.-India FTA can be leveraged to help Indian GCCs climb up the global value chain, with a focus on talent diversity in terms of professional mobility across the two countries.
A knowledge corridor
As the two governments fine-tune the final provisions, industry leaders must continue to voice the importance of services, digital trade and mobility — the lifelines of modern commerce. GCCs, in particular, stand to gain from — and contribute to — this evolving partnership, shaping a resilient, knowledge-based corridor between the U.K. and India.
Kishore Jayaraman is OBE, India Chair, UK India Business Council (UKIBC)
