THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala, with its talent pool, quality education facilities and an innovative startup ecosystem, has the right ingredients to attract more Global Capability Centres (GCCs), pointed out experts who spoke at ‘Kerala GCC Outlook 2026’ conclave held at Technopark on Tuesday. The panel discussion on ‘Kerala GCC opportunity: From strategic assessment to accelerated growth’ was hosted as a prelude to the launch of Kerala GCC feasibility report at the conclave.
Hrishikesh Nair, Chief Operating Officer, Brigade Enterprises Ltd; Suja Chandy, Chief Sustainability Officer (Global) & Managing Director, India Zafin; Jipu Jose James, Managing Director, PDS India, JLL; and Karthik Parasuram, General Manager & Centre Head, NOV’s Digital Technology Center, spoke on various factors that can accelerate Kerala’s growth to become a major GCC hub. Srinivasan Sarvabhouman, CFO, ANSR, moderated the session.
Kerala can be a niche destination for GCCs to start their operation owing to the state’s quality education institutions that generate readily available talent pool, said Suja Chandy. The state has its own unique strengths like good weather, excellent air quality, and sustainability etc which we could market to attract more GCC facilities into the state. However, more investment and focus should be given to academia and industry collaboration with the government as the enabler in order to sustain the talent pipeline, she added.
The state needs to have ready to occupy incubation spaces, and invest more on quality infrastructure in order to rope in more GCC facilities into the state, noted Hrishikesh. More air and rail connectivity and well networked metro facilities are also important factors that GCCs look before starting their operations, he said.
The attrition rate in companies functioning in Kerala is much lesser than other Tier-1 cities like Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi, which shows employees prefer living in Kerala, said Jipu Jose James.