India’s AI-first global capability centres (GCCs) are shifting focus from headcount growth to AI governance, operating models and business outcomes, driving fresh demand for consulting, transformation and workflow redesign expertise, Geetanjali Khatri, EVP and Managing Director at Capgemini Invent India, told TNIE.
Khatri said GCCs are moving away from their traditional role as offshore delivery centres built around labour arbitrage and are increasingly becoming enterprise hubs for AI-led transformation.
“I don't see that anymore, there is a focus on scale or headcount as a matrix,” Khatri said. “The metric is more for GCCs to be driven by business outcomes.”
She said companies are now prioritising speed, quality, agility and accuracy of delivery as AI adoption spreads across enterprise functions. This has led firms to redesign workflows and operating models instead of treating AI as a standalone technology initiative.
“The AI strategy has to come from the top. The enterprise has to change, and GCC is not separate from the enterprise,” she said.
Khatri said enterprises are increasingly building AI-led operating models that combine digital agents with human oversight. She said the “human-AI collaboration” will continue to handle contextual judgment, ethics and governance while AI systems manage repetitive processes and workflows.
“So agents can do planning, they can act, they can reason, they can learn the enterprise workflow, but you still need the human interface for augmenting, for judgmental, for ethics, for being contextual,” she said.
Khatri said sectors such as R&D, engineering, logistics, banking operations, insurance, pharma and customer service are seeing faster AI adoption. Companies are also using AI-led digital twins and automation systems in operational workflows.
Further, she said, enterprises are increasingly looking for employees who can work alongside AI systems rather than relying only on conventional delivery skills.
“The roles today are getting more augmented,” she said. “They are looking at talent who are tech savvy, who are curious, who are more problem solvers.”
While concerns around job losses continue, she said companies are still in the middle of the AI transition and workforce structures are evolving gradually.
“I personally think it's a journey of two years, three years,” Khatri said, adding that organisations are still figuring out how AI systems, governance models and workforce structures will eventually stabilise.
She also said demand for consulting and advisory services has increased as enterprises seek help in building AI frameworks, governance structures and operating models.
“In fact, I see the need for consulting in the current state because everyone's looking for more unbiased advisory,” she said.
