CHENNAI: US-based pharmacy and healthcare group Walgreens is set to open a global capability centre (GCC) in Chennai, adding to a wave of GCC investment into Tamil Nadu’s capital. Walgreens India Private Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government in the presence of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Friday.
The proposed centre, to be housed at DLF Downtown in Taramani, will focus on technology and business services and is expected to create 250 high-value jobs in its first year, with further hiring planned in subsequent years. Walgreens joins a growing roster of US and European companies setting up technology and business-services hubs in Chennai.
GCC meant to aid Walgreens’ global tech & business ops
These firms are drawn by Chennai’s software engineering talent pool and, in Walgreens’ case, its established healthcare and life-sciences ecosystem. The GCC is intended to support enterprise-wide tech & business functions of the group globally.
The Walgreens MoU follows the state’s unveiling in the Assembly of a GCC Corridor and Development Programme, designed to steer new capability centres toward designated employment corridors across Chennai as the sector expands beyond its established base in the city.
The programme covers three key corridors — Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road, Mount-Poonamallee High Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR).
Earlier this week, the CM had signed an MoU with Ernst & Young (EY) in the UK to facilitate the establishment, operation of a GCC in TN on behalf of a UK-headquartered telecommunications firm, which would generate 2,000 high-value jobs.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday described TN as a major GCC hub, saying the state had 350 GCCs, accounting for about 10% of the country’s total. Number of GCCs in Chennai could touch 450-460 by 2030, with the associated talent pool in TN rising 1.4 times to 320,000-370,000 professionals, according to a CBRE study earlier this year..
