How GCCs in India and Southeast Asia Are Pioneering Agentic AI Transformation Across Industries

GCCs as the Testbed for Agentic AI Transformation

Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India and Southeast Asia are leading the adoption of agentic AI, changing how industries like banking, healthcare, and retail operate. These centers have evolved beyond cost-saving hubs to become innovation centers that use AI to streamline processes, improve customer experiences, and accelerate product development.

India and Southeast Asia have consistently been at the forefront of major tech waves—from dotcom and telecom to 5G, AI, and now agentic AI. Agentic AI refers to AI agents capable of performing tasks autonomously with minimal human input. GCCs in these regions are testing these AI models in real business situations, moving beyond traditional back-office functions to drive innovation in sectors such as retail, healthcare, BFSI, and travel.

A Deloitte survey projects that 25% of organizations currently using generative AI will deploy agentic AI by 2025, with adoption expected to reach 50% by 2027. This growth highlights the increasing trust and reliance on AI agents in critical business operations.

Specialized and Critical Functions in GCCs

GCCs are taking on more specialized roles, including:

• Software product engineering
• Data and analytics, such as fraud prevention and product innovation
• Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) monitoring, including sustainability metrics and compliance
• Enterprise functions like centralized HR, legal, risk management, and reporting

Driving Innovation Through AI Talent

GCCs are not just executing innovation developed elsewhere. They leverage deep pools of developer and data science talent to create and implement AI-driven solutions. Engineers based in India, for example, are building AI-powered cybersecurity tools, optimizing supply chains with machine learning, and automating cloud operations, directly contributing to global innovation initiatives.

Industry Use Cases

Across sectors, GCCs are pioneering the use of agentic AI. In banking, some GCCs are reinventing contact center operations, enhancing customer experience while lowering costs. Healthcare-focused GCCs are accelerating legacy system modernization, completing projects in months instead of years. High-tech GCCs are advancing AI model lifecycle management to maintain competitive edges.

Enterprise-grade AI platforms are enabling agentic workflows at scale. GCCs deploy AI copilots across finance, HR, and compliance functions—agents that can interpret documents, interact with internal systems, and make decisions within defined limits. This approach improves speed and accuracy significantly. Some AI platforms report up to a 20% acceleration in story generation and up to 70% improvement in automation coverage, enabling faster and more scalable AI-driven product development.

Domain-Specific AI Agent Training

A key strength of GCCs is their ability to train AI agents using domain-specific data and context. Deloitte estimates that a quarter of companies using generative AI will pilot agentic AI systems by 2025, doubling by 2027. Much of this experimentation happens within GCCs, where domain experts and proprietary data are available.

Teams fine-tune large language models and AI tools on proprietary datasets, such as medical records or financial transactions, to develop specialized AI agents. For example, a healthcare GCC might train an AI agent for diagnostics using hospital data, while a retail GCC could train recommendation engines based on local consumer behavior.

Scaling AI with Localized Knowledge Graphs

Many GCCs enhance AI performance by integrating localized knowledge graphs—structured representations of an organization’s domain knowledge, including products, services, regulations, and local languages. These knowledge graphs help AI agents access accurate, context-aware information quickly, improving decision-making and reducing errors.

By relying on structured knowledge rather than general training data, AI agents become smarter, safer, and more relevant for practical business use.

Emerging Global GCC Hubs

GCCs across India and other regions have become central to AI adoption, enabling organizations to pilot agentic AI projects, train domain-specific agents, and apply local knowledge at scale. India, in particular, is emerging as a significant hub, with its GCC market projected to reach $100 billion by 2029.

This shift marks the transformation of GCCs from cost centers to innovation engines driving AI-powered product development and operational improvements worldwide.

For professionals focused on product development, understanding how GCCs leverage agentic AI offers insights into new models for building smarter, autonomous products and services.