GCCs are moving to the AI frontline
As global enterprises experiment with AI and begin to put it into core workflows, their GCCs in India are increasingly becoming places where that transformation is designed, tested and scaled. This shift is less about adding another AI tool to an existing process and more about changing how enterprises work. The panelists on our discussion around this noted four broad requirements: an enterprise-wide approach, strong governance and security, technology and data foundations, and people who understand both the business and AI.
Sailaja Josyula, global head and SVP of the GCC service line at Cognizant, said the starting point is leadership commitment. AI projects that remain confined to individual functions cannot create the scale enterprises need. Companies also have to address employees’ concerns about how their jobs will change and give them a path through the transition.
Josyula also cautioned that AI deployment, particularly in regulated sectors, cannot get ahead of governance and cybersecurity. “Certain foundational elements like governance and cybersecurity are non-negotiable. They must be built into the architecture,” she said.
Sirisha Voruganti, CEO & MD at Lloyds Technology Centre, said the organisation is already moving from experimentation towards scaled implementation. The bank has identified 12 major AI bets across areas including consumer, investment and commercial banking, while targeting AI literacy across 85% of its workforce. “We have AI ninjas that are coaching senior management, junior management, and others,” she said. The centre is also building common tools and controlled environments so engineers can develop AI solutions without creating a fragmented technology landscape.
Voruganti said data remains the biggest challenge at the UK bank, because years of acquisitions and legacy systems have left it without fully consistent data products. Fraud and economic-crime controls also have to keep evolving as attackers use the same technologies to create new patterns.
The significance of India in this process is also changing. Voruganti said Lloyds’ India teams are building AI, digital identity, blockchain and digital-asset solutions, making the GCC a source of strategic technology capability for the wider bank.
At Citizens Financial Group, Rajesh Mani, MD and head for India, is approaching AI from the customer backwards. He says the most useful applications are those that remove friction from everyday interactions rather than simply adding AI to a list of functions.
One example is new-customer servicing. A large share of new customers need help, and they often have to make multiple calls before reaching a resolution. AI-powered routing is being used to improve the chances of getting customers to the right person the first time. In lending, AI is taking over large amounts of research and analysis, allowing bankers to spend more time advising customers.
But Mani is equally clear about where AI should stop. In credit, for instance, AI can analyse data, generate scores and automate routine approvals, but the consequential decision remains with the human team. Citizens is also running some AI systems alongside existing processes before deciding whether to scale them.
At US-based biopharma company Amgen, Naveen Gullapalli sees the opportunity at an even broader level. AI, he said, is being applied to priorities across the enterprise, from protein language models and clinical-trial site identification to commercial strategy and product launch planning. These efforts are at different stages.
The India centre, Gullapalli said, is being built to bring in advanced capabilities across these areas. “Our contribution is to bring together functional, technology and business expertise, and help turn enterprise priorities into solutions that can be adopted and scaled. Everybody has access to the power of AI; the differentiator is how effectively and at what speed and scale we embed AI into the way work gets done, while keeping people accountable for decisions and responsible use,” he said.
The common thread across the discussion is that the role of Indian GCCs is changing. They are increasingly becoming microcosms of the global enterprise, with multiple functions represented in one place. That gives India an unusual advantage when companies want to connect what were previously separate AI projects into broader customer and business journeys.
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Sailaja Josyula, global head and SVP of the GCC service line at Cognizant, said the starting point is leadership commitment. AI projects that remain confined to individual functions cannot create the scale enterprises need. Companies also have to address employees’ concerns about how their jobs will change and give them a path through the transition.
Josyula also cautioned that AI deployment, particularly in regulated sectors, cannot get ahead of governance and cybersecurity. “Certain foundational elements like governance and cybersecurity are non-negotiable. They must be built into the architecture,” she said.
Sirisha Voruganti, CEO & MD at Lloyds Technology Centre, said the organisation is already moving from experimentation towards scaled implementation. The bank has identified 12 major AI bets across areas including consumer, investment and commercial banking, while targeting AI literacy across 85% of its workforce. “We have AI ninjas that are coaching senior management, junior management, and others,” she said. The centre is also building common tools and controlled environments so engineers can develop AI solutions without creating a fragmented technology landscape.
Voruganti said data remains the biggest challenge at the UK bank, because years of acquisitions and legacy systems have left it without fully consistent data products. Fraud and economic-crime controls also have to keep evolving as attackers use the same technologies to create new patterns.
The significance of India in this process is also changing. Voruganti said Lloyds’ India teams are building AI, digital identity, blockchain and digital-asset solutions, making the GCC a source of strategic technology capability for the wider bank.
At Citizens Financial Group, Rajesh Mani, MD and head for India, is approaching AI from the customer backwards. He says the most useful applications are those that remove friction from everyday interactions rather than simply adding AI to a list of functions.
One example is new-customer servicing. A large share of new customers need help, and they often have to make multiple calls before reaching a resolution. AI-powered routing is being used to improve the chances of getting customers to the right person the first time. In lending, AI is taking over large amounts of research and analysis, allowing bankers to spend more time advising customers.
But Mani is equally clear about where AI should stop. In credit, for instance, AI can analyse data, generate scores and automate routine approvals, but the consequential decision remains with the human team. Citizens is also running some AI systems alongside existing processes before deciding whether to scale them.
At US-based biopharma company Amgen, Naveen Gullapalli sees the opportunity at an even broader level. AI, he said, is being applied to priorities across the enterprise, from protein language models and clinical-trial site identification to commercial strategy and product launch planning. These efforts are at different stages.
The India centre, Gullapalli said, is being built to bring in advanced capabilities across these areas. “Our contribution is to bring together functional, technology and business expertise, and help turn enterprise priorities into solutions that can be adopted and scaled. Everybody has access to the power of AI; the differentiator is how effectively and at what speed and scale we embed AI into the way work gets done, while keeping people accountable for decisions and responsible use,” he said.
The common thread across the discussion is that the role of Indian GCCs is changing. They are increasingly becoming microcosms of the global enterprise, with multiple functions represented in one place. That gives India an unusual advantage when companies want to connect what were previously separate AI projects into broader customer and business journeys.
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