Why Half the World's GCCs Are in India: The Case for Offshoring Market Research and Competitive Intelligence

India now hosts close to 1,300 Global Capability Centres, roughly half of all GCCs worldwide, employing nearly 1.9 million professionals as of FY24. More than half of these centres have already moved beyond transactional support into research, analytics, and digital transformation work, and the cost of establishing this capability in India runs up to 70% lower than running the same function in a higher-cost market.

These figures point to something specific: India has become the natural location for market research and competitive intelligence functions, not just GCCs in general. Both are knowledge-intensive by nature, sensitive to talent quality, and dependent on speed, and India offers a rare combination of all three at scale.

Four factors drive this shift: the depth of available analyst talent, the overlap in working hours with Western markets, the operating flexibility built into India’s delivery model, and a cost structure that strengthens research output rather than simply discounting it.

A Talent Pool Built for Knowledge Work

Market research and competitive intelligence depend on analysts who can synthesise data, interpret market signals, and convert findings into decisions executives can act on. India has spent two decades developing a workforce suited to exactly this kind of work.

Deloitte’s analysis of GCCs places India at the centre of the global GCC landscape, noting that the country now hosts roughly 1,300 GCCs and accounts for close to half of all GCCs worldwide. The report also notes that more than half of these centres have moved beyond transactional support to higher-order functions, including research and development, advanced analytics, and digital transformation. This is a workforce increasingly trusted with strategic and analytical responsibilities rather than routine execution.

The scale of this talent base continues to grow. Deloitte’s most recent figures show that GCCs in India employ close to 1.9 million professionals as of FY24, with hiring extending well beyond traditional metro hubs into emerging Tier 2 cities. For a research-intensive function such as competitive intelligence, this depth allows organisations to build specialised teams covering sector-specific desk research, advanced data analysis, and ongoing market monitoring, without competing for a narrow slice of talent in an oversaturated home market.

The Time Zone Advantage

Time zone differences are often treated as a constraint in offshoring discussions. For market research and competitive intelligence, they function as an advantage. India’s position relative to North America and Europe creates a working overlap that supports continuous progress on time-sensitive deliverables.

When a research request reaches a US or UK team at the end of its working day, an India-based team is beginning its own. This overlap allows work on competitor monitoring, earnings analysis, or rapid market scans to continue overnight rather than pause until the next business day. Findings are often ready by the time stakeholders return to their desks, shortening research cycles without requiring additional headcount or extended hours from the home team.

This advantage is particularly valuable during high-demand periods, including live event coverage, deal due diligence, and competitor product launches, where the value of intelligence depends heavily on how quickly it reaches decision-makers.

An Operating Model Built for Scale

Research and intelligence workloads fluctuate by nature. A product launch, an industry conference cycle, or an unexpected competitor move can increase demand sharply for a defined period before tapering off. Offshoring to India allows organisations to manage this variability without the disruption of repeated hiring and downsizing in their home market.

Deloitte’s GCC research describes an ecosystem that has matured specifically to support this kind of flexibility, with centres structured to adjust across functions, geographies, and project types as business needs shift. BCG’s broader research on operating model design reinforces this point, noting that organisations that separate capacity from fixed local headcount are better positioned to respond to demand volatility while maintaining consistent quality.

In practice, this means a core research team in India can expand for a major syndicated study or a competitive landscape mapping exercise, then return to its baseline size once the surge has passed, while retaining institutional knowledge and consistent standards across cycles.

Cost Efficiency That Strengthens the Function

Cost remains a central factor in offshoring decisions, and the data on India is clear. Deloitte’s research indicates that companies establishing GCCs in India can achieve operational cost savings of up to 70% compared with running equivalent functions in higher-cost markets. This advantage is structural, rooted in talent supply and cost-of-living differentials, rather than a temporary discount that erodes over time.

The more significant point for research leaders is what this efficiency enables. Savings on routine desk research, data collection, and monitoring create room for higher-value work, including custom primary research, advanced analytics, and strategic synthesis that requires senior judgment. Organisations that approach offshoring with this mindset use the savings to build a stronger research function overall, directing freed budget toward better tools, deeper methodologies, and more experienced analyst talent.

A Function Suited to the Market

Market research and competitive intelligence are not back-office functions best handled wherever costs are lowest. They are knowledge functions that require depth of talent, responsiveness, and the ability to flex with demand. India’s combination of skilled analysts, working-hour overlap, operational flexibility, and structural cost advantage makes it a natural base for organisations looking to strengthen these capabilities rather than outsource them.

This is the exact gap AgileIntel Research was built to close. Most organisations weighing this decision are not actually choosing between offshoring and not offshoring. They are choosing between building an in-house India team from the ground up, with all the hiring, onboarding, and management overhead that involves, or working with a partner that already has the talent, the time zone overlap, and the operating model in place. AgileIntel exists as that partner for market research and competitive intelligence specifically, which means the advantages outlined above are not theoretical for clients. They are operational from the first engagement.

To discuss how this applies to your organisation's research and intelligence function, reach out to the AgileIntel team here.