Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai lead TN’s way to Global GCC hub
The GCC Tamil Nadu Insights Report, prepared by KreateWorks and co-presented by Guidance Tamil Nadu, was released by Industries Minister TRB Rajaa at the GCC Next Summit 2025 at Chennai Trade Centre on Thursday
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CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is pitching itself as a leading destination for Global Capability Centres (GCCs), with a new insights report projecting sustained growth across both metro and tier-II cities.
The GCC Tamil Nadu Insights Report, prepared by KreateWorks and co-presented by Guidance Tamil Nadu, was released by Industries Minister TRB Rajaa at the GCC Next Summit 2025 at Chennai Trade Centre on Thursday.
Drawing on data from NASSCOM and the state's nodal investment agency, the report places Tamil Nadu among the country's top contributors to the GCC economy particularly in banking, healthcare, software, and engineering verticals.
Addressing over 900 delegates, the minister invited global firms to explore Tamil Nadu beyond Chennai. "Come test Tamil Nadu. Spend time at the Guidance TN office. Work from here for free. See the difference," he said, emphasising the state's shift toward product-driven, innovation-first capabilities.
Chennai remains the anchor city, housing major GCCs of Pfizer, Zoho, AstraZeneca, Standard Chartered and TCS. But the report notes growing traction in tier-II locations, driven by talent availability, policy support, and infrastructure readiness.
According to the study, Coimbatore now accounts for 10.7% of the state's GCCs, followed by Madurai at 1.4%. Emerging ecosystems in Tiruchirappalli and Vellore are also seeing early adoption, with active hiring and academic partnerships.
"Look at any state. Telangana? Hyderabad and then what? Karnataka? Bengaluru, and maybe a little beyond. But look at Tamil Nadu – from Chennai to Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Dhanupuri, Hosur, Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi… there's a strong industrial or GCC presence coming up in each of these places." said the minister.
The report also cites AISHE 2021–22 data placing Tamil Nadu among India's top five states for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering - Mathematics) graduate output. With more than five lakh students graduating annually, of which two lakh are engineers, the state's higher education ecosystem continues to be a key pull factor for knowledge-based industries, the report noted.
To drive and sustain this growth, the state has notified a Global Capability Centre Policy (2024–27). Key measures include payroll subsidies for high-skill jobs, infrastructure support for innovation labs, and reimbursements for intellectual property filings. These are complemented by existing policies on startups (2023), R-D (2022), and targeted support for tier-II cities like Coimbatore and Madurai.
The GCC sector itself is poised for national growth. NASSCOM estimates peg India's GCC market at $64.6 billion in FY24, expected to rise to $99–105 billion by FY30. Headcount is projected to jump from 1.9 million to over 2.8 million in the same period.
Tamil Nadu hopes to align closely with this curve, backed by office space expansion (projected to cross 100 million sq ft by 2026), a deep STEM talent pipeline, and facilitation support from Guidance TN.
