At DevSparks 2026 in Pune, leaders from global enterprises said India’s global capability centers (GCCs) are no longer just delivery hubs; they are increasingly shaping the technology decisions, platforms, and AI systems that power global businesses.
At a panel discussion titled, ‘Indian GCCs Shaping the Global Enterprise: What It Means for Tech Teams’, speakers explored how India-based engineering teams are moving closer to product ownership as companies scale AI, data platforms, and next-generation software systems.
The session was moderated by Shivani Muthanna, Senior Director – Strategic Partnerships & Content at YourStory, and featured Amod Deshpande, Head of India, Engineering & Operations at Allvue Systems, and Anil Kasalanati, Head of Technology – US Tech and Site Head, at MetLife.
From execution support to product ownership
Global capability centers were originally set up in India to support engineering and operational functions for global teams. Over time, however, these centers have evolved into strategic hubs as enterprises expanded their technology presence in the country.
Today, GCC teams contribute to platform development, product engineering, and enterprise technology strategy, rather than focusing only on product delivery.
Kasalanati said the biggest shift can be discerned in the ways India-based teams collaborate with global stakeholders. “The focus is no longer about delivery metrics. The question now is what value we are creating for customers.”
Engineering teams in India are increasingly working directly with product owners and business teams across geographies. This synergy allows developers to engage more deeply with customer challenges and build enterprise systems, rather than simply executing isolated development tasks.
India’s growing role in platform engineering
For companies like Allvue Systems, India has become a core engineering location responsible for building key capabilities within their technology platforms.
Deshpande said the company’s Pune center has evolved into a major hub for engineering work in data and artificial intelligence. The center itself has grown from 80 to 150 people in under a year, reflecting the pace at which the company is expanding its engineering capabilities in India.
Allvue’s platform currently supports more than 600 customers, processes around $9 trillion in transactions annually, and handles over 700 million documents.
Operating at this scale creates significant opportunities to build intelligence into financial workflows. “There is massive potential to build intelligence on top of the data we manage,” Deshpande said.
Engineering teams in Pune are developing systems that help investment firms process documents, analyze large datasets, and generate insights more efficiently.
Moving beyond execution
As GCCs mature, enterprises are increasingly expecting India-based teams to own outcomes rather than simply deliver outputs. This shift is particularly visible in product roles that were traditionally located closer to company headquarters.
Deshpande said Allvue has already hired an AI Product Management Manager in Pune, signalling that product leadership is actively being embedded within the India center.
As engineering teams gain deeper exposure to customer needs and platform architecture, enterprises are becoming more comfortable expanding their role in product decision-making.
AI moves from experimentation to operations
The panel also discussed how enterprises are integrating AI into operational systems.
Many companies are moving beyond experimental pilots to deploy AI across customer service platforms, internal workflows, and enterprise applications.
Kasalanati said MetLife has been exploring AI’s potential in contact center operations, where AI systems can analyze customer queries, identify intent, assist, and provide agents with summaries or suggested next steps during interactions.
As these initiatives expand, the company is also growing its engineering presence in India.
Kasalanati said MetLife too is scaling at pace and is on target to meet growing talent requirements. He also referenced an internal AI platform, which supports the development and deployment of AI capabilities across the company’s engineering teams.
The skills engineers need next
MetLife’s hiring push is part of its talent transformation program, which focuses on building in-house technology capabilities rather than relying on external partners.
As enterprises adopt AI-driven development tools, the skills expected from developers are evolving.
While expertise in backend systems, frontend frameworks, and cloud platforms remains important, engineers are increasingly expected to understand how AI tools can support the software development lifecycle. AI coding assistants are already being used across stages, such as writing code, testing, and system design.
For developers, adapting quickly to these changes is critical. “The biggest skill engineers need today is the ability to unlearn and relearn quickly,” Kasalanati said.
Original Article
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