Dr Ankita Gupta Named Chief Business Officer at Fidelitus GCC Nexus to Bring European and Nordic Capability Centres to India

India's Global Capability Centre boom has entered a new phase, and the firms helping multinationals navigate it are strengthening their leadership. Fidelitus GCC Nexus has appointed Dr Ankita Gupta as its Chief Business Officer, the company announced on September 25.

Gupta brings more than 18 years of experience in business strategy, marketing, market entry and growth across four global markets. In her new role, she will work with organisations from Europe, Germany and the Nordic countries to establish and scale Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India. Her focus sectors include technology, semiconductors, aerospace, healthcare and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

A career spanning industries and borders

Gupta's career has crossed a wide range of sectors, including construction technology, healthcare, luxury retail, FMCG and education technology. Before joining Fidelitus GCC Nexus, she held roles at Global Construction Tech and at Lilac Insights, a genetic diagnostics company.

At Global Construction Tech, she supported a sales pipeline of $180 million across three international markets, according to details shared at the time of her appointment. That experience of building commercial pipelines across geographies is directly relevant to her new mandate, which requires persuading overseas companies to commit long-term investment to India.

Her breadth of sector experience is also an asset. GCCs today are no longer limited to information technology or back-office processing. They span research and development, engineering design, product development, analytics and specialised functions in industries as varied as automotive, pharmaceuticals and aerospace. A leader who understands the priorities of different industries is better placed to design centres that meet each client's needs.

What Global Capability Centres are

GCCs, once known as captive centres, are offshore units that multinational companies own and operate themselves, rather than outsourcing work to a third-party service provider. The model began in India more than three decades ago with a handful of technology and banking multinationals setting up operations in cities such as Bengaluru.

Since then, India has become the world's leading destination for GCCs. Industry estimates from Nasscom and Zinnov put the number of GCCs in India at more than 1,700 in the financial year 2024, employing around 1.9 million people. The centres have moved steadily up the value chain, from transaction processing and IT support to core engineering, artificial intelligence and product ownership.

Several forces have driven that growth. India offers a large pool of engineering and technical talent, a mature ecosystem of service providers and a growing number of experienced leaders who have run global functions from Indian offices. Government policies at the central and state levels have also encouraged GCC investment, with several states launching dedicated GCC policies to attract new centres.

Why Europe and the Nordics matter

Gupta's specific mandate, working with European, German and Nordic organisations, reflects an important shift in the GCC market. Historically, American companies have accounted for the largest share of GCCs in India. European companies, particularly mid-sized firms and those in engineering-intensive industries, have been slower to set up their own centres.

That is changing. Companies in Germany and the Nordic region face acute shortages of engineers and technical specialists at home, driven by ageing populations and strong demand for digital skills. Setting up a capability centre in India offers access to talent at a scale that is difficult to match domestically.

Sectors such as semiconductors and aerospace, both named in Gupta's brief, are particularly interesting. Europe has major strengths in industrial technology, automotive electronics and aerospace engineering, and many of these companies are expanding their software and design capabilities. India's growing semiconductor design workforce and its aerospace engineering base make it an attractive location for that work.

For European mid-sized companies, however, setting up a GCC can be daunting. They may lack experience of operating in India, understanding of local regulations or relationships with real estate providers, recruiters and government agencies. Advisory firms that specialise in GCC set-up can help bridge those gaps, from choosing a city and securing office space to hiring leadership teams and establishing governance structures.

The business of building GCCs

Firms such as Fidelitus GCC Nexus operate in a growing advisory and services market that has emerged around the GCC boom. Their work typically includes market-entry strategy, location selection, real estate, talent acquisition, legal and regulatory set-up, and ongoing operational support.

As competition among Indian cities to attract GCCs intensifies, these advisers also help clients compare the merits of established hubs such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai with emerging tier-two cities that offer lower costs and less talent competition.

Gupta's role as Chief Business Officer places her at the centre of that process: building relationships with international clients, understanding their strategic goals and turning those goals into viable India operations.

Women leading the GCC story

Gupta's appointment also adds to the growing number of women in senior leadership roles within India's GCC ecosystem. The sector has become one of the more significant employers of women in technology and professional services in India, and many centres have set explicit goals for gender diversity at leadership levels.

Nonetheless, women remain under-represented in the most senior commercial and executive roles, particularly in business development and client-facing leadership. Appointments of experienced women leaders to roles that shape growth strategy, such as Chief Business Officer, are important both for the organisations concerned and as visible examples for the next generation of professionals.

Gupta's multi-sector, multi-country career is itself a reflection of how Indian women professionals are building global careers, moving across industries and geographies and bringing that experience back to shape India's role in the world economy.

What comes next

The GCC market is expected to keep growing, with many forecasts pointing to thousands more centres and several million employees over the rest of the decade. The composition of that growth is likely to change, with more mid-sized companies, more European and Asian firms, and more centres focused on engineering, research and artificial intelligence rather than support functions.

For Fidelitus GCC Nexus, Gupta's appointment is a bet on that next wave. Her mandate to target European and Nordic organisations in high-value sectors positions the firm to compete for some of the most strategically important new centres.

For India, every new GCC represents investment, skilled jobs and deeper integration into global value chains. Leaders who can connect international boardrooms with Indian talent markets, and who understand both the commercial and cultural dimensions of that connection, will play a significant role in shaping how the next phase of India's GCC story unfolds.