For years, Global Capability Centers (GCCs) were narrowly defined as efficiency-driven extensions of corporate operations.

This point of view is no longer valid. In fact, GCCs are becoming the most potent engines of healthcare innovation today.

And this change is most obvious in India, where GCC investors are putting more money into healthtech businesses than ever before. Thus, India is indeed becoming the place where the future of healthcare around the world is being built.

The previous model of GCCs was to get more done with less. But that logic has changed in healthtech. Investors are increasingly relying on India not only because it is cheaper, but also because it is faster, deeper, and experimental when it comes to trying out new healthcare solutions on a large scale.

India’s healthcare system is a living lab since it has big gaps, a growing demand, and is open to using digital technology.

Indian businesses are solving problems that the rest of the world is just starting to notice, like AI-driven diagnostics for people in rural areas and blockchain-enabled supply chains to stop fake medications. GCCs don’t perceive this as an extra; they see it as the cutting edge of innovation.

People often refer to cost arbitrage, STEM talent, and policy incentives. But investors are looking for something more fundamental: India’s ability to turn healthtech innovations into models that can be used by a lot of people.

In the West, healthcare reform is stuck because of rules and powerful groups with a lot of money. In India, on the other hand, the policy and market work together uniquely.

Policies like the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission are helping to digitise medical records for hundreds of millions of people. Also, the demand for healthtech in India is skyrocketing.

Apparently, the market is expected to reach $50 Bn by 2030. Besides, investor confidence and bets are high as India has 1,800 plus GCCs, and almost 70% of them agree that healthcare and life sciences are their fastest-growing areas.

Because of this convergence, India is not only a source of talent but also a global reference point for healthtech scale-ups.

The real story is unfolding outside of metros like Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Coimbatore, Kochi, and Indore are tier II cities that are slowly becoming GCC–healthtech hubs.

They bring together two things: untapped engineering potential and problems with delivering healthcare in the real world.

Investors are protecting themselves against the rising costs of living in cities by moving away from them. They are also getting access to communities that better reflect India’s health reality.

This is important in healthtech: an AI diagnostic tool made in Indore is stress-tested on the same people who will shape the future of healthcare demand.

GCC investors are interested not only in India’s problems, but also in the bold solutions that its startups are coming up with. The West cannot keep up with the speed at which GenAI is being used to help with clinical decisions.

The use of AI and machine learning in healthtech has grown by more than 40% each year, and job postings show this change.

Blockchain experiments for tracking pharmaceuticals are already going on at centers supported by the GCC. These pilots are setting standards that might be used all around the world.

This is where the bet gets interesting; GCCs are not only investing in Indian healthtech, but they are also utilising India to test out healthcare solutions that will be sold in developed markets later. India is basically becoming the testing ground for changes in healthcare around the world.

Healthtech As The Next IT

Healthtech will do the same for India in the 2020s, just as IT services did for India in the 1990s. While IT has put India on the global economic map.

Healthtech, with the help of GCC cash, may make India the hub of efforts to fix the world’s healthcare problems.

The stakes are bigger now. Healthcare touches the lives of billions, and if Indian companies can make it affordable, accessible, and accountable, they will not just change India; they will show the world what is possible.

Gaps in tier II city infrastructure, worries about data privacy, and uneven regulation could weaken investor confidence. Healthtech also has to find the right balance between moving fast and staying safe.

Ironically, these very risks are what push GCC investors to double down. They see the gaps as opportunities, and India’s scale allows rapid course correction on a level unmatched anywhere else.

India’s position as the global hub for healthtech innovation will be decided in the next ten years. This will need investment in digital infrastructure beyond metros, skills training in areas like bioinformatics and AI ethics, and stronger frameworks to protect patient data.

GCCs are no longer back-office engines. They are betting big on Indian healthtech because the next breakthroughs in global healthcare will come not from prestigious hospitals in Boston or Berlin’s research institutes, but from startups in Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar.

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