- Introduction: A Watershed Moment for India’s GCC Ecosystem
On 3rd November 2025, the Government of Maharashtra launched the Maharashtra Global Capability Centre (GCC) Policy 2025 — the most ambitious, investor-friendly and execution-focused GCC policy ever introduced by any Indian state.
With clear targets of attracting 400 new GCCs and creating 4 lakh high-skilled jobs in five years, Maharashtra has decisively positioned itself as the undisputed leader in India’s GCC growth story. As a Chartered Accountant who has structured incentives multiple captive centres in the last decade, I believe this policy marks a watershed moment for Maharashtra’s industrial landscape and offers unprecedented opportunities for multinational corporations, domestic conglomerates, and emerging technology players alike. The policy’s sophistication, comprehensiveness, and forward-looking provisions set a new benchmark for state-level industrial policies in India’s competitive federalism landscape.
- The Current Status of GCCs in India and Maharashtra’s Dominant Position
India’s GCC landscape has exploded from ~1,200 centres in FY21 to over 1,900 centres employing nearly 1.9 million professionals by FY25. More than 400 new centres and 1,100 additional units were added in just four years.
These are no longer back offices. Today’s GCCs are global innovation hubs driving AI, chip design, drug discovery, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, and financial engineering. Average salaries now exceed ₹18–20 lakh per annum.
Maharashtra already hosts the largest share, particularly in the Mumbai-Pune corridor. The new policy builds on this strength while aggressively expanding into Tier-2/3 cities such as Nashik, Nagpur, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
- Vision, Objectives and Eligibility Criteria:
The policy articulates an ambitious yet achievable vision: to establish Maharashtra as the leading hub for GCCs in India by leveraging its diverse industrial base, financial leadership, and technological expertise. Maharashtra already enjoys several inherent advantages—it houses India’s financial capital Mumbai, the technology and manufacturing hub Pune, and increasingly dynamic Tier-2 cities like Nashik, Nagpur, and Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar). The state contributes over 13% to India’s GDP and has consistently attracted the highest Foreign Direct Investment among Indian states.
The policy aims to foster deep industry-academia partnerships while creating future-ready talent pipelines, positioning Maharashtra as the preferred destination for high-value innovation, advanced R&D, and digital transformation across industries. This vision recognizes that the GCC opportunity extends far beyond traditional IT/ITeS services into advanced manufacturing, pharmaceutical research, financial technology, and emerging areas like climate technology and legal technology.
The policy is fully aligned with Viksit Bharat @2047 and aims to make Maharashtra the preferred global destination for high-value R&D and digital transformation.
The headline objectives are nothing short of transformational:
- Attract 400 new GCCs to Maharashtra over the policy’s five-year tenure—representing approximately 20% of India’s existing GCC base and potentially adding over 100 billion dollars in economic value
- Create 4 lakh high-skilled jobs through industry-driven curricula and advanced skill development—addressing both employment generation and human capital upgrading simultaneously
- Promote GCC-led research and foster multinational collaborations—positioning Maharashtra as not just an execution centre but an innovation hub
- Develop world-class business districts with robust digital infrastructure—creating physical ecosystems conducive to knowledge work and collaboration
- Propel Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities like Nashik, Nagpur, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar into the global GCC landscape—ensuring balanced regional development and decongesting metropolitan centres
What sets this policy apart is its holistic approach—combining fiscal incentives, infrastructure development, talent creation, and sustainability measures into a coherent strategic framework. Unlike traditional industrial policies that focus primarily on capital subsidies and tax breaks, this policy recognizes that GCC success requires addressing multiple interconnected factors including talent availability, quality of life, sustainability credentials, and innovation ecosystems.
Defining the Eligible Universe: Who Can Benefit?
The policy defines an “eligible unit” as any industrial enterprise or business constituted as a company (including private, public, cooperative, trust, LLP, or joint undertaking) setting up a Global Capability Centre, Global In-house Centre, or Offshoring Unit that operates in Maharashtra while servicing its parent organization or global affiliates.
This definition is deliberately broad enough to encompass diverse organizational structures while maintaining focus on captive centres that serve parent organizations rather than third-party clients. It covers traditional GCCs providing IT services, engineering services, and business process services to their global parents, as well as newer models like shared services centres and centres of excellence focused on specific technologies or business functions.
Critical exclusions include:
- Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) units serving third-party clients
- Call centres serving self or third-party clients
- Pure-play sales entities engaged in marketing, distribution, or product sales in India or neighboring regions
This deliberate exclusion ensures the policy focuses on high-value, knowledge-intensive operations rather than transactional services, thereby elevating Maharashtra’s positioning in the global value chain. The exclusion of BPO and call centres reflects a strategic choice to move up the value curve—while these operations provide employment, they typically involve lower skill levels, higher attrition, and limited value creation compared to GCCs focused on product development, research, analytics, and strategic functions.
The policy remains valid for five years (until FY 2029-30) or until superseded by a new policy, with provisions for mid-term modifications based on regulatory changes or effectiveness assessments. This five-year horizon provides sufficient certainty for long-term investment planning while retaining flexibility to adapt to rapidly evolving market conditions and technological disruptions.
- Priority Sectors and Next-Gen Technology Focus
Rather than adopting a sector-agnostic approach, the policy identifies ten priority sectors for specialized GCC cluster development:
- Aerospace & Defence: Leveraging Maharashtra’s existing aerospace manufacturing capabilities and defense establishments
- Agro & Food Processing: Capitalizing on the state’s agricultural diversity and food processing industry
- Gems & Jewellery: Building on Mumbai’s position as India’s gems and jewellery hub
- Logistics: Exploiting Maharashtra’s strategic location and port infrastructure
- Metals & Mining: Supporting the state’s significant metals and mining industry
- Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals: Strengthening Pune and Mumbai’s pharmaceutical clusters
- Renewable & Green Energy: Positioning for the global energy transition
- Textiles & Apparel: Modernizing traditional textile centres through technology
- IT/ITES: Expanding the already robust technology services sector
- Automotive: Supporting India’s automotive capital with advanced engineering
At the same time, it fast-tracks emerging domains through dedicated innovation ecosystems in AI, FinTech, MedTech, Legal Tech, Climate Tech, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, and Digital Gaming. Flagship projects include Innovation City and Maharashtra Global MedTech Zone (MGMTZ).
- Infrastructure Development: From Promise to Delivery
- Dedicated GCC Parks via PPP model — self-sustaining, mixed-use districts
- Common Facility Centres (CFCs) — plug-and-play offices and incubation hubs
- Green Business Districts with walk-to-work design and EV infrastructure
- Minimum 10% land reservation in every new MIDC estate exclusively for GCCs with priority allotment (super-priority for women/SC/ST/PwD-promoted units)
- Talent Development and Sustainability Initiatives
A comprehensive workforce strategy includes industry-academia curriculum co-creation, a GCC Talent Council, and upskilling programmes.
The Green GCC Strategy is a first-of-its-kind initiative offering formal Green GCC Status and free technical support for LEED/IGBC/GRIHA certification — a powerful ESG branding tool.
- Fiscal Incentives under the GCC Policy 2025: The Game-Changers:
GCC Classification Based on Investment and Employment
The policy establishes a tiered classification system balancing investment commitments with employment generation—recognizing that both capital deployment and job creation matter for economic development:
| Category | Investment (₹ Crores) | Employees |
| Small | 50-100 | 100-250 |
| Medium | 100-250 | 250-500 |
| Large | 250-500 | 500-750 |
| Mega | 500-750 | 750-1000 |
| Ultra Mega | >750 | >1000 |
This classification creates clear qualification criteria while ensuring incentives scale with project size and impact. The dual criteria—investment AND employment—prevents gaming where companies deploy capital without corresponding job creation or vice versa.
7.1 Capital Subsidy (20% on Plant & Machinery only)
GCC units receive 20% capital subsidy on fixed capital investment (Plant & Machinery only), with caps ranging from ₹10 crore for Small GCCs to ₹100 crore for Mega GCCs. Units must choose either Capital Subsidy or Rental Assistance
7.2 Rental Assistance (up to 5 years):
| Zone | Subsidy Rate | Small | Medium | Large | Mega & Ultra Mega |
| Zone I (MMR + PMR) | 10% of actual rent / ready-reckoner rate | ₹1 cr | ₹2 cr | ₹3 cr | ₹4 cr |
| Zone II (Rest of MH) | 20% | ₹1 cr | ₹2 cr | ₹3 cr | ₹4 cr |
Strategic considerations:
- Rental assistance suits companies preferring operational flexibility over asset ownership
- The 5-year tenure aligns with typical initial lease terms
- Choosing rental assistance preserves capital for core business investments
- Companies should model total 5-year benefit against capital subsidy alternatives
- Rental assistance based on actual rent paid, subject to ready reckoner rate ceiling—preventing artificial inflation
The geographic differential—10% vs 20%—creates meaningful incentive for locating in Tier-2 cities, potentially offsetting perceived disadvantages in talent availability or quality of life. From a state planning perspective, this encourages geographic diversification and prevents over-concentration in already congested Mumbai-Pune corridor.
7.3 Payroll Subsidy — The Crown Jewel:
For Indian on-roll employees earning > ₹1 lakh/month:
- Zone I: 40% of salary above ₹1 lakh (max ₹50,000/employee/month) for 3 years
- Zone II: 50% (max ₹50,000/employee/month) for 3 years
- Limited to 100 employees/unit/year; overall cap ₹5 crore/unit/year
Diversity Incentive: An additional 10% payroll subsidy (increasing the cap to ₹60,000 per employee monthly) for GCCs employing at least 50% diversity hiring, including women and persons with disabilities—a progressive measure addressing workplace inclusion while providing meaningful financial incentive.
Implementation considerations:
- Only Indian on-roll employees qualify—excluding contractors and offshore employees
- Salary threshold of ₹1,00,000 monthly (₹12 lakh annually) targets skilled professionals
- 100-employee annual cap focuses benefits on significant employers
- Documentation requirements: employee contracts, payroll records, tax deduction certificates
- Reimbursement likely quarterly or annually based on actuals
This incentive directly reduces the cost of high-skilled talent—Maharashtra’s single largest competitive disadvantage compared to Tier-2 cities. By subsidizing expensive talent, the state levels the playing field while encouraging quality employment creation.
7.4 R&D Grant:
GCCs allocating minimum 2% of Fixed Capital Investment to R&D activities receive 25% reimbursement for R&D expenses, up to ₹50 lakh annually for 4 years (capped at ₹2 crore total per GCC throughout the policy period).
An additional 10% subsidy (effectively 35% total reimbursement) is available for collaborations with Maharashtra-based universities—incentivizing knowledge transfer between industry and academia while strengthening local research institutions.
Eligible R&D expenses typically include:
- Research personnel salaries
- Laboratory equipment and materials
- Prototype development costs
- Testing and validation expenses
- Patent filing and IP protection costs
- Collaborative research payments to universities
Strategic implications:
- The 2% FCI threshold ensures meaningful R&D commitment before subsidy access
- 4-year horizon supports sustained research programs rather than one-time initiatives
- University collaboration bonus encourages academia-industry linkages
- R&D incentives attract innovation-focused GCCs doing cutting-edge work rather than routine services
For companies already investing in R&D, this represents pure cost reduction. For others, it may tip the economics toward establishing R&D functions in Maharashtra rather than keeping them at headquarters—exactly the policy’s intent.
7.5 Internship Support:
Under the Mukhya Mantri Yuva Prashikshan Yojana (CMYKPY), GCCs receive up to ₹10,000 per month per intern, capped at 100 interns per GCC (maximum 10% of total workforce)—creating pathways for youth employment while building talent pipelines.
This support serves multiple objectives:
- Reduces GCC costs for intern programs
- Provides financial support to students/recent graduates
- Creates trial periods for potential permanent hiring
- Exposes students to corporate work environments
- Builds relationships between GCCs and educational institutions
The 10% workforce cap ensures internships remain developmental rather than becoming a way to access subsidized labor for regular work.
7.6 Carry-forward Incentives from Maharashtra IT & ITeS Policy 2023:
Critically, GCC units also qualify for incentives under Maharashtra’s IT & ITeS Policy 2023, including:
- Stamp duty exemption on property transactions—significant savings on land/building purchases
- Additional Floor Space Index (FSI)—permitting higher density development and better space utilization
- Open access for power—flexibility to source electricity from most competitive suppliers
- Property tax provisions—potential exemptions or reductions on local property taxes
- Right of way benefits—facilitating infrastructure connections
- Critical infrastructure fund access—support for last-mile connectivity
This policy convergence creates a comprehensive incentive package far exceeding any single policy’s benefits. Sophisticated financial modeling should account for all applicable incentives across policies to determine true after-incentive costs.
- Non-Fiscal Incentives: Operational Advantages That Matter:
Beyond financial incentives, the policy provides crucial operational advantages addressing practical challenges in GCC operations:
a) Industry Status and 24x7x365 Operations
GCCs receive industry status and permission for round-the-clock operations including three shifts daily and employment of women in night shifts (subject to safety and security measures). This addresses a critical need—GCCs serving global time zones require operational flexibility impossible under standard labor regulations.
The specific authorization for women’s night shift employment recognizes that knowledge work differs from traditional manufacturing, while safety provisions address legitimate concerns. This flexibility matters enormously for GCCs managing follow-the-sun models or supporting US/European time zones.
b) Reserved MIDC Land
In new MIDC industrial estates, minimum 10% of area will be designated for GCC Parks/Units—ensuring land availability in planned industrial zones rather than forcing GCCs into commercial real estate markets with limited suitable inventory.
c) Priority Land Allotment
GCCs receive priority allotment irrespective of investment size, with additional priority for Women, SC/ST, and Disabled-promoted units. This fast-tracks site selection—often a months-long bottleneck in project timelines.
d) Single Window Clearance through MAITRI
A dedicated GCC Facilitation Cell (GFC) within Maharashtra Industry Trade & Investment Facilitation Cell (MAITRI) provides handholding support, helping navigate:
- Environmental clearances
- Construction permits
- Utility connections
- Labor law compliances
- Industry registrations
Single-window mechanisms dramatically reduce setup timelines by providing a single point of contact rather than forcing companies to navigate multiple departments independently.
e) Digital Data Repository
A live database on the MAITRI portal provides comprehensive information on:
- Existing GCC units and their characteristics
- Upcoming infrastructure developments
- Reserved spaces in GCC Parks
- Available commercial spaces across Maharashtra
- Talent pool assessments by location
- Utility infrastructure status
This transparency facilitates informed location decisions and reduces information asymmetries that disadvantage new entrants unfamiliar with local conditions.
f) Assured Utilities
- Power: Exemption from load shedding with continuous 24x7x365 supply—critical for data centers and operations requiring high reliability
- Water: In MIDC areas, 24×7 uninterrupted water supply—addressing a frequent pain point in Indian cities
These utility assurances provide operational certainty difficult to obtain through private arrangements.
g) Flexible Employment Conditions
Beyond 24×7 operations, the policy relaxes various labor regulations (within legal frameworks) to provide operational flexibility essential for GCC models. This includes flexibility in shift patterns, work-from-home arrangements, and contractor engagement—recognizing that knowledge work differs fundamentally from traditional manufacturing labor patterns.
- Institutional Mechanism: Ensuring Smooth Execution
- Maharashtra GCC Growth Council — CEO-level body for global marketing and talent development
- Policy Monitoring Unit (PMU) — Dedicated annual budget of up to ₹10 crore for promotion and monitoring
- Comparative Analysis: Maharashtra vs Other States (Nov 2025)
| Parameter | Maharashtra | Karnataka | Tamil Nadu | Telangana | Gujarat |
| Payroll subsidy (Tier-1) | 40% × 3 yrs | 25–30% | 25% | 30% | 25% |
| Payroll subsidy (Tier-2/3) | 50% × 3 yrs | 30–40% | 30–40% | 40% | 30–40% |
| Diversity top-up | 10% | None | None | None | None |
| Max capital subsidy (Mega) | ₹100 cr | ₹30–50 cr | ₹50 cr | ₹50 cr | ₹75 cr |
| Dedicated GCC parks | Yes | Partial | Planned | Partial | No |
Maharashtra leads on depth, duration, and differentiation.
- The Way Forward: Strategic Recommendations for MNCs
- Act within 12–18 months — Payroll subsidy caps will be exhausted quickly
- Seriously evaluate Tier-2/3 cities — 50% payroll + 20% rental subsidy + lower real estate = 35–40% cost advantage
- Make diversity hiring profitable — 50% women/PwD is now a revenue centre
- Model total savings realistically — A ₹600 cr, 800-employee GCC in Nagpur can save ₹160–200 crore over 5–7 years
- Engage immediately with the GCC Facilitation Cell for priority land and approvals
- Conclusion: The Opportunity of a Decade:
The Maharashtra Global Capability Centre Policy 2025 represents a comprehensive, well-architected framework that addresses the multifaceted requirements of establishing and scaling GCC operations. Its combination of generous fiscal incentives, world-class infrastructure development, talent creation mechanisms, sustainability focus, and operational flexibilities creates a compelling value proposition for multinational corporations and domestic enterprises alike.
The devil, as always, will be in implementation details—disbursement procedures, documentation requirements, approval timelines, and bureaucratic responsiveness. Past experience with state incentive policies suggests that while frameworks may be excellent on paper, realization often depends on administrative efficiency and political commitment. Companies should engage early with the MAITRI single-window system and GCC Facilitation Cell to understand practical procedures.
For corporations considering GCC expansion in India, Maharashtra has clearly positioned itself as the destination of choice—offering not just incentives, but a holistic ecosystem designed for long-term success in the knowledge economy. The policy signals Maharashtra’s determination to maintain and extend its leadership in India’s economic landscape as the country transitions from a developing to a developed nation.
The race to capture India’s GCC opportunity has intensified, and Maharashtra has placed its most compelling bet yet. The next five years will determine whether this ambitious vision translates into reality—transforming Maharashtra’s economy while providing global corporations with strategic capabilities that drive their worldwide operations.
