Global Capability Centres are entering a phase where the question is no longer simply who builds the capability? It is increasingly becoming who can scale, transform and create value from that capability fastest?
Tata Consultancy Services’ multiyear agreement to take over Best Buy’s India Global Capability Centre is a significant development in that shift. Under the agreement, Best Buy’s India entity will transition to TCS, while the centre is expected to evolve into an AI-native capability centre. The financial terms, exact duration and employee count have not been publicly disclosed.
What makes the development particularly interesting is the ambition behind the transition. TCS plans to combine Best Buy’s deep retail and business knowledge with its technology, engineering, AI and global delivery capabilities. The objective is not simply to operate an existing technology organisation. Teams will work on redesigning processes, developing AI-powered applications and scaling capabilities across the business.
That distinction matters.
For years, the GCC model has been associated with building specialised talent pools, improving operational efficiency and delivering technology and business services at scale. But the centre of gravity is shifting. GCCs are increasingly expected to contribute directly to innovation, product development, AI adoption, enterprise transformation and measurable business outcomes.
Best Buy’s India capability is a strong example of this evolution. The new arrangement is designed to preserve the business and technology knowledge built within the organisation while bringing it together with TCS’s broader AI, engineering and retail capabilities. TCS has said that the partnership could create a repeatable value platform with potential relevance beyond Best Buy and into the wider retail industry.
There is also a larger industry trend emerging here.
Technology services companies are increasingly looking at GCCs not only as clients but also as strategic assets and long-term platforms for growth. The Best Buy development follows other recent moves in which IT services companies have taken over captive operations, including HCLTech’s acquisition of Guardian Life’s India operations and Infosys’ acquisition of the India-based IT centre of Danske Bank.
The logic is understandable.
As enterprises race to build AI, cloud, cybersecurity, data and digital engineering capabilities, maintaining every capability internally can become increasingly complex. At the same time, technology service providers can bring specialised talent, established engineering ecosystems, global delivery infrastructure and experience across multiple industries.
But this should not be interpreted as the end of the captive GCC model.
If anything, it signals that the GCC lifecycle itself is becoming more sophisticated.
A GCC may begin by supporting global operations, mature into a specialised technology or business capability hub, take ownership of products and innovation, and eventually reconsider which capabilities should remain fully internal and which could benefit from an external operating model.
The real measure of a GCC is therefore moving beyond headcount.
It is about capability, ownership, speed and enterprise value.
And AI is accelerating that transition.
The Best Buy–TCS agreement also reinforces the growing importance of AI-native operating models. Rather than simply adding AI tools to existing workflows, the ambition is to redesign processes and build new AI-powered experiences and solutions into the operating model itself.
For India's GCC ecosystem, this is an important signal.
The next generation of GCCs will likely be judged less by how much work they can handle and more by how much transformation they can create.
The strategic question for GCC leaders is no longer:
“How large can we become?”
It is:
“How much enterprise value can we create?”
That is the conversation the GCC ecosystem needs to have next.
And as India continues to strengthen its position as a global hub for technology, innovation and enterprise capability, developments like this offer a glimpse into where the model could be heading.
The GCC era is not slowing down. It is becoming more strategic.