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German optical technology firm Carl Zeiss AG on Monday opened its first global capability center (GCC) in India and said it plans to double its local workforce to 5,000 in the next three years.
The center, located in the southern city of Bengaluru, will host functions such as cloud computing, cybersecurity and network operations, and also develop software services for its medical technology subsidiary Carl Zeiss Meditec AG.
India’s GCCs have in recent years evolved from low-cost outsourcing hubs to local offices of global companies supporting their parent organizations in multiple functions, including daily operations, finance, research and development.
Apart from technical employees, the workforce expansion will also include hiring for its fifth manufacturing facility in the country, built at a cost of 30 billion rupees ($355.67 million), which is also in Bengaluru and begins operations in 2025.
“Bengaluru is a prime hub due to availability of skills, collaborations and also ecosystem that is very important to grow. The new plant (in Bengaluru) will also be the largest investment Zeiss Group has ever done outside of Germany,” said Dhaval Radia, the chief financial officer of the company’s India unit.
The company also has sales and research and development work in India. The India unit is expected to clock 22 billion rupees in revenue for the current year ending September 2025, up 19% year-on-year, Radia said.
The state of Karnataka, where Bengaluru is located, released a draft policy in September with an aim to double the number of GCCs it hosts to 1,000 and create 350,000 new jobs by 2029.
The market size of Indian GCCs is likely to grow to $99 billion-$105 billion by fiscal year 2030 from $64.6 billion in 2024, according to a report by IT industry body Nasscom and consulting firm Zinnov.
($1 = 84.3490 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B)
