58% of GCCs Adopt “Agentic AI”: The Massive Pivot to Autonomous Execution
By Santosh Sinha | Tech & GCC Desk Date: November 28, 2025
Bengaluru: The era of “experimenting” with AI is officially over. According to the newly released EY India GCC Pulse Survey 2025, India’s Global Capability Centers (GCCs) have made a decisive shift from passive Generative AI (GenAI) to autonomous “Agentic AI.”
The report reveals a staggering statistic: 58% of GCCs in India are already investing in Agentic AI, with another 29% planning to scale it within the next 12 months. This marks the transition of Indian centers from “backend support offices” to “autonomous intelligence hubs.”
The Shift: From “Chatting” to “Doing”
For the last two years, the industry was focused on GenAI “copilots”-tools that helped humans write emails or code faster. Late 2025 has ushered in the age of the Agent.
Unlike standard GenAI, which waits for a prompt, Agentic AI is designed to execute end-to-end workflows without human intervention.
- Old Way (GenAI): A human asks a bot to “Draft an invoice for Vendor X.”
- New Way (Agentic AI): The Agent detects a payment is due, verifies the delivery log, checks the contract terms, drafts the invoice, and sends it to the vendor—only pinging the human if an anomaly is found.
Where is the Money Going?
The EY report highlights that this isn’t just R&D; it is being deployed in core business functions. The adoption rates for Agentic AI are highest in:
- Customer Service (65%): Agents resolving complex queries, not just deflecting them.
- Finance (53%): Autonomous reconciliation and tax compliance.
- Operations (49%): Supply chain adjustment and logistics planning.
- IT & Cybersecurity (45%): Automated threat detection and patch deployment.
The “Value” Mandate: Beyond Cost Arbitrage
The most significant finding for the “India Story” is the change in mandate. The survey notes that 92% of GCCs now aim to deliver value beyond cost arbitrage.
Global HQs are no longer looking at India just to save money; they are looking at India to run the company.
- End-to-End Ownership: 87% of centers plan to manage full global processes from India.
- Global Decisions: Over 52% of India-based GCC leaders now hold shared accountability for global strategic decisions, proving that the “decision-making table” has moved to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
The Talent Impact: Attrition Drops to 9%
Interestingly, the rise of automation hasn’t led to a talent crisis-it has stabilized it. The report notes that attrition in Indian GCCs has dropped to 9% in 2025 (down from 13% in 2023).
As GCCs move up the value chain, the work has become more meaningful. The demand is now shifting from “process associates” to “AI Orchestrators”-professionals who can manage and audit fleets of AI agents.
The Outlook
With the launch of EY’s “Intelligent GCC” suite and the rapid adoption numbers, the message for 2026 is clear: India is becoming the “Central Nervous System” of the global enterprise. The question is no longer “Can India build it?” but “Can the rest of the world keep up with India’s automation speed?”