0:00
[Music]
0:04
Welcome to our discussion on the Indian
0:07
GCC growth story I'm Gautam Srinivasan and
0:10
Today we are going to talk about a
0:11
sector that has been generating $46
0:15
billion in Revenue annually and is.
0:17
projected to double its GDP share to 2%.
0:21
By 2030 we are referring to Global
0:24
capability centers or gcc's which have
0:26
grown by 11% between 2015 and 2023.
0:31
becoming indispensable to their parents
0:33
companies by integrating Global.
0:35
expertise with local talent now one of
0:38
the most prominent gcc's in India is.
0:41
Optum India the global capability Center
0:44
of United Health Group a fortune 4
0:48
company committed to helping people live.
0:50
healthier lives and helping make the
0:52
Health system work better for everyone
0:55
with over two decades of presence in
0:57
India Optum India delivers quality out
1:00
comes across the Continuum of healthcare
1:03
now to explore how gcc's are shaping the
1:06
future of this sector we have with us
1:09
Uma Ratnam Krishnan managing director
1:12
at Optum India for a bit of a background
1:15
in her role Umar sets the company's
1:17
Vision across the country helping teams
1:19
deliver distinctive value across all
1:22
businesses now Umar started her working
1:24
Life as a diplomat with the Indian
1:26
Foreign Service prior to joining Optum
1:29
um served as the CEO and MD of Barclay's
1:32
Global Services now over the last three
1:35
decades she has had senior leadership
1:37
roles in NatWest in the UK ANZ green
1:40
Bank HDFC bank and Polaris software om
1:44
is a management graduate from the Indian
1:46
Institute of Management Bangalore and
1:49
followed this up with a woman in
1:50
leadership program at Harvard Business
1:53
School and a strategy program at won and
1:56
we're looking forward to her insights
1:58
into the strategy and challenges of
2:01
gcc's in India so let's have a
2:04
conversation with
2:08
[Music]
2:15
Kumar it's time now for a deep dive into
2:18
India's GCC ecosystem with Optum’s Uma
2:22
Ratnam great to have you with us and thank
2:24
you for giving us an overview of
2:27
what's going on let me first start on
2:31
understanding what is Optum India
2:33
because there's a fascinating story
2:35
about these capacity centers which are
2:37
transforming Global business I want to
2:39
know what is Optum doing sure uh first
2:43
um Gautam uh thanks for having me uh Optum
2:47
India is a health Innovation Global
2:50
capability Center of United Health Group
2:53
uh a fortune 4
2:55
company uh we actually create value in
2:59
an integrated model across the entire
3:02
Health ecosystem cost quality and most
3:06
importantly uh Innovation right thinking
3:10
about how we can do every single thing
3:12
better uh so that we make things better
3:15
for the people that we serve which is
3:17
primarily our mission is to actually
3:20
help people live healthier lives and
3:22
making the health system work better for
3:24
everyone as Optum India we've been in
3:27
India for more than two decades and our
3:30
presence is scaled and we have a lot of
3:32
capability and we're therefore a very
3:34
integral part of the Enterprise cutting
3:37
across all of the areas uh that we work
3:39
in in India again we're present in five
3:42
cities uh NOA uh Gurugram Hyderabad
3:46
Chennai and Bangalore uh lastly about
3:49
our people a little bit about our people
3:51
I think we are very um Keen to get the
3:54
best talent in and for our people we
3:56
give them a proposition which is about
3:58
uh caring for them connecting them and
4:01
growing together and in the community we
4:04
operate in where we live and work we are
4:06
a Force for good uh collaborating uh
4:09
with people who do work in the community
4:11
the end of the day that's what matters
4:13
and uh taking forward some of the points
4:15
that you mentioned especially the fact
4:18
that uh well gcc's are bringing together
4:21
Talent Innovation and cost benefits for
4:24
the HQ and of course for today's
4:26
world where everything is global that is
4:28
more and more important
4:30
considering the presence of over two
4:32
decades as you mentioned in India I want
4:35
you to give us this bird's eye view of
4:37
how the GCC ecosystem has evolved in
4:40
India yeah I mean it's been a
4:42
fascinating Journey India has been at
4:44
the heart of this GCC ecosystem growth
4:47
right uh it's grown over the last 20
4:50
years but the interesting thing is the
4:52
pace of growth continues I mean we're
4:54
today as a GCC Global capability Center
4:57
ecosystem we're about 45 billion
5:00
dollar and that's actually expected to
5:02
grow up to about 110 billion uh you know
5:06
uh shortly uh in the next 5 year 5 to 7
5:08
years by 2030 so the pace of growth
5:11
continues uh also um 20% of Forbes to
5:15
100 companies have GCC in India that's
5:18
expected to grow to about 50% by
5:21
2030 uh what's driving this right Talent
5:24
is actually what's underpinning this
5:26
growth uh talent in many ways and in
5:29
many areas now what's also important is
5:32
in this Evolution uh we've seen many
5:35
more Global and Senior roles in India
5:38
and that's going to continue to grow so
5:40
what that means is leadership roles and
5:42
Global roles into India we're expecting
5:44
to have about 20,000 roles uh by 2030
5:48
and for me personally uh about 30%
5:50
are expected to be women because gcc's
5:53
Drive um you know inclusion diversity
5:56
and all of those so which is great for
5:58
senior and Global Leadership ship out of
6:00
India let's come to the footprint of
6:03
gcc's in India right our Seven Cities
6:07
Bombay Pune other than the five I spoke
6:10
about earlier which is the NCR region
6:12
Bangalore Hyderabad Chennai uh probably
6:15
has about 90% of the footprint but
6:18
what's also interesting is we are now
6:20
with the growth of gcc's we're now
6:22
starting to see um the second level
6:25
cities I wouldn't call them second level
6:27
but cities other than these also
6:29
actually starting to uh grow uh the GCC
6:33
footprint for example you have jar you
6:35
have Indore you have Allahabad you have Kota
6:38
Vishakhapatnam the new hubs of the new
6:40
hubs right because at the end of the day
6:42
we have talent everywhere and so that is
6:46
again sort of fueling uh the actual
6:49
growth of
6:50
gcc's um and you know we have 1.66
6:54
million people today employed in gcc's
6:56
that's expected to grow up to 4 and A2
6:58
million Again by 2030 so and about
7:02
50% of gcc's globally come to India as
7:05
in you know 100 out of 100 50 come to
7:08
India for a footprint so you can
7:10
actually say that you know the GCC
7:11
system and is now starting to be
7:13
actually recognized uh as a separate U
7:17
you know uh segment capability uh which
7:20
drives many things right and of course
7:22
it's evolved and we can talk a little
7:24
bit about how it's evolved uh as well
7:27
and talking about Evolution you know at
7:29
the end of the it's unlocking capability
7:31
unlocking possibility and as you
7:33
mentioned the talent reach is now
7:35
finally going to be actually implemented
7:38
where for tier 2 tier three areas as
7:40
this ecosystem evolves the talent which
7:43
was latent at a particular point in time
7:46
now becomes on stream all right taking
7:48
forward this point on Evolution we've
7:50
been hearing a lot about GCC 4.0 lately
7:54
if you can demystify this for us and
7:57
play it into how the ecosystem evolution
8:01
is now going to go to the next level
8:03
with GCC
8:04
4.0 so uh let's take a two decade step
8:09
back right rewind yeah rewind to a
8:11
couple of decades ago the GCC uh concept
8:15
really started as a cost Arbitrage or an
8:19
opportunity at for lower cost uh you
8:22
know uh
8:23
capabilities quickly that then once you
8:26
actually establish proof of concept that
8:29
quickly moved into can we deliver at
8:32
scale which is you know repetitive not
8:34
missing what you said you would miss
8:36
doing this day in and day out but at
8:38
scale now that was the next phase then
8:40
it quickly moved on to uh a third phase
8:43
which was really about managing
8:45
portfolios which is not just one kind of
8:47
process a multiple set of processes
8:50
across multiple sets of businesses so
8:52
it's about portfolio and that was when
8:54
we started seeing Global roles in India
8:57
like leadership roles in India for a
8:58
certain end areas and then we are
9:01
currently sitting at uh what I would say
9:03
4.0 which is really uh We're translating
9:06
into high value work impactful work
9:10
Innovation and transformation hubs right
9:13
now let me unpack that a little bit on
9:15
what Innovation and transformation yeah
9:17
what does that mean right so and
9:20
again it's important to understand that
9:22
this is U across many Industries right
9:25
and we and actually gcc's um do a wide
9:29
range of types of activities software
9:32
engineering technology analytics
9:34
operations processes R&D and across a
9:38
very wide ranging um set of Industries
9:40
you know starting from Pharma Healthcare
9:43
Financial Services retail Aerospace oil
9:46
and gas it sort of um you know where
9:50
it's everywhere so it cuts across
9:52
Industries and spectrums at
9:55
4.0 uh companies global companies are
9:58
actually looking at their gcc's to be
10:01
their transformation driver right to
10:05
actually create new products to actually
10:07
innovate uh have breakthroughs in terms
10:10
of the way they do things R&D leading to
10:13
new product and revenue streams uh
10:15
driving some of that large
10:17
transformation across uh the companies
10:20
um sitting out of the global locations
10:22
right so those are the kind of things
10:24
that are actually starting to happen and
10:26
like I said given that it has spread
10:28
over so many Industries not everybody's
10:31
at 4.0 right and that's an important
10:33
thing to understand depending on when
10:35
you began depending on which industry
10:37
you are you're potentially you know you
10:39
could be in any of these phases but
10:41
clearly when nobody's in phase one
10:42
because anybody who comes in now knows
10:44
that delivery at scale can happen and
10:46
all of those good things but it also and
10:49
and there were some Front Runners right
10:50
banking Financial Services grew very
10:52
quickly some software companies or
10:54
product companies grew very quickly in
10:56
the global capability Center model so
10:58
it's a bit of a
11:00
a mix but what is important here is the
11:03
evidence and the
11:05
demonstration uh that gcc's can become
11:08
pivotal to transforming and innovating
11:11
for Global businesses it's an idea that
11:13
works that's why we are seeing it so
11:14
widespread among all these sectors right
11:16
and banking Financial Services has
11:19
always been at the Forefront of
11:20
innovation but looking at the fact that
11:22
Health Care Aerospace all these
11:24
traditional sectors are picking it up uh
11:27
and taking it forward
11:31
and as you mention setting from a bit
11:35
paradigm toing Excellence at scale to
11:38
where now it is driving the engine of
11:40
innovation and value for Enterprises
11:43
truly we are we are just scratching the
11:46
surface right now in terms of value what
11:48
would you say to that yeah no absolutely
11:50
because we can see the because the
11:53
opportunity uh for Innovation is huge in
11:57
some Industries it's more than other
11:59
others right so if Innovation is
12:01
fundament I'll give you a couple of
12:02
examples of how you know some of the key
12:04
levers we've used in Optum in our Global
12:06
capability Center one and this is really
12:09
important because it's about being
12:11
customer Centric now Healthcare is
12:13
personal right each individual is
12:15
different uh and we're seeing uh
12:17
that more and more C uh consumers of
12:19
healthcare services want to be uh you
12:22
know able to understand and manage their
12:24
experience who's their care provider who
12:27
do they want to go to how do they get
12:28
information about their health records
12:30
etc. etc. so one of the big things that we
12:32
do and that's how you can actually
12:34
create Innovation value which is make
12:36
sure that our people understand the
12:38
consumer right the consumer centricity
12:41
of the work that you're doing who's the
12:43
consumer you're delivering to so it's
12:44
not just about okay we'll do something
12:46
and get on with it it's about really
12:48
understanding what the consumer
12:49
experiences the second part is that uh
12:52
gcc's have a unique strength which is
12:55
they have many functions sitting
12:58
together in the Global location for the
13:00
global company for example we have
13:02
technology teams we have data teams we
13:04
have Finance teams we have operational
13:06
teams so this is a great opportunity to
13:09
bring to bear the power of all of them
13:12
together and to actually solve a problem
13:14
and come up with an innovation right so
13:17
how do we get Tech and Ops to work
13:18
together how do we get data and
13:20
analytics and the operations teams or
13:22
the product teams to work together and
13:24
they actually result in very powerful
13:26
outcomes right so actually leveraging
13:29
the full power of what you can uh bring
13:31
to bear to a problem right that's
13:33
something that we've done uh we are
13:35
conscious about and we do um you know
13:38
regularly uh the third one is really
13:40
about nurturing our talent I mean simply
13:42
put you know India's Talent story we
13:44
know we're you know more than 2third of
13:46
the population is Young uh we have among
13:49
the largest stem population in the world
13:52
uh but also in a um GCC like um Optum we
13:57
have the ability to not just hire stem
13:59
Talent we also have the ability to hire
14:01
non- stem Talent you know life sciences
14:03
physical sciences clinical pharmer
14:06
because those are different types of
14:08
talent but our fundamental job is to get
14:10
the right talent in through the door and
14:12
we make sure that we get the right
14:14
talent for the right problem and the
14:16
last one really important if you
14:18
need to get to phase four or 4.0 of the
14:21
GCC model which is to work very closely
14:25
with global teams because we need to we
14:28
are part of the organization we're an
14:30
integral part of the organization so the
14:32
more we're connected with the global
14:34
business teams understand the business
14:35
and day-to-day work with them that's
14:38
when we can move the Strategic
14:40
objectives of the organization forward
14:42
in a in a in a way that's completely uh
14:44
integrated you have summarized the
14:46
definition of a perfect Enterprise where
14:49
all the cogs are working in tandem in
14:52
service of the customer because we truly
14:54
are in the era of hyper personalization
14:57
at scale for the customer
14:59
whether it's Healthcare or whether it's
15:01
other Industries and the fact that gcc's
15:03
are unlocking capabilities for a lot of
15:06
the global players to tap into India's
15:08
demographic dividend and in a sense
15:11
build their Enterprise Value to the
15:13
customer it takes it forward from there
15:15
now taking that point into consideration
15:18
though I want to understand from you
15:20
considering you've been a leader with
15:22
vast amounts of experience what is the
15:24
leadership mindset required both
15:27
globally and in India to sustain this
15:31
growth because at the end of the day you
15:33
need a top down approach as well in
15:35
terms of evangelizing this whole process
15:38
what would you say look
15:40
fundamentally um I've seen that
15:43
leadership is about uh getting the right
15:46
Talent inspiring them and you know
15:48
buying into the vision and delivering
15:50
what we can having said that there are
15:52
some nuances in the GCC world uh and
15:56
you know I worked on both sides I worked
15:57
on the commercial side like a proper
15:59
regular front facing business and I
16:01
worked in a GCC and there are some
16:03
nuances in this business which uh have
16:06
certain specific asks of leadership uh
16:09
in global locations right uh first and
16:13
foremost fundamentally it's about
16:15
understanding the business and getting
16:17
the right Talent right because it's not
16:20
one business a large GCC or a scale GCC
16:24
supports many of the global businesses
16:26
of that organization particularly for so
16:29
you need to have an understanding of
16:31
what's the right talent to bring in for
16:34
the things that need to be delivered
16:35
right and obviously make sure that uh
16:40
give them the tools give them the
16:41
training we spend a lot of time on
16:43
training because you know you need to
16:45
understand the global customer the
16:46
global business so make sure that we
16:48
have all the tools and invest a lot in
16:50
it and then just get out of the way and
16:52
get them to deliver right that's
16:54
fundamental however the kind of
16:56
leadership that you need could depend on
16:58
the geography
16:59
on the scale and on the complexity of
17:02
these uh processes or areas that uh you
17:05
support um so the complexity will also
17:08
Drive the kind of uh leadership that you
17:11
will need uh in a particular Global
17:13
location could you expand on that so for
17:15
example if you take a health care
17:18
company we probably provide uh you know
17:21
we support a lot of our business areas
17:24
one is the actual Healthcare delivery
17:26
side we also support uh what we call
17:29
Insight which is technology data tools
17:32
managed services for the healthcare
17:33
ecosystem so that's a lot of technology
17:35
and data and analytics so the kind of
17:37
talent you need there is different on
17:39
the other side we have the Optum um care
17:41
which is clinical uh Talent right and
17:44
then we also have farmer Talent so it's
17:46
a it's a combine and then we have the uh
17:49
the insurance side which is uh the
17:51
United Health Care side which is claims
17:54
uh you know processing that's
17:55
operational Talent so it's a combination.
17:57
of operational expertise Health uh
17:59
knowledge uh and then data technology
18:02
and so on so you bring a wide
18:04
range of talent together to work on this
18:06
right so the T as leadership we need to
18:09
Be clear about what kind of talent you
18:11
need to bring in right then two other
18:13
things I'll call out which is other than
18:15
making sure once you get them in uh make
18:18
sure that you know clear the
18:19
impediment so they can actually because
18:21
in a global concept uh in a global
18:23
organization it does need a lot of
18:26
working with the Global Partners all
18:28
right make sure things happen and that's
18:30
needs a lot of influencing skills and
18:32
lot of uh you know um ability to engage
18:35
and create relationships at a global
18:37
level two other things I'll call out one
18:40
is for a GCC leader it's really
18:43
important to have a much more
18:45
broad-based uh global social perspective
18:48
broader perspective right not just a
18:51
single Market very localized single
18:52
Market perspective uh because you need
18:55
to understand how Global businesses
18:57
function you're working in different
18:58
different domains you need to understand
19:01
uh you know Global Talent comes in
19:02
diverse packages right you can't deal
19:04
with a talent sitting in you know us or
19:08
wherever else in the same way that you
19:09
potentially uh manage uh Talent sitting
19:12
here so you need to understand that the
19:15
diversity and the business uh across
19:18
the board and that's really important
19:19
personally I also feel for gcc's uh and
19:22
I say this quite a lot which is you need
19:24
something called a growth mindset as a
19:26
leader right which is things are
19:28
changing so quickly you need to be agile.
19:31
and keep learning and keep and just be
19:32
curious about learning Blue Sky
19:34
completely just you know okay how do I
19:37
solve this problem maybe my last time I
19:38
did it could have been different
19:40
something could have moved on here right
19:42
but just that ability to have a growth
19:43
mindset all right a growth mindset and a
19:46
global mindset that's how you take the
19:49
GCC Revolution forward before we sign
19:52
off on our conversation um your
19:55
recommendations on growing this
19:57
ecosystem even further because as you
19:59
mentioned earlier 45 billion currently
20:02
$110 billion and that still looks less
20:05
considering the potential that gcc's can
20:08
bring to the table for Global
20:10
Enterprises what are some
20:11
recommendations that you would suggest
20:14
uh for growing this ecosystem better
20:16
sure uh look in terms of numbers uh as
20:20
well the number of GCC setting up uh you
20:23
know capability centers is growing today
20:25
we're at about 1,600 there or
20:28
thereabouts we're expected to get to
20:30
2,400 to 2,500 gcc's which itself is a
20:33
significant growth over the next by 2030
20:37
now to continue to add value and to
20:40
continue to drive value out of the
20:42
global capability centers I think
20:44
there's a few things that gcc's need to
20:48
think about and focus on the other
20:50
side the environment needs to help us
20:53
along whether it's policies or
20:55
infrastructure or whatever so I'll talk
20:57
I I'll kind of cover both of those
20:59
um uh you know the key points in both of
21:02
those first the gcc's themselves when
21:04
we're moving towards what's Innovation
21:07
transformation uh it's really important
21:09
to understand the areas of focus and
21:12
potentially set up maybe a center of
21:14
excellence or you know um a h incubation
21:18
hub for example Cloud capability for
21:20
example digital capability R&D in
21:23
certain areas right so if the gcc's
21:26
themselves um focus on the areas that
21:29
they want to actually drive value out of
21:30
depending on the company the business
21:32
they then need to set up those uh
21:35
centers of excellence uh you know is
21:37
the thing I would say to kind of Drive
21:39
continue to drive that value second
21:41
thing is um the talent um you know more
21:45
than half our graduates come from non-
21:47
Seven Cities that I spoke about
21:49
initially and to continue to build on
21:52
this scale we need to make sure that we
21:55
develop uh another set of locations from
21:58
which the GCC can it's already started
22:01
but we need to continue to do that you
22:02
know for skill diversity lower costs
22:05
because that is important I mean it's
22:07
still a driver right so lower cost uh
22:10
acquisition of the right talent and
22:12
making sure there's some uh areas where
22:14
you can actually expand into at lower
22:16
risk and so on so the second level of uh
22:19
locations that um we need to start
22:21
looking at the third for the uh gcc's is
22:25
about building the culture because this
22:28
is a model which is a front to back
22:30
model you know you're fully integrated
22:32
with your global company so you need to
22:34
build the right culture uh and the right
22:36
right uh approach and business knowledge
22:39
so that the more you're connected the
22:41
more you work front to back the better
22:43
your outcomes will be all right and the
22:46
last one is to keep talking about and
22:49
demonstrating the value that uh these
22:52
locations can actually uh deliver right
22:55
uh on the other side to help move this
22:58
along
22:59
uh we would absolutely require support
23:01
and help whether it's in policies
23:03
whether it's in incentives whether it's
23:05
recognition uh because the gcc's play a
23:08
big role in terms of you know
23:09
contributing to the economic human
23:11
capital Innovation environmental uh
23:14
capabilities practices Global practices
23:17
so uh we need um continued help and
23:20
support in terms of uh policies and
23:22
infrastructure from the locations and
23:24
the governments uh you know in the
23:26
states that uh we operate in so yeah
23:28
that would be sort of a summary to say I
23:30
think there's a lot of opportunity uh
23:33
and uh you know we need to do the things
23:35
we need to do to realize it miles to go
23:38
before we sleep and it's amazing to see
23:40
the transformation that is taking place
23:42
both in the back and in the front office
23:44
and it's perfect that there is an
23:46
ecosystem solution now for tapping into
23:49
India's demographic dividend and making
23:52
sure that it is actually useful for not
23:55
just the India growth story but for the
23:57
global growth story well that was the
23:59
Deep dive into the GCC ecosystem with
24:03
Umar Ratnam Krishnan thank you so much
24:05
for joining thank you nice conversation
24:08
thank you g thank you so much well that
24:11
was Uma sharing her insightful
24:13
perspectives on the growth and impact of
24:16
gcc's in India now her expertise has
24:19
shed light on the transformative
24:21
potential of this sector and how it is.
24:23
poised to double its share in India’s.
24:26
GDP by 2030 the combination of global
24:30
expertise and local talent as
24:31
highlighted is indeed driving remarkable.
24:34
Innovations and value creation well her
24:37
vision and leadership in steering this.
24:40
growth is remarkable and it's clear that.
24:42
the future of gcc's in India is bright.
24:45
promising significant economic
24:47
contributions and career opportunities
24:50
that was a special presentation brought
24:52
to you by Mint I'm your host Gautam
24:54
Srinivasan and thank you to all the viewers
24:56
for tuning in have a great day
25:00
[Music]
25:01
[Applause]
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