Key Points

The report by advisory firm EY India showed that a majority of the companies established their presence in the country in the last five years. This is indicative of India’s growing role in driving pharmaceutical research, innovation, and end-to-end value creation.

Notably, the life sciences GCCs have rapidly evolved from traditional back-office roles into strategic innovation engines.

Far from being limited to support functions, these centers now play a critical role in global mandates such as drug discovery, digital therapeutics, and real-world evidence (RWE) analytics, increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate pipelines and drive patient-centric innovation, the report said.

“Our analysis highlights how India has rapidly evolved from a support base to the very center of innovation for global pharma and healthcare. In just five years, GCC penetration in enabling functions like finance, HR, supply chain, and IT has crossed about 60 per cent,” said Arindam Sen, Partner and GCC Sector Lead – Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunications, EY India.

"But what truly stands out is the deepening role in core functions -- from drug discovery and regulatory affairs to medical and commercial operations," Sen added.

Further, the analysis showed that penetration across both enabling and core functions has accelerated sharply in the last five years.

On the enabling side, life sciences GCCs in India now handle 70 per cent of finance, 75 per cent of HR, 62 per cent of supply chain, and 67 per cent of IT functions for their global life sciences firms.

More significantly, their role in core functions has deepened -- with 45 per cent penetration in drug discovery and development, 60 per cent in regulatory affairs, 54 per cent in medical affairs, and 50 per cent in commercial operations.

This shift underlines India’s transition from a support hub to a strategic center powering end-to-end innovation and operations for the industry.

“This isn’t about cost arbitrage anymore; it’s about India becoming indispensable to the global R&D pipeline. Lifesciences multinationals are embedding their most strategic, knowledge-intensive work here, making India the epicentre for life sciences innovation, compliance, and future growth,” Sen said.

- IANS