Genre : Business & Economy
Choosing Chennai as the site for its Global Business Services (GBS) hub, Adidas, the well-known sports footwear and apparel company, is making a calculated decision by establishing its first and only Global Capacity Centre (GCC) in Asia outside of China. This development highlights the growing tendency of global companies making investments in India in order to take advantage of the vast software capabilities available in the nation. Lead by Akhil Kapoor, the Chennai facility is positioned to be a major player in financial planning and analysis, invoice-to-cash, record-to-report, and source-to-pay.
Plans for Expansion and Leadership
Over the next three to five years, Adidas intends to add top-notch resources and expects its Chennai centre to grow significantly. The vice president of GBS Global Procurement and head of GBS India, Akhil Kapoor, will be in charge of the Chennai operations. The hub is positioned to easily integrate with other hubs in Porto, Dalian, Bogota, and North America under Kapoor’s direction, supporting the business’s international activities.
Chennai’s Allure and Industry Viewpoint
Tamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa emphasizes Chennai’s rise to prominence as a top destination for research and development facilities as well as global capacity centres. Chennai has drawn top international businesses thanks to its status as a manufacturing powerhouse and knowledge hub. This trend is especially noticeable in the footwear business, where a large number of women are already employed, and Chennai is quickly emerging as a top GCC destination.
Importance for the GCC Ecosystem in Tamil Nadu
The announcement by Adidas to open a GCC in Chennai is regarded as a significant contribution to the state’s expanding GCC ecosystem. The decision fits with a larger pattern of foreign businesses selecting Tamil Nadu as the location of their initial Indian operations. Notable businesses that have established operations in the area include UPS, FleetCor, Sagent, JGC, Ashley, ChampionX, Hitachi Energy, and Udemy. This illustrates how in-demand specialist talents at the nexus of domain expertise and technology are in the state.
Industry Expert Views
Prominent sports brands like Adidas are setting up GCCs (global capability centres) in India, according to industry experts like Lalit Ahuja, the founder of ANSR. Although companies like Nike and Lululemon already operate GCCs in India, Ahuja highlights the potential size of these facilities, pointing out that they can employ anywhere from 100 to 2000 people depending on their size. It is expected that the action taken by the second-largest athletic goods maker in the world will accelerate Chennai’s growth in the GCC.
Diversification and Scale in Chennai
Chennai’s GCC landscape is diversified across a number of industries, including manufacturing, health sciences, telecommunications, logistics, energy, and retail, according to Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, a partner at Catalincs. Large logistics and retail companies with headquarters in Chennai include MSC, Maersk, CMA-CGM, Hapag Lloyd, Walmart, and Amazon. Similar to its well-established position in traditional IT services, this development represents the city’s expanding role as a global hub for GCCs.
Future Prospects and Record Office Absorption
A new Colliers report emphasizes Chennai’s record gross office absorption in CY23, which came in at 10.5 million square feet. This is a stunning 131% gain over CY22. The city is anticipated to see more hiring and an emphasis on IT, data, and other operations as businesses formalize their GCCs. Adidas’s GCC lends impetus to this trend, demonstrating the city’s increasing importance as a key hub for international commercial services.
Initiatives for Recruitment and Innovation Focus
According to LinkedIn job alert announcements, Adidas is currently looking for a number of positions at its Chennai headquarters. The company’s innovation team includes positions like manager of reporting and performance management, senior specialist of data engineering, business analyst of continuous improvement, and senior specialist of ServiceNow. This hiring spree is in line with the possibility that GCCs would advance up the value chain to include product creation and e-commerce platform development, going past basic duties like finance and procurement.
In conclusion, the opening of a global capacity centre by Adidas in Chennai marks a significant turning point in the development of the city as a centre for international commercial services. The sports brand’s decision, which places a focus on crucial procedures and commits to bringing in top-notch personnel, is indicative of a larger trend in which international businesses are realizing the potential of India’s talented labour force. Chennai’s GCC ecosystem is expected to grow steadily as the city draws in more multinational behemoths from a variety of industries, thus strengthening India’s standing in the world of business services.
