Costco to open GCC in India, sets sights on martech muscle

US retail giant Costco is setting up its first Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India, with plans to hire 1,000 people at the Hyderabad facility. The centre will support global operations across technology, finance, analytics, and R&D, marking the company’s formal entry into India’s booming GCC ecosystem.

The move comes as more global retailers look to tap Indian talent not just for backend functions but for core innovation. Costco’s Hyderabad hub will work closely with its international teams to drive capabilities in infrastructure engineering, machine learning, data science, and automation, which are all skills increasingly critical to modern retail and marketing.

For marketers, this is more than a backend play. It signals Costco’s intention to double down on data-driven commerce. With a dedicated centre focused on tech and analytics, the retailer is poised to sharpen its martech stack, spanning customer insights, campaign optimisation, and personalisation at scale. In an age of AI-led commerce, this kind of in-house capability gives brands tighter control over consumer data and sharper ROI from media investments.

The choice of Hyderabad is no accident. The city has quietly emerged as the new capital of global GCCs, with Walmart, McDonald’s, Heineken, and Vanguard already operating large-scale centres there. According to Nasscom, India’s GCC sector is projected to grow from $64.6 billion in FY24 to over $100 billion by 2030, driven by demand for deep-tech talent and proximity to emerging markets.

For the Indian media and marketing ecosystem, Costco’s arrival is yet another reminder that the GCC story is no longer about cost. It’s about capability. And the global martech race increasingly runs through Hyderabad.