HYDERABAD | 1 July 2026: Advancing its global data and engineering infrastructure, Swiss healthcare major Roche has announced plans to establish its second Digital Technology Hub in India, selecting Hyderabad to complement its existing technology centre in Pune. Scheduled to become operational in the first quarter of 2027, the new hub reinforces India’s growing role in supporting global healthcare, clinical operations and enterprise technology.

Multinational pharmaceutical companies are increasingly expanding the mandate of their India capability centres beyond enterprise IT into highly regulated scientific and clinical functions. Teams in India are now expected to support Medical Safety, Biostatistics, enterprise platforms and AI-enabled healthcare systems, positioning the country as a strategic contributor to global clinical and digital transformation. Roche’s Hyderabad facility will focus on the intersection of healthcare domain expertise and enterprise computing. According to the company, the combined workforce across the two Indian hubs will manage IT services and specialized digital applications directed toward Biostatistics, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Medical Safety.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Second India Hub: Roche will establish its second Digital Technology Hub in Hyderabad, expected to become operational in Q1 2027.
  • Dual-City Network: The Hyderabad centre will complement Roche’s existing Pune technology hub, creating a distributed capability network across India.
  • Science-Led Digital Work: Teams will support Medical Safety, Biostatistics, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and enterprise digital platforms.
  • Life Sciences Focus: The expansion leverages Hyderabad’s strong pharmaceutical, healthcare and technology talent ecosystem.
  • Strategic Industry Shift: The investment reflects the increasing migration of regulated scientific and digital capabilities into India’s GCC ecosystem.

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading biotechnology and diagnostics companies, developing therapies across oncology, immunology and infectious diseases. The company has steadily expanded its digital capabilities in India through its Pune technology centre. The Hyderabad expansion signals the next phase of this journey, integrating deeper scientific computing and enterprise engineering capabilities into Roche’s global operating model.

Within India, the business has historically relied on its Pune technology center to support internal IT frameworks. The addition of a secondary hub indicates a deliberate strategy to absorb deeper scientific computing tasks, integrating regional data engineering talent directly into the company’s global medical and enterprise supply chains

The Clinical Architecture Mandate

The operational directive for the Hyderabad hub involves supporting critical healthcare data platforms and enterprise applications that underpin Roche’s global pharmaceutical and diagnostics business. Managing Biostatistics requires professionals capable of structuring and analysing complex clinical trial data that directly influences the drug development lifecycle. Similarly, Medical Safety functions support global pharmacovigilance by monitoring adverse events while ensuring compliance with stringent international regulatory standards.

This level of operational complexity requires a hybrid workforce that combines software engineering, cloud, AI and data analytics capabilities with expertise in bioinformatics, molecular biology and clinical research. The planned 2027 launch provides Roche with sufficient time to establish secure digital infrastructure and build specialised domain talent.

“

Hyderabad is a destination for an exceptional talent pool, especially for the Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences domain. By tapping into India’s vibrant healthcare and technology ecosystem, we are creating scalable data-driven innovations…

– Ramesh Durvasula, Chief Data Officer and Chief AI Officer, Roche

While Roche has outlined the broad functional scope of the Hyderabad Digital Technology Hub, the centre will support digital platforms across Medical Safety, Biostatistics, ERP and enterprise applications while collaborating closely with Roche’s global technology and research organisations. Beyond traditional IT support, the facility will contribute to cloud platforms, enterprise data architecture, cybersecurity, automation and application engineering.

As pharmaceutical companies increasingly integrate artificial intelligence and advanced analytics into drug development and commercial operations, digital capability centres are evolving into long-term technology partners rather than back-office support organisations.

By combining healthcare domain expertise with enterprise engineering capabilities, the Hyderabad hub will strengthen Roche’s ability to standardise digital platforms globally while maintaining the regulatory controls required in one of the world’s most highly regulated industries.

Building a Distributed Global Capability Network

Establishing a dual-city footprint represents a mature approach to capacity planning and operational resilience within the GCC model. Expanding beyond a single technology location in Pune enables Roche to distribute specialised functions across multiple talent ecosystems while reducing exposure to localised disruptions, wage inflation and talent concentration.

Operating parallel centres also strengthens business continuity for critical clinical platforms such as medical safety monitoring and enterprise healthcare systems, ensuring resilience across global operations.

Reinforcing the company’s long-term commitment to India, Raja Jamalamadaka, VP & Site Head, Roche Pune & Hyderabad Sites, stated:

“

Our investment in Hyderabad – a rapidly growing destination for research, technology, and high-end innovations reflects our long-term commitment to India and its ecosystem.

– Raja Jamalamadaka, VP & Site Head, Roche Pune & Hyderabad Sites

Our Perspective

Roche’s decision to establish a second Digital Technology Hub reflects a broader evolution in how global pharmaceutical companies are leveraging India’s capability ecosystem. Rather than limiting Indian operations to enterprise technology support, global life sciences organisations are increasingly entrusting India with highly regulated scientific, clinical and data-driven functions.

The expansion also reinforces the growing convergence between healthcare expertise and digital engineering. As AI becomes embedded across drug discovery, clinical development and patient safety, the demand for multidisciplinary talent combining technology, life sciences and regulatory knowledge will continue to grow.

For India’s GCC ecosystem, this represents another step up the value chain, from delivering digital services to enabling core scientific and business outcomes.

Industry Insights

  1. Healthcare GCCs are moving up the value chain: Global pharmaceutical companies are increasingly locating highly regulated, science-intensive functions, including pharmacovigilance, clinical analytics and biostatistics, in India, reflecting growing confidence in the country’s specialist talent ecosystem.
  2. AI is becoming foundational to life sciences operations: Digital hubs are evolving beyond application support into platforms that enable AI-driven clinical analytics, automation, medical safety and enterprise decision-making.
  3. Multi-city GCC networks are becoming the preferred operating model: Rather than relying on a single large campus, multinational organisations are building distributed capability networks that improve resilience, talent access and business continuity.
  4. India is emerging as a destination for regulated digital work: Unlike conventional IT operations, healthcare technology requires deep scientific knowledge alongside engineering expertise. India’s expanding talent ecosystem is increasingly capable of supporting globally regulated digital operations where compliance, quality and domain expertise are equally critical.

Way Forward

Roche’s Hyderabad expansion reflects the evolution of India’s life sciences capability ecosystem, from supporting enterprise technology to enabling core scientific, clinical and data-driven operations.

As pharmaceutical companies accelerate AI adoption, modernise clinical development and strengthen global healthcare platforms, India is increasingly emerging as a strategic execution hub for regulated digital innovation. The next phase of growth for life sciences GCCs will be defined not simply by engineering scale, but by the ability to combine healthcare expertise, advanced analytics and AI to deliver globally trusted clinical outcomes.

Curated by SSF Global

Tracking the shifts shaping GCCs, enterprise ecosystems, and the future of global business.

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SSF Global is a Global Community for Enterprise Function Leaders and serves as a research & advisory platform focused on Global Business Services (GBS), Global Capability Centres (GCCs), and the evolution of enterprise innovation in India and beyond. We track, publish, and partner in narratives that shape how capability centres transform into hubs of trust, intelligence, and sustainable growth. We also evaluate, assess and benchmark the GCCs for their performance, maturity and other parameters using our proprietary tools built from the knowledge gained from direct interaction with our members (GCCs & GBS).