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Hyderabad | 17 December 2025: Novartis, the Swiss-headquartered global pharmaceutical leader, is deepening its India footprint as part of a strategic evolution of its Global Capability Centre (GCC) model, embedding India more deeply into its global drug development and R&D workflows. The expansion reflects India’s emergence as a strategic hub for high-value scientific, data and analytics work, moving well beyond traditional support-only roles.
India now plays an integral role across the full spectrum of Novartis’ development activities, from chemistry and analytics to clinical operations and regulatory science, establishing the nation’s embedded presence in global programmes spanning cardio-renal-metabolic diseases, oncology, immunology and neuroscience.
“India teams now contribute to nearly every molecule that reaches late-stage development at Novartis.”
– Dr Sadhna Joglekar, Senior Vice President & Head of the Development India Hub
The company’s India operations have grown to encompass over 9,000 professionals, representing nearly 11% of Novartis’ global workforce. Experts in India are now directly involved in global assets such as inclisiran (a lipid-lowering siRNA therapy), lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan (a radioligand therapy), and remibrutinib (an approved treatment for chronic spontaneous urticaria), contributing to analytical method development, clinical operations, data management and regulatory documentation.
Novartis’ India hub has also expanded its capabilities in digital and hybrid clinical trials, advanced biomarker and quantitative sciences, and AI-driven data platforms, enabling faster, evidence-led decision-making at global scale. Tools such as Protocol.AI and other clinical intelligence systems are being strengthened by data engineering and modelling teams in India, while safety science and real-world evidence functions continue to grow. Dr Joglekar further highlighted the strategic shift in how the company views its India operations.
“What began as a strong scientific and technical rationale has evolved into a much more strategic one: India is now an integrated part of Novartis’s global development of innovative medicines and a critical contributor to how we accelerate the molecule-to-medicine journey for patients worldwide.”
The expansion of Novartis’ India development hubs reflects a broader trend in the global GCC landscape, where India’s digital infrastructure, STEM talent pool and data-ready workforce are enabling multinational firms to relocate increasingly complex, high-value work to the country. India already hosts more than 1,900 GCCs, serving as a key node in global enterprise delivery and innovation networks across sectors including pharmaceuticals, technology, analytics and finance.
By embedding India more fully into its global pipeline, Novartis is signalling not only confidence in the country’s scientific and operational capabilities, but also the broader shift in how global enterprises think about GCCs: as strategic engines of innovation, analytics and decision-making, rather than cost-focused support centres.
Implications for GCC Expansion
Novartis’ expansion reinforces India’s GCC narrative: multinational corporations are increasingly extending beyond back-office activities to capability-driven work such as regulatory science, advanced analytics, AI-enabled trial design, and lifecycle management. This evolution is vital to sustaining global innovation pipelines and competitive advantage and India’s role appears set to grow further as talent, technology and scientific capability converge within its GCC ecosystem.
