Every fortnight, the world shifts a little more towards India. More and more global companies launch their India teams, new Pods, Capabilities & GCCs, AI roles multiply, and global businesses discover what we've known all along – India needs to be part of your solution stack, no matter who you are, what you do and where you are building.

The India Opportunity is our fortnightly insights publication that connects these dots for both companies (The what, why and how of making India work for you) and top talent (on ground developments and insights to help you plan your next career move) !

Swiss pharma giant Novartis closed a $12 billion all-cash acquisition of Avidity Biosciences on October 27th, paying $72 per share—a 46% premium. The deal isn't about diversification, it's survival. Novartis faces a 2028-2030 patent cliff where Entresto, Xolair, and Cosentyx lose exclusivity, putting $15+ billion in annual revenue at risk. Avidity's antibody-oligonucleotide platform delivers RNA therapies precisely to muscle tissue, solving traditional RNA's targeting problem.

Here's what corporate strategists miss: the three late-stage candidates target rare neuromuscular diseases expected to generate multi-billion-dollar annual sales, but the real acquisition is the delivery platform itself. Novartis raised its 2024-2029 sales CAGR from 5% to 6% post-announcement—proof that $12 billion buys growth visibility when internal R&D can't deliver fast enough. The pharma M&A wave isn't slowing because the alternative to aggressive acquisition is watching competitors lock up platforms while your blockbusters bleed revenue. When your patent cliff is three years away, you pay whatever it takes for the next growth engine.

GE Vernova announced October 22nd it will acquire the remaining 50% of Prolec GE for $5.275 billion, gaining full control of a transformer manufacturer hitting $3 billion in 2025 revenue at ~25% EBITDA margins. Wall Street called it a grid bet. The real story is data centers. Prolec's data center sales grew from 10% of revenue in 2024 to 20% in 2025, with hyperscale orders reaching $900 million year-to-date versus $600 million for all of 2024.

Here's why this matters: AI training clusters need 50-100 megawatts per facility, and each megawatt requires custom transformers. The acquisition eliminates a joint venture bottleneck that prevented GE from selling transformers into North America without partner approval. CEO Scott Strazik explicitly stated data centers want "co-created power-to-rack solutions"—meaning vertically integrated partnerships where GE provides turbines, transformers, and electrical switchgear as a turnkey package. GE isn't selling equipment anymore, it's becoming the systems integrator for AI infrastructure. The insight for infrastructure strategists: whoever owns North American transformer capacity wins the AI buildout, because lead times stretch 18-24 months and there are no substitutes. Deal closes mid-2026 with $60-$120M annual synergies by 2028.

London's Revolut wrapped up a $3 billion fundraising on October 18th at a $75 billion valuation—a 66% jump from its $45 billion secondary round just a year ago. The round was oversubscribed, managed entirely in-house without bankers, and positions Revolut as Europe's most valuable private tech company. CEO Nik Storonsky's ambition is explicit: reach a $150 billion valuation and stand alongside Europe's largest banks before going public.

Here's the strategic insight fintech operators are missing: Revolut raised this at 66% growth while traditional banks trade at single-digit P/E multiples because it's not competing on lending margins—it's monetizing payments, forex, crypto, and embedded insurance across a digital-native customer base that thinks of banking as infrastructure, not destinations. For product teams building in fintech, Revolut's valuation trajectory from $5.5B (2020) to $75B (2025) demonstrates that multi-product platform economics beat single-product category leadership. The company is now profitable, processing massive cross-border volumes, and has finally secured its UK banking license. This isn't a fintech unicorn story anymore—it's a case study in how digital challengers eat incumbents' lunch by owning customer financial identity.

BlackRock CEO Calls India the "Only Unquestionable Growth Story"

INSEAD Ranks India #1 in Global Talent Competitiveness Index

India Liberalizes "Startup Visa" for Global Founders

The Rise of the "Chief Product Technology Officer" (CPTO)

Airbnb Establishes Global AI Hub for "Trust and Safety"

India Becomes a Hub for "Gaming R&D," Not Just Development

Pune's "EV Corridor" Attracts Global Battery Tech R&D

On October 30th, Reliance Jio announced a partnership with Google offering all 482 million Jio users 18 months of free Gemini 2.5 AI Pro access worth ₹35,100, bringing the total free AI distributed in India to over ₹76,000 per user. This follows Perplexity's July deal with Airtel (₹17,000 annually for 360 million users) and OpenAI's October announcement of free ChatGPT Go for one year (₹4,788 annually) starting November 4th. Combined with Google's earlier Gemini Advanced student giveaway (₹19,500), India's 850+ million internet users now have access to premium AI tools worth over ₹76,000 annually at zero cost, while the same services charge full price globally. This isn't charity. It's the most sophisticated customer acquisition war ever waged.

The economics reveal the strategy. While Gemini 2.5 Pro retails at ₹35,100 annually (₹1,950/month), Google's marginal cost per user is estimated at $3-7 (₹250-590) due to AI software's near-zero replication costs. Jio absorbs this nominal expense as part of customer retention budgets, and Google gets instant distribution to India's largest telecom base i.e. 482 million users overnight. The offer initially targets 18-25 year-olds on unlimited 5G plans via the MyJio app, then expands nationwide. Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated the partnership will "bring the best of Google AI to India" with Gemini 2.5 Pro, 2TB cloud storage, and AI creation tools at no extra cost.

Jio's move directly counters Airtel's Perplexity deal, which drove Perplexity to 640% growth in India versus ChatGPT's 350% in the same period. When Perplexity launched its Airtel partnership, it surged to #1 on India's download charts. OpenAI's free ChatGPT Go (launched at ₹399/month in August, 85% cheaper than global $20/month) is a counter-strike, if Perplexity owns Airtel's base and Google owns Jio's, OpenAI needs universal access. This is distribution warfare at scale.

The answer lies in India's unique position as the world's second-largest internet market with 850+ million users, but only 18% OTT subscription penetration. Traditional SaaS economics fail when your addressable market has high engagement but low willingness to pay upfront. AI companies are adopting Reliance Jio's 2016 playbook: collapse prices to ₹0, capture users at scale, build workflows, then monetize when switching costs are prohibitive. Mukesh Ambani's 2016 data revolution gave away 4G free for months, captured 400 million users in 12 months, then monetized through value-added services. Now he's applying the same strategy to AI with Google's platform.

For business strategists, the math is brutal: converting 5% of India's user base (42 million) at ₹400/month generates ₹200 billion annually, more revenue than most global SaaS companies. The playbook is clear: subsidize adoption, lock users into daily workflows (research, content creation, coding), own the home screen when AI becomes infrastructure, then convert when renewal hits. Jio's 18-month free period outlasts Airtel's 12-month Perplexity offer and OpenAI's ChatGPT Go-signaling Reliance plans to own India's AI adoption cycle by extending free access longer than competitors can afford.

India's "free AI moment" isn't generosity, it's the most expensive customer acquisition experiment in tech history. When three of the world's largest tech companies distribute ₹76,000 in AI value per user for free while charging globally, it confirms one thing: whoever owns India's 850 million users when AI becomes infrastructure wins the next decade. And that war started today.

At GCCX, we turn “The India Opportunity” into your competitive advantage. While the world talks about talent arbitrage, we focus on talent amplification helping global founders build their core teams in India with insights, vetted talent, and seamless ops that just work.

Know founders exploring India teams? Connect them with us at [email protected]. You can also go to www.gccxglobal.com and join our growing network of change-makers turning macro trends into micro wins.