Finance
Magnum’s India GBS: From Backend Support to Business Value Creator
The role of India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) is changing rapidly. What once began as a model focused primarily on cost efficiency and back-office delivery is increasingly becoming a strategic engine for technology, transformation and business growth.
The Magnum Ice Cream Company’s Global Business Services (GBS) operation in Pune is an example of this shift.
Following Magnum’s separation from Unilever, the company is building its India GBS with a much broader ambition: not simply to provide support to global teams, but to actively participate in shaping how the business operates.
From GCC to Global Business Solutions
For Abhishek Mendiratta, Director and India GBS Head at The Magnum Ice Cream Company, the distinction between a traditional GCC and a GBS is important.
The Pune operation is being positioned as a business partner that helps determine how Magnum should operate, rather than as a team executing processes defined elsewhere.
This includes decisions around the technology stack, ERP architecture and operating processes.
One of the major initiatives is Magnum’s move towards SAP S/4HANA. The India GBS is involved not only in implementing the ERP platform but also in helping shape the broader technology ecosystem around it.
The organisation is also developing capabilities across supply chain, finance, marketing and sales.
That changes the fundamental question for the centre.
Instead of asking, “What work can we move to India?”, the focus becomes “What business outcomes can India help us create?”
Technology Is Becoming a Business Function
The transformation of Magnum’s India GBS reflects a wider evolution taking place across India’s GCC ecosystem.
Technology is no longer operating as a separate support function. It is increasingly embedded in business strategy.
At Magnum, the GBS is expected to participate in defining how technology can replace manual intervention, connect business functions and create a more integrated operating environment.
This approach gives the India team greater visibility into business decisions.
It also creates a stronger case for the GBS to have a seat at the leadership table.
As Mendiratta puts it, the organisation needs to be seen as a value creator rather than simply a backend operation.
The Real Talent Challenge: Technology + Domain Expertise
One of the biggest challenges facing this new generation of GBS organisations is talent.
India has no shortage of technology professionals with expertise in AI, analytics, SQL, data engineering and other digital technologies.
But technology skills alone are not enough.
The bigger advantage comes from combining technical capabilities with deep understanding of the business.
For example, an AI specialist who understands supply-chain operations can potentially create far more business value than someone who only understands the technology.
This is why Magnum is looking at a combination of technology specialists and domain experts rather than expecting every employee to possess every skill.
The objective is to build teams where technology expertise and business knowledge complement each other.
Reskilling Existing Employees
Another important part of Magnum’s strategy is reskilling its existing workforce.
Several employees joining the standalone organisation bring significant experience from their years in the ice cream business. That institutional knowledge is valuable.
Rather than replacing that knowledge with new technology talent, the strategy is to combine both.
Employees who understand Magnum’s business can be reskilled on newer technologies, tools and digital capabilities.
This creates an important competitive advantage.
The company does not have to choose between domain knowledge and technology expertise. It can build both within the same workforce.
For GCC leaders, this could become increasingly important as AI changes job roles and organisations need employees who understand both the technology and the business problems it is designed to solve.
Gen Z and the New Leadership Model
The transformation is not only about technology. It is also about culture.
Mendiratta highlights the importance of moving away from command-and-control leadership, particularly when managing younger employees.
For Gen Z talent, empowerment and autonomy can be as important as compensation and career progression.
Instead of dictating every decision, leaders increasingly need to create an environment where employees can make decisions, experiment and take ownership.
This is particularly relevant for GBS organisations that want to attract technology and innovation talent.
A centre cannot become an innovation hub if employees have to wait for multiple layers of approval before acting.
India’s GCC Evolution Is Moving Up the Value Chain
Magnum’s Pune GBS is part of a much broader trend across India’s GCC landscape.
Companies are increasingly establishing Indian centres not simply because India offers a large and cost-effective talent pool, but because the country offers access to technology expertise, domain talent, engineering capabilities and increasingly strategic leadership.
Recent GCC developments across India point in the same direction, with centres taking greater responsibility for AI, product development, engineering, enterprise transformation and global business outcomes.
This means the next competitive advantage for GCCs may not be the size of their workforce.
It may be the level of ownership they have over global business outcomes.
The Six-Month Mindset
Perhaps the most interesting element of Magnum’s approach is its focus on the near term.
Rather than defining the organisation primarily through a three- or five-year vision, Mendiratta argues that the pace of technological change makes six months a more meaningful planning horizon.
That mindset reflects the reality facing modern GBS organisations.
AI capabilities are evolving rapidly. Enterprise technology architectures are changing. Employee expectations are shifting. Business models are becoming more digital.
A long-term strategy is still important, but organisations need the ability to continuously adapt that strategy.
What Magnum’s Model Signals for India’s GCCs
The evolution of Magnum’s Pune GBS highlights five important lessons for the broader GCC ecosystem:
1. Move beyond cost arbitrage.
India’s value proposition is increasingly about expertise, innovation and business impact.
2. Combine domain with technology.
AI and digital skills become significantly more valuable when combined with deep business knowledge.
3. Reskill before replacing.
Existing employees can become powerful digital talent when their domain expertise is combined with new technology capabilities.
4. Give India decision-making authority.
A centre cannot become strategic if it only executes decisions made elsewhere.
5. Measure business outcomes, not just service delivery.
The strongest GBS organisations will be judged by the value they create for the global business.
The Bigger Picture
Magnum’s India GBS is being built at an interesting moment in the evolution of global capability centres.
The old model was simple: move work to India, improve efficiency and reduce costs.
The emerging model is fundamentally different.
Build capability in India. Give it ownership. Combine technology with domain expertise. And make it responsible for business outcomes.
For Magnum, the ambition is clear: Pune should not simply be the place where global work gets done.
It should be a place where the business is designed, transformed and improved.
And that may ultimately be the difference between an India GBS that supports the business and one that helps shape its future.