On 9 and 10 October 2026, something quite interesting is going to happen at IIM Jammu. The J&K GCC Summit 2026, being organised by IIM Jammu in collaboration with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and in knowledge partnership with NASSCOM, will bring together some of the country’s leading Global Capability Centre (GCC) companies, policymakers, academics and industry leaders. 

But I believe the significance of these two days goes well beyond a summit. For perhaps the first time, some of the senior-most administrative leaders of Jammu and Kashmir will sit across the table with leaders of India’s GCC industry in a series of candid, no-holds-barred conversations about a question that matters deeply to us: What will it take for Jammu and Kashmir to enter India’s growing GCC ecosystem, and to do so as a credible Tier-2 and Tier- 3 destination? 

That may sound like a familiar proposition at a business summit. It is not. Economic growth is ultimately driven by two sets of stakeholders—the government that creates the enabling environment and the businesses that take the risk of investing in it. Genuine growth begins when these two sides are willing to listen to each other, ask difficult questions and speak honestly about what works and what does not. That is precisely the spirit in which we are approaching the J&K GCC Summit. 

Let me explain why. In June 2025, a train crossed the Chenab on the world’s highest railway arch bridge, connecting the Kashmir Valley to the national rail network. The bridge was decades in the making. Its deeper value, however, can be expressed in one word that matters as much to an investor as it does to a traveller: predictability. A journey that once depended heavily on weather and a single highway can now be planned with greater certainty. That is the journey we want to begin for J&K’s GCC ecosystem. Building a significant GCC destination will not happen overnight. It may take years. Perhaps decades. But the journey can be made predictable if we learn from those who have already travelled it. Be they leading GCC companies or States that have successfully attracted such investments. 

That is why the Summit is bringing industry leaders together with representatives of States such as Gujarat, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, which have valuable lessons to share. We do not intend to reinvent the wheel. We want to understand what has worked elsewhere, what has not, and what can be adapted to J&K’s own circumstances. 

The opportunity before us. India already hosts more than 2,200 capability centres employing around 1.9 million professionals and generating close to USD 65 billion in annual exports.........

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