New York-based IBM, runs four parallel research organizations: IBM Software Labs, IBM Research Labs, IBM Global Technology Services Labs and IBM Hardware Labs. All the four are present in Bangalore, India.
The Global Technology Services (GTS), the most recent of these labs, was set up in November 2016, and is headed by Gopal Pingali. Within nine months of its formation, the lab, which includes 1,000 researchers spread across 20 countries and all reporting to Pingali, filed for 150 patents and launched 10 products for global markets. “GTS Labs is a worldwide lab with [its] center of gravity in India, which is the services delivery capital of the world. We also have the largest developer (programmer) ecosystem in the world. Therefore, especially for services, it makes sense driving GTS labs from here,” Pingali said.
Watson — a cognitive software platform that can mimic human brain and help solve problems which the traditional computers have so far been unable to — is driven from India. Scientists from IBM’s research lab in India were part of a core team that did the early ground work on blockchain, the technology behind digital currency bitcoin, for enterprises and business networks. India is a key global center of excellence in this space within the company, reports BusinessLine.
Vanitha Narayanan, chairman, IBM India Private Limited, said, “Our labs in India have been at the forefront in developing solutions like IoT for agriculture, and cognitive fashion which are being leveraged not only by local but global clients as well. In India, we have created a pool of innovations that can be applied both globally and in the domestic market.”
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
