Walgreens is opening its first Global Capability Center in India, choosing Chennai, in southern India, for a technology and business-services hub that the company expects to employ more than 250 people in its first year, according to Deccan Chronicle
The Deerfield, Illinois-based pharmacy and healthcare company signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Tamil Nadu to set up the center at DLF Downtown in Tharamani, a Chennai neighborhood the state has designated part of its Global Capability Centres Corridor and Development Program
Asia News International wire service named the other officials at the signing: Industries Minister S. Keerthana, Chief Secretary Dr. Mu. Saikumar, and Additional Chief Secretary Dr. S. Vijayakumar. Guidance, the state’s investment promotion agency, was represented by its managing director and chief executive, Deepak Jacob. Walgreens sent its Global Competence Centre head, Umapathy Viswanathan, and a company director, Masood Ahmed.
Walgreens joins other American companies that have built Global Capability Centers in India to run technology, finance, and back-office work once handled only at headquarters. For an American executive weighing where to put the next one, the Tamil Nadu deal is a reminder that the competition for this business now runs city to city, not just country to country, and that a state government’s own sales pitch has become part of the site-selection process.
