By Praveen Paramasivam
CHENNAI, Sept 21 (Reuters) – US coffee chain Starbucks has signed a pact to set up a global capability centre (GCC) in the southern Indian city of Chennai, creating roughly 800 technology jobs, the Tamil Nadu state government said on Monday.
Starbucks, which has roughly 500 cafes in India through its joint venture with Tata Consumer Products, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside office hours.
The move comes days after US pharmacy chain Walgreens signed a pact with the Tamil Nadu government to establish a GCC in the state’s capital, already home to tech centres of global corporates including Citi, Barclays and American Express.
GCCs have moved beyond low-cost back-office support, with global business groups using these centres to support headquarters through higher-value functions such as finance and software development, as well as research and development.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai and Haripriya Suresh in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
