Most GCCs are using the Celonis platform to get complete visibility into finance, operations, and supply chain workflows. Kaushik Mitra, Vice President and Head of India GTM, Celonis, explains exclusively to Rajneesh De, Group Editor, CXO Media & APAC Media, how this helps them quickly spot process gaps and take action, leading to faster order fulfilment, better use of working capital, and overall stronger business outcomes.
India has long been a strategic talent and innovation hub, but Celonis is now adding a GTM focus. What new business realities or regional shifts prompted this evolution?
India is a strategic pillar of Celonis’ global operations. As part of the global expansion program, when we entered India in 2021, the intent was very clear. We started with a Services Centre of Excellence, and quickly built out functions in engineering, support, academia, and ecosystem development.
Over the past few years, the Indian market itself has changed quite dramatically. Large enterprises in sectors like automotive, BFSI, retail, pharma, manufacturing etc., are no longer running small pilots. They are scaling transformation programs across the organisation, and Global Capability Centres here are driving global operations for some of the world’s biggest companies.
That maturity, combined with India’s deep pool of digital talent, made it the right time for us to add a dedicated Go-To-Market function. It allows us to engage directly with Indian enterprises, while also strengthening the support we provide global customers from here. In many ways, it’s a natural progression of the journey we started four years ago.
With the Bengaluru facility now operational, what are the core business objectives tied to this investment, and how does it contribute to Celonis’ long-term vision in the region?
The new Bengaluru office has been set up to bring together the best of product innovation, customer value delivery, and ecosystem enablement under one roof. It has been designed to support the growing needs of our engineering, GTM, and Partner Ecosystem teams, and to serve as a collaborative space for engaging with enterprises and integrators.
A key focus of this expansion is talent development. The office also houses Celonis Garage, a dedicated innovation hub which helps drive co-innovation with customers and partners, and also works with startups to develop, deploy and scale advanced solutions in areas such as AI and the use of unstructured data. At Celonis, we are helping companies get the most from their data, systems and AI and Celonis Garage is at the forefront of that effort.
What role do India-based Global System Integrators play in helping Celonis deliver transformational outcomes to clients worldwide?
At Celonis, Global System Integrators (GSIs) play a key role in helping us reach more customers and deliver value at scale. These partnerships are central to our go-to-market strategy, and we are deepening them to drive enterprise AI and digital transformation.
For example, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, etc. have built strong Celonis expertise and integrated our platform into their transformation frameworks, trained dedicated teams, and created accelerators that are now being used with clients across the globe. We work closely with the Global Advisory firms like KPMG, PwC, EY, Cap Gemini and Deloitte, amongst others, to provide solutions on the Celonis platform.
How are Capability Centres in India contributing to Celonis’ global success and client impact?
India hosts over 2,000 Global Capability Centres (GCCs) and this number continues to grow. Celonis works with more than 150 of these centres in India, including those of Dell Technologies, Wells Fargo, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Merck, and ABB.
Many of these GCCs run large transformation programs using Celonis. They use our platform to get complete visibility into finance, operations, and supply chain workflows. This helps them quickly spot process gaps and take action, leading to faster order fulfilment, better use of working capital, and overall stronger business outcomes.
India is fast becoming a nerve centre for enterprise innovation. How does Celonis position India within its global strategy, particularly as you look ahead to your ambitions in the current fiscal year?
India has become a key pillar of our global strategy across three areas—market opportunity, talent and delivery. The key focus right now is on India-based organisations. Indian enterprises are entering a new phase of digital acceleration and want solutions that scale and deliver clear ROI. Having a GTM function on the ground allows us to work closely with them, especially as they rethink how work gets done, how outcomes are measured, and how efficiency is achieved sustainably.
On the talent side, we have nearly 200 professionals in engineering, solution design, services, customer success, and GTM, and we plan to grow this significantly in the coming years, especially in these functions.
From a delivery standpoint, as mentioned above, our India teams are driving some of the most complex transformation programs. The Celonis Garage, which is designed to function with startup-like agility, is driving fast-paced innovation through ideation and experimentation. By engaging with customers, partners, and academic institutions, the team is identifying, validating and incubating ideas that can evolve into scalable solutions for global enterprises.
India contributes significantly to the Celonis Academic Alliance with 130,000+ learners and 300+ universities. How do you plan to deepen this academic and talent engagement?
We at Celonis are actively growing the Celonis Academic Alliance community in India, which is helping strengthen collaboration between academia and industry. We now have the largest learner base here, and the enthusiasm from students and faculty has been exceptional. The focus now is on turning that energy into outcomes.
We are working with universities to embed Process Intelligence into their curricula, co-create industry-relevant modules, and give students the chance to work on real-world projects. We are also expanding certification programs so that graduates are not only familiar with Celonis but are industry-ready from day one. This creates a steady pipeline of talent for enterprises, partners, and GCCs. For us, the Academic Alliance is as strategic as our customer partnerships, because it sustains the ecosystem in the long run.
Looking toward the future, what unique contributions do you foresee India making as Celonis drives toward its mission of building process excellence that benefits businesses, individuals, and the broader planet?
India combines scale, talent, and an early-adopter mindset in a way very few markets do. Enterprises here are already using Celonis to streamline logistics, reduce emissions, and eliminate process inefficiencies, showing how business outcomes and sustainability outcomes can go hand in hand.
As AI becomes more embedded in operations, Process Intelligence will be essential to give AI the business context it needs to deliver real impact. To me, that makes India not just part of our global story, but one of the places where the future of process excellence is being written.
