India to lead CNH’s global software ops, says Global CIO Luis Abreu | Company News

The company also plans to bring all its in-house software development under the India GCC. This will expand India’s role from supporting global technology projects to building and managing technology used across CNH’s five global regions.

“India is becoming the engine room of CNH’s global information technology (IT). Until recently, our India Technology Centre in Gurgaon focused mainly on product engineering and R&D (research and development). With the launch of our IT GCC, India now builds and runs technology for CNH worldwide, not just for the Indian market,” Abreu said.

CNH currently has six to seven software factories across Latin America, North America and its global IT functions. These teams often work separately. The company plans to bring them under one leadership, with common technology solutions and standards. Roles may shift to India from other regions, depending on the skills required for each function.

“The GCC will operate from India and Brazil, with the GCC leadership based in India. As we do that, roles currently based in one region can move to India. We will decide case by case, area by area, based on the skills each function needs,” the CIO said.

He also said India’s share of CNH’s global in-house IT team will rise from about 14 per cent to 28 per cent by 2028. Later, it could go up to 50 per cent.

CNH’s global IT function has about 500 employees across India, Asia-Pacific, North America and South America. It is also supported by 1,200-1,500 people from technology partners (third-party vendors). In India, the IT GCC has around 70 directly employed CNH staff and about 150 partner employees. The wider Gurgaon technology centre has around 600 people across R&D and IT, besides satellite offices.

The company plans to increase its directly employed India IT workforce from about 70 to 140 by 2028. Abreu said the expansion would come from new capabilities such as software development, data and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as roles shifted from other regions. CNH does not plan to double its global IT headcount.

“AI is how we grow output without growing headcount at the same pace. Our goal is for a team of 500 to deliver what 700 to 750 people would deliver today. AI is there to give our people more power, not to replace them,” he said.

About 70 per cent of CNH’s global IT team has been trained on AI tools such as Claude and GitHub Copilot. The company has identified around 250 AI opportunities globally. Only projects with clear business value and returns are taken into production, Abreu said. Autonomous AI agents in IT operations remain in controlled pilots, although around 80 per cent of infrastructure-monitoring activities have been automated.

CNH is also using AI in customer and dealer services. Its Dealer Ops tool has reduced the time taken to answer customer queries by about 90 per cent, according to Abreu. Its AI Contact Centre handles routine employee IT requests, such as password resets and access approvals. More complex problems are passed to specialists.

The company has developed other AI tools for its software teams. Scaffold IQ converts business requirement documents into technical specifications, architecture diagrams and an initial code base. POINT helps assess and approve technology projects, while DevX Glide provides developers with standard tools to build and release applications. CNH describes the productivity gains listed for these tools as expected impacts, not results already achieved.

AI is also being used to improve demand forecasting for tractors in India. The company previously relied largely on manual forecasts, which had an accuracy of about 50 per cent. Its new system generates rolling three-month forecasts covering around 500 dealers and tractor variants. Accuracy with the use of AI has risen to about 70 per cent, with a target of 80-90 per cent by March 2027. Planners can review and change the forecasts before they feed into production and material planning.