The recent results from T2K and MINOS experiments point towards a relatively large value of the reactor angle theta_13 in the lepton sector. In this paper we show how a large theta_13 can arise from the charged lepton sector alone in the context of an SU(5) GUT. In such a scenario (tri-)bimaximal mixing in the neutrino sector is still a viable possibility. We also analyse the general implications of the considered scenario for the searches of CP violation in neutrino oscillations.