E-Paper
How GCCs are reshaping India’s employment landscape
This article is authored by Roop Kaistha, regional managing director, APAC, AMS.
India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are no longer quiet engines of corporate efficiency. Post Covid, they have become defining pillars of India’s economic modernisation. Today, with nearly 1,700 GCCs contributing an estimated $64–68 billion annually and employing close to two million professionals, the sector sits at the heart of India’s innovation and talent story. As Union Budget 2026 approaches, expectations are centred on policy continuity, tax clarity and ecosystem strengthening to accelerate India’s rise as the world’s preferred hub for innovation-led global capability.
The rise of GCCs has reshaped the country’s employment architecture more profoundly than any other sector in the last decade. In 2025 alone, GCCs added nearly half a million new roles, driven by exponential growth in AI engineering, cloud architecture, cybersecurity, digital product development and advanced analytics. India’s strength in STEM education continues to power this expansion, with the country producing more than 1.5 million engineers annually and hosting one of the fastest-growing AI talent ecosystems globally.
Equally transformative is the qualitative shift in the nature of work. GCCs have evolved from cost centres to strategic global hubs. More than three-quarters of new entrants in 2025 were built around platform engineering, AI, cloud, cybersecurity and product ownership mandates. India is now home to one of the world’s densest clusters of digital-first global centres, where teams design products, build enterprise platforms and lead global rollouts. This evolution has positioned India firmly as a global innovation partner rather than a delivery destination.
The wage impact has been significant. GCC roles today command 25–30% premiums over comparable domestic opportunities, driven by global demand for specialised digital skills. At the same time, the sector’s indirect and induced employment is estimated at more than 10 million jobs across real estate, transportation, hospitality, facilities management and professional services hence producing a powerful economic ripple effect.
One of the most defining shifts in India’s GCC landscape is the rise of tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Coimbatore, Kochi, Indore, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Vadodara and Chandigarh have emerged as credible GCC destinations, benefitting from 40–60% lower real estate costs, 15–25% talent cost advantages and materially lower attrition. This will continue to drive inclusive employment distribution and eased pressure on overburdened metro hubs.
States have been instrumental in accelerating this shift. Madhya Pradesh’s GCC Policy 2025, for example, offers capital subsidies of up to 40%, payroll support and skilling incentives-aiming to attract 50+ GCCs and create more than 37,000 jobs across Indore and Bhopal. If complemented by harmonised central incentives in Budget 2026, such models could unlock faster expansion beyond metros and support the already growing share of GCC hiring in non-metro locations.
India’s ability to deliver deep, scalable technical capability has catalysed a rapid rise in innovation mandates. The country now hosts more than 185 AI and ML Centres of Excellence. GCCs in India lead global work across digital banking, medical AI and diagnostics, semiconductor design, industrial automation, renewable energy engineering and retail technology.
The industry–academia ecosystem has matured in parallel. Enterprise academies, university-linked labs and large-scale certification programs are producing steady pipelines of job-ready talent across AI, cloud, embedded systems and cybersecurity turning India’s skilling momentum into a core national competitive advantage.
As enterprises move toward AI-native operating models, the next leap in GCC maturity will hinge on deep R&D, domain innovation centres and IP creation, areas that Budget 2026 can significantly influence.
Rather than introducing headline-grabbing schemes, Budget 2026 is expected to focus on strengthening the policy architecture essential for India’s GCC leadership.
Three areas dominate industry expectations:
- Clearer Permanent Establishment (PE) norms to remove ambiguity around remote work, stranded HQ employees and service PE risks.
- Expanded and modernised transfer pricing safe harbour provisions, with sector-specific margins, higher thresholds and multi-year applicability.
- Weighted tax deductions for R&D (150–200%) and accelerated depreciation on AI, digital infrastructure and innovation-linked capital expenditure.
Such measures would directly reduce innovation costs and attract more IP-led and high-value mandates to India.
Centrally backed guidelines or funding frameworks that complement state-level incentives could accelerate decentralised growth, enabling sustainable expansion into high-potential cities while strengthening local talent ecosystems.
Given projections that GCCs will employ 2.5–5 million professionals by 2030, the Budget’s focus on STEM education, AI and cybersecurity curricula, and industry-linked skilling programs will be critical. Incentives for enterprises that invest in academies, leadership development and skill clusters would further strengthen India’s talent advantage.
GCCs generate a 3x economic multiplier and contribute 44% of India’s commercial office leasing—factors that underline their strategic importance. By 2030, the sector could reach $100 billion in exports and become one of India’s biggest contributors to GDP, innovation and job creation.
India has the scale, talent and momentum to become the global command centre for enterprise innovation. We hope that 2026 will bring in further policy certainty, fiscal clarity and long-term commitment. If achieved, the next decade could see India evolve not just as a leading digital powerhouse, but as the world’s innovation capital powered by GCCs that shape products, platforms and innovation for global enterprises
This article is authored by Roop Kaistha, regional managing director, APAC, AMS.
