For years, India’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) story has been told through the lens of scale.

Thousands of centres.

Millions of professionals.

Lower operating costs.

That narrative served its purpose. But it no longer reflects reality.

Today’s GCCs are no longer support functions sitting quietly in the background. Increasingly, they are becoming product builders, AI innovators, engineering hubs and strategic decision-making centres. Their success will be determined less by how cheaply they operate and more by the capability they create.

That changes everything about how organisations should think about talent.

India’s GCC momentum continues

Despite global uncertainty, India’s structural advantages remain exceptionally strong.
The country continues to outperform most major economies on growth while benefiting from a deep technical talent pool, favourable demographics and sustained investment. It is little surprise that nearly 1,800 GCCs are now operating across India, with new global brands continuing to establish centres every quarter.

But the real story is not simply that more GCCs are opening.

It is what they are being built to achieve.

Increasingly, these centres own engineering, digital products, AI, cybersecurity, analytics and enterprise transformation rather than traditional back-office operations. That shift requires organisations to rethink their talent strategy from the ground up.

The talent conversation has fundamentally changed

As GCCs mature, hiring priorities evolve.

Yesterday’s centres needed operational excellence.

Tomorrow’s centres require innovation.

The skills now in highest demand include AI engineering, cloud, data science, product development and digital leadership. Organisations are competing not simply for talent, but for scarce capabilities that directly influence business growth.

Yet attracting these skills is becoming harder.

Everest Group research shows that finding people with the right skills and proficiency remains one of the biggest challenges facing GCCs today, alongside retaining critical talent and preparing workforces for next-generation roles.

As Sailesh Hota, Vice President, Everest Group, explains:
“The conversation has shifted from building centres for efficiency to building centres for capability. Organisations that rethink their talent model today will be significantly better positioned for the next phase of GCC evolution.”

AI is accelerating the gap between leaders and followers

Artificial intelligence is adding another layer of complexity.

Most GCCs have moved well beyond simply discussing AI.

Many are actively experimenting, scaling pilots or embedding AI into day-to-day operations, demonstrating a significant shift in organisational maturity over the past three years.

But AI alone does not create competitive advantage.

People do.

The organisations making the greatest progress are redesigning work around skills rather than roles, creating new operating models and investing in continuous capability development.

Technology changes quickly.

Talent strategy must evolve even faster.

Why recruitment needs a different approach

Traditional hiring models were designed for predictable recruitment.

Modern GCCs are anything but predictable.

Hiring demand changes rapidly as centres scale. Critical skills emerge almost overnight. Global priorities shift in response to geopolitical uncertainty, AI adoption and business transformation.
This requires a more flexible talent strategy—one that combines workforce planning, employer branding, market intelligence and specialist hiring expertise with the ability to scale quickly when demand changes.

Recruitment can no longer be viewed as a transactional function.

It has become a strategic capability.

Capability is becoming the new competitive advantage

One of the most compelling ideas emerging from Everest Group’s research is that many GCCs are now approaching an inflection point.

The question is no longer whether a centre can deliver work efficiently.

The question is whether it can become an integrated capability hub that shapes enterprise innovation, influences strategy and creates intellectual property.

As Sailesh notes:
“Many GCCs now find themselves at a strategic inflection point. The organisations that invest in future-ready talent models today will be the ones that define enterprise capability tomorrow.”

Looking ahead

India’s GCC opportunity has never been bigger.

But the winners will not necessarily be those who build centres the fastest.

They will be those who build the strongest talent ecosystems.

  • For business leaders, that means asking new questions:
  • Are we hiring for today’s roles or tomorrow’s capabilities?
  • Is AI changing how work is designed?
  • Does our employer brand reflect the type of talent we now need?
  • Are our recruitment partners helping us build capability—not simply fill vacancies?

The next chapter of India’s GCC story will not be defined by cost arbitrage.
It will be defined by talent, innovation and the ability to continuously build capability at scale.