India's Global Capability Centres (GCCs) hiring rebounds 8-10% in Q1 FY26 as focus shifts from volume to value

India's Global Capability Centres (GCCs) witnessed an 8-10% increase in hiring volumes in Q1 FY26, compared to a 3-6% decline in the Q4 of FY25. This marks a return to strategic, skill-focused recruitment practices. The sector is shifting away from volume hiring, instead prioritising high-value talent in AI, platform engineering, and cybersecurity. This shift is driven by the need to address critical skill shortages across the country. According to Quess IT Staffing CEO Mr. Kapil Joshi, companies are now actively seeking professionals with expertise in artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data engineering. These roles are central to digital transformation. High-growth verticals such as BFSI, Manufacturing, Automotive & Energy, and Technology & Hardware were the main drivers of demand during Q1 FY26. The Manufacturing, Automotive, and Energy sector saw the highest demand growth at 31% QoQ, fuelled by investments in smart factories, Industrial IoT, and electric vehicle (EV) platforms. The BFSI sector remained the largest hirer, accounting for 20% of the total GCC market share and growing 15% QoQ. Demand in BFSI is primarily driven by AI-led credit risk analysis, cybersecurity, and digital lending.
Geographically, Tier-I cities continued to dominate overall hiring volumes. However, Tier-II cities emerged as high-growth spokes, challenging traditional location preferences and diversifying the country's tech talent footprint. While Bengaluru remained the dominant GCC hub with a 29% market share, it recorded the slowest growth among major metros at 3.20%. Pune (10.60%) and Chennai (9.40%) exhibited the fastest growth rates among Tier-I cities. Tier-II cities such as Coimbatore (34.10%), Kochi (27.60%), and Ahmedabad (24.60%) significantly outpaced Tier-I growth. However, Tier-II cities are still struggling to meet the depth requirements of advanced digital roles, such as full-stack DevOps, GenAI engineering, and L3 cybersecurity. As a result, up to 50% of complex mandates are being redirected to Tier-I locations, where talent density, peer networks, and marquee projects remain key magnets for senior professionals. The talent shortfall in domains such as AI, data science, and platform engineering remains significant, ranging from 25% to over 40%, depending on the role. This is slowing down hiring cycles and making it harder for companies to build high-performance teams at the required pace.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.