GCCs expand beyond support roles as Marketing, HR, and Admin scale
Increasingly, global firms are adopting a hub-and-spoke model, with metros serving as headquarters for innovation and leadership while tier-2 cities scale delivery, R&D, and specialized functions.
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GCCs are now innovation powerhouses. The data by foundit that tier-2 cities are continuing their strong upward trajectory, support engines. recording 21% growth in GCC jobs, even as the overall sector is forecasted to expand by 12% this year. This reflects a deeper structural shift in India’s employment landscape, where tier-2 hubs are no longer seen only as low-cost extensions but as critical engines of growth and innovation.
While metro cities still dominate with 91% of GCC jobs, tier-2 centers like Kochi, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Indore, and Jaipur are emerging rapidly as companies diversify beyond metros. The drivers remain clear: lower attrition, significant cost advantages, access to untapped talent pools, and growing state-level incentives.
Increasingly, global firms are adopting a hub-and-spoke model, with metros serving as headquarters for innovation and leadership while tier-2 cities scale delivery, R&D, and specialized functions.
This expansion is also supported by India’s broader policy and industry focus on regional growth. State governments are actively promoting IT parks and incentives, while enterprises view tier-2 hiring as a way to balance workforce stability with operational efficiency. The result is a more distributed GCC footprint, where tier-2 cities are not only catching up but outpacing metros in relative growth.
Taken together, the July data signals that India’s GCC story in 2025 is evolving into a two-speed growth model: metros remain the backbone with scale and maturity, while tier-2 cities are driving the fastest momentum, reshaping the geography of talent and enterprise innovation.
Bengaluru continues to dominate the GCC landscape with 35% of jobs and 13% YoY growth, cementing its role as India’s innovation hub. Its large tech talent pool, mature startup ecosystem, and concentration of R&D centres make it the first choice for global firms. However, rising costs and talent saturation are prompting companies to diversify to other cities.
Hyderabad has emerged as the fastest-growing Tier-I hub (17% YoY growth), driven by supportive state policies, lower attrition, and a strong base in healthcare, pharma, and semiconductors. Pune and Chennai, with 11% and 8% growth respectively, are strengthening their positions in ER&D, automotive, and manufacturing-focused GCCs, reflecting the sectoral shift towards engineering and digital innovation.
Mumbai and Delhi-NCR retain relevance due to their stronghold in BFSI, consulting, and analytics GCCs, but their growth rates remain modest given higher costs and limited tech workforce scalability. These centres increasingly act as headquarters while core tech hiring is shifting to more cost-efficient hubs.
The standout story lies in Tier-II cities, which now account for 9% of GCC jobs with 21% YoY growth. Locations like Kochi, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Jaipur are attracting investments under the “hub-plus-spoke” model, offering cost advantages, lower attrition, and state-level incentives. This signals the next wave of GCC expansion, with firms balancing scale in metros and resilience in emerging cities.
Top Industries in GCC hiring
India’s GCC ecosystem is led by IT/R&D, which makes up 35% of centers and 38% of jobs, growing 12% year-on-year. Global companies are increasingly shifting advanced engineering, AI, and digital transformation work to India, cementing its role as a global innovation hub.
BFSI and Fintech follow closely with a 22% share, as financial institutions use Indian centers for analytics, compliance, and digital platforms. Manufacturing and engineering, at 13%, is also expanding strongly with investments in product design, IoT, and R&D.
Healthcare and automotive, while smaller in scale, are showing strong momentum with 8% growth each, driven by med-tech, regulatory analytics, and software-defined vehicle programs. In contrast, BPM and Retail are growing more modestly at 5–6%, reflecting saturation and automation in lower-value functions.
Overall, technology-led sectors such as IT, BFSI, Engineering, and Healthcare are powering GCC expansion, while transaction-heavy areas grow at a slower pace. With India’s talent base and policy support, GCCs are steadily evolving into global strategic and innovation engines.
IT continues to dominate GCC hiring with a 36% share of jobs and 12% annual growth, driven by growing demand for cloud, AI, Cybersecurity, and Advanced Engineering capabilities. This marks a clear shift from India being seen primarily as a delivery hub to becoming a center for high-value technology and digital innovation.
Customer Service, BPM, and KPO together account for 18% of jobs but are expanding slowlyat 5% growth, reflecting saturation and the automation of routine processes. In contrast, engineering and production roles are rising strongly with 9% growth as India becomes central to product design, IoT, and R&D mandates for global enterprises.
Finance and accounts have also gained momentum with 10% growth, as global firms increasingly rely on Indian centers for planning, compliance, and risk management.
Marketing, HR, and Admin are scaling steadily, showing that GCCs are now managing broader enterprise functions rather than just select support tasks. Senior Management and Strategy, though still a small share at 4%, points to an important structural shift with leadership roles gradually being anchored in India. Overall, Technology, Engineering, and Finance are driving the next wave of GCC growth, while traditional service heavy functions are maturing. This evolution reflects India’s growing role as a hub for strategic, innovation-led work.
Experience-level trends in GCC
The GCC workforce in India is strongly skewed toward early-career talent, with 42% of jobs in the 0–3 years bracket. This reflects the abundance of skilled graduates, cost advantages, and the need to build scalable teams for technology, engineering, and shared services functions.
Mid-level professionals with 4–6 years of experience make up 26% of jobs, forming the backbone of delivery and people management. They play a crucial role in bridging junior execution with leadership and are in high demand as GCCs expand into digital transformation and domain-specific work.
The 7–10 year segment accounts for 17% of roles, pointing to selective hiring for specialized expertise and project management. More experienced professionals, 11–15 years (9%) and 15+ years (6 percent), remain fewer in number, as senior leadership positions are still concentrated globally, though a gradual shift of strategic mandates to India is underway.
Overall, this structure highlights a youth-heavy model that leverages India’s demographic advantage and cost efficiency at the base, while steadily building higher-value and leadership roles at the top. It reflects the evolution of GCCs from transactional support hubs to innovation and strategy-led centers.
