Mid-size global capability centres (GCCs) in India are outpacing the large ones in hiring, according to data sourced by ET.
Hiring by mid-size GCCs, or those with 500–2,000 employees, increased 10–12% in the six months through June, compared with 4–6% by large GCCs, showed data from staffing services provider Quess Corp.
Most of the hiring by mid-size GCCs is aimed at replacing outgoing employees or expanding existing teams, said Quess Corp IT Staffing CEO Kapil Joshi. “These centres are focused on long-term stability, process maturity, and cost efficiency.”
To be sure, large GCCs, with more than 2,000 employees, still make up the majority of the workforce and continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in the past.
While the GCC wave is growing in India, large multinationals that already employ thousands in Indian GCCs are opting for leaner teams and sharper focus to make the workforce more agile and adapt quickly to business needs in the wake of the disruption from artificial intelligence.
If large GCCs bring scale and reliability, the mid-size ones are leading the way in capability-led hiring, said experts.
The relatively smaller firms are entering India for the first time or expanding operations quickly, building entire capabilities from the ground up, said Joshi. “To attract the right talent, they are offering competitive salaries, signing bonuses and quicker career growth, especially for skilled professionals in AI and data roles…They’re not just hiring more people, they’re hiring differently, with a clear goal to build new capabilities and gain a competitive edge in the talent market.”
Over the last five years, the headcount at mid-size GCCs grew 46%—to more than 220,000 in 2024 from 150,000 in 2019—compared with a 34% expansion in the workforce at other GCCs, showed data from ANSR that helps MNCs set up GCCs.
The non-mid-market GCCs, largely comprising big GCCs, employed 1.68 million people in 2024, up from 1.25 million in 2019.
Mid-size GCCs are aggressively expanding in India. More than 45 new centres set up operations in the past two years alone, as per an April report by industry body Nasscom and consulting firm Zinnov. They account for nearly 35% of India’s total GCCs, and 30% of the GCC additions during the past two years.
They operate under greater cost constraints than their larger peers, are rapidly evolving into significant contributors to their parent organisations' market strategies and are becoming influential players in their respective industries, according to sector experts.
Such centres are characterised by high maturity as transformation hubs, and deep product capabilities with a significant share of global product management talent. They have a high concentration of niche deeptech skills, a central role in global engineering, research & development (ER&D), an agile operating model enabling faster leadership elevation, and function as process transformation engines for their parents, say experts.
More than 120 new mid-market GCCs are expected to be established in India by the end of 2026, adding about 40,000 jobs, ET had recently reported.
According to the Nasscom-Zinnov report, the mid-market segment has the potential to attract at least 23–27% of the 130,000–150,000 global mid-market companies leading to AI-led transformation.
Hiring by mid-size GCCs, or those with 500–2,000 employees, increased 10–12% in the six months through June, compared with 4–6% by large GCCs, showed data from staffing services provider Quess Corp.
Most of the hiring by mid-size GCCs is aimed at replacing outgoing employees or expanding existing teams, said Quess Corp IT Staffing CEO Kapil Joshi. “These centres are focused on long-term stability, process maturity, and cost efficiency.”
To be sure, large GCCs, with more than 2,000 employees, still make up the majority of the workforce and continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in the past.
While the GCC wave is growing in India, large multinationals that already employ thousands in Indian GCCs are opting for leaner teams and sharper focus to make the workforce more agile and adapt quickly to business needs in the wake of the disruption from artificial intelligence.
If large GCCs bring scale and reliability, the mid-size ones are leading the way in capability-led hiring, said experts.
The relatively smaller firms are entering India for the first time or expanding operations quickly, building entire capabilities from the ground up, said Joshi. “To attract the right talent, they are offering competitive salaries, signing bonuses and quicker career growth, especially for skilled professionals in AI and data roles…They’re not just hiring more people, they’re hiring differently, with a clear goal to build new capabilities and gain a competitive edge in the talent market.”
Over the last five years, the headcount at mid-size GCCs grew 46%—to more than 220,000 in 2024 from 150,000 in 2019—compared with a 34% expansion in the workforce at other GCCs, showed data from ANSR that helps MNCs set up GCCs.
The non-mid-market GCCs, largely comprising big GCCs, employed 1.68 million people in 2024, up from 1.25 million in 2019.
Mid-size GCCs are aggressively expanding in India. More than 45 new centres set up operations in the past two years alone, as per an April report by industry body Nasscom and consulting firm Zinnov. They account for nearly 35% of India’s total GCCs, and 30% of the GCC additions during the past two years.
They operate under greater cost constraints than their larger peers, are rapidly evolving into significant contributors to their parent organisations' market strategies and are becoming influential players in their respective industries, according to sector experts.
Such centres are characterised by high maturity as transformation hubs, and deep product capabilities with a significant share of global product management talent. They have a high concentration of niche deeptech skills, a central role in global engineering, research & development (ER&D), an agile operating model enabling faster leadership elevation, and function as process transformation engines for their parents, say experts.
More than 120 new mid-market GCCs are expected to be established in India by the end of 2026, adding about 40,000 jobs, ET had recently reported.
According to the Nasscom-Zinnov report, the mid-market segment has the potential to attract at least 23–27% of the 130,000–150,000 global mid-market companies leading to AI-led transformation.
