India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are transitioning from external hiring to internal reskilling to nurture AI and digital talent, with a focus on mid-career professionals, a report revealed. In the first quarter of FY 2027, 56% of GCC hiring demand was for professionals with four to 12 years of experience, as organizations are creating new career paths through role-adjacent reskilling.
The report highlighted that GCCs are fostering AI and digital talent internally by helping professionals with related technical skills move into emerging technology roles. This shift towards internal talent development is aimed at building specialized capabilities rather than solely relying on external recruitment.
Roles like Backend Developers transitioning to Applied AI Engineer positions, Data Scientists moving into ML and Model Operations Engineering, and Cloud Engineers shifting to Platform Engineering reflect the trend of professionals upskilling into new roles within the GCCs. The hiring landscape has remained stable, with a 5–6% growth quarter-on-quarter, particularly in AI, Data & Analytics, Platform Engineering, Cloud & Infrastructure Engineering, and Cybersecurity domains.
According to Kapil Joshi, CEO of Quess IT Staffing, AI, Data & Analytics have witnessed significant growth, expanding by approximately 10% and constituting nearly 17% of hiring demand. The talent gaps in AI and data roles, reaching up to 40%, are prompting organizations to rethink their workforce development strategies.
Smaller GCCs experienced the highest hiring growth, with those having fewer than 500 employees showing an 8% increase quarter-on-quarter. Meanwhile, GCCs with 1,000–5,000 employees accounted for about 40% of total hiring demand, indicating a balanced distribution across different-sized centers.
Professional Services & Consulting saw the most growth at around 9%, representing 10.3% of total hiring demand. Technology & Product sectors followed with approximately 7% growth, while Manufacturing & Industrial sectors remained the largest hiring segment with a 25.1% share. BFSI accounted for 20.9% of hiring demand, while Telecom & Networks was the only sector to witness a decline in hiring activities.
