More than half of India’s Global Capability Centres plan to expand their workforce in FY27, according to the Taggd GCC Talent Lab Survey 2026, released on 25 August 2026.
The survey found that 52% of GCCs expect to increase hiring in FY27, up from 47% a year earlier. The share of centres anticipating a headcount reduction fell to 26% from 36%, and net hiring intent rose to roughly 17% from 14%. About 22% expect hiring to stay at current levels.
Early-career talent accounts for the largest slice of planned hiring. Freshers make up 16% of expected hires and professionals with one to five years of experience account for 30%, together forming 46% of the projected intake. External hiring remains the dominant channel, at 78% of talent sourced, against 22% built through internal capability development, which the report said leaves centres exposed to rising wages and competition for specialised skills.
The report was produced by Taggd, a digital recruitment and talent-fulfilment firm, in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry. It draws on responses from more than 100 CHROs and senior talent-acquisition leaders across established and emerging GCCs, supported by closed-door roundtables and Taggd’s talent-intelligence data.
Hiring confidence is rising alongside a widening skills gap. Nearly half of respondents said more than a quarter of their open roles now require AI-related skills, and one in four GCCs reported that most of their positions are already AI-adjacent. Quality mismatch was cited as the single biggest hiring constraint by 24% of respondents, overtaking compensation pressure and talent availability. The report noted that the gap between claimed and demonstrable skills stays significant in AI and machine learning, cloud, and product engineering.
“GCCs are driving India’s next phase of global leadership, but the rules of engagement are shifting. Our research with CII confirms that FY27 growth will be defined by precision rather than sheer volume. As AI integrates across every function, the GCCs that lead tomorrow will be those that transition from broad-based intake to targeted, skill-first capability building,” said Devashish Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO, Taggd
The survey also recorded an improvement in conversion. The average offer-to-join rate climbed to about 80%, against a benchmark of 70% to 75% last year. Even so, 48% of critical GCC roles still take more than 60 days to fill, pointing to persistent friction at the specialist end of the market.
India hosts one of the world’s largest concentrations of GCCs, and the sector has become a major employer of technology and analytics talent. The FY27 outlook suggests centres are shifting from volume-led expansion toward selective, skill-first hiring as AI reshapes role requirements across functions.
