India GCCs Slash Hiring 30-50% Amid AI Adoption and Geopolitical Uncertainty

Global capability centres in India are slashing hiring plans by 30% to 50%, driven by geopolitical uncertainty and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. Lalit Ahuja, CEO of ANSR, reported that some companies have scaled back planned workforces from 5,000 employees to approximately 2,000, signaling a dramatic pullback in expansion ambitions across the sector.

India currently hosts over half of the world's GCCs, long attracted by lower operational costs and a large skilled workforce. However, AI is now reshaping operational requirements and reducing headcounts for specific roles. Rather than maintaining large permanent staffs, companies are shifting toward a hybrid model that combines a small core workforce with a larger flexible talent pool that can be scaled up or down based on business needs.

Despite the hiring pullback, the sector continues to grow in absolute terms. A report by Nasscom and Zinnov projects India will host nearly 2,200 global centres with a talent base of 2.36 million by the end of the fiscal year in March. The findings suggest that while AI and geopolitical headwinds are constraining near-term hiring, they are also accelerating a structural transformation in how multinational companies organize their offshore operations, favoring agility over sheer headcount.