Bengaluru, Feb 26 Hiring across India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) grew 4–6 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q3 FY2026, even as companies face acute skill shortages in high-demand areas such as AI and platform engineering, a new report said on Thursday.
In its ‘Quess GCC Talent Trends Q3 FY2026’ report, Quess Corp highlighted that India currently has around 1,850–1,900 active GCCs with an expected workforce of nearly 2.5 million professionals.
The report noted that while hiring remains steady, GCCs are now shifting their focus from large-scale recruitment to building deeper and more specialised capabilities.
According to the findings, skill shortages have widened significantly in critical technology areas.
The supply gap has reached as high as 43 per cent in AI, Data and Analytics roles, and 38 per cent in Platform Engineering.
Demand is especially strong for expertise in areas such as GenAI engineering, MLOps pipelines, AI observability, Terraform, Kubernetes, FinOps automation and Zero-Trust cybersecurity.
The report said that mid- to senior-level hiring cycles are particularly affected, with companies struggling to find experienced professionals in emerging technology domains.
At the same time, GCCs are investing more in specialised functions rather than expanding headcount rapidly, marking a clear shift towards “precision over volume”.
Kapil Joshi, CEO of Quess IT Staffing, said that supply gaps ranging from 18 per cent to 43 per cent across AI/ML Ops, platform engineering, cybersecurity and GenAI operations show the urgent need for faster upskilling and stronger talent mobility.
He said that as GCCs move from large-scale expansion to capability optimisation, the focus must be on building workforces that can balance innovation, speed and resilience.
The report also pointed out that Tier-2 cities such as Coimbatore, Kochi and Ahmedabad are gaining traction as alternative hubs due to cost advantages.
GCC presence in these cities has grown to around 9–10 per cent. However, the depth of mid- and senior-level talent in Tier-2 cities still lags behind more established Tier-1 markets.
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