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13
March
The New Reality for GCCs in India: 6 Strategic Challenges Reshaping the Future
India’s Global Capability Centers (GCCs) have outgrown their legacy roles as low cost support hubs. In 2025, they are innovation drivers, digital transformation partners, and increasingly, the global brain centers of large enterprises. But this evolution brings with it a new set of strategic pressures.
Growth at scale now demands sharper execution, deeper talent pipelines, and smarter responses to regulatory, cultural, and economic shifts. What’s ahead isn’t just a new chapter, it’s a whole new playbook.
Here are six key challenges defining the future of GCCs in India and how the best are rising to meet them.
- Attrition Is Evolving And So Must Retention
Despite a slight hiring cooldown, attrition levels remain steady at around 17% annually. But what’s changed is the nature of this churn. Compensation is no longer the main lever. The real issue lies in employee disconnection, especially in a hybrid world. Many professionals are staying in roles for stability, but quietly disengaging—career cushioning while exploring better opportunities.
Traditional HR perks or policy tweaks cannot fix this. Leading GCCs are pivoting toward intentional, personalized talent experiences. They’re using AI powered engagement tools to monitor real time sentiment, building internal career marketplaces for visible growth, and co designing learning journeys with employees. The shift is clear: retention isn’t driven by perks—it’s powered by purpose.
- Speedy Hiring Is Outpacing Skill Readiness
With over 120 new GCCs entering the Indian market in 2024 alone, creating 180,000+ jobs, the race for talent is intense. However, in the scramble to scale, many organizations sacrifice quality for quantity. New hires often arrive underprepared, requiring months of upskilling. Others quickly lose momentum when they don’t see a growth path internally.
Forward looking centers are reframing hiring itself not as a process, but as a capability. They’re implementing skills intelligence platforms to anticipate future needs and investing in hybrid roles that bridge domain gaps (like cloud + compliance or AI + supply chain). The emphasis is shifting from “fill fast” to “build right.”
- The Niche Talent Crunch Is Getting Real
GCCs are increasingly expected to lead enterprise innovation in areas like GenAI, zero trust cybersecurity, and advanced cloud engineering. But here’s the reality: demand for these capabilities is outpacing supply by 25–32% year over year.
Waiting for the external market to catch up is no longer viable. Instead of solely relying on internal development, leading GCCs are now partnering with specialized talent companies to access the skills they need faster and more effectively. Through platforms like Collabera’s and models such as Hire Train Deploy, organizations can tap into pre vetted, job ready talent equipped with the latest capabilities. These partnerships act as “capability accelerators,” allowing companies to scale niche expertise across projects, functions, and geographies. The smartest players aren’t just waiting to find unicorns—they’re strategically sourcing and enabling them through agile, talent led ecosystems.
- Rising Costs Demand a New Value Narrative
The cost dynamics of operating in India are changing. In cities like Bengaluru, the average cost per full time employee now exceeds ₹30.73 lakhs annually, up 7% year over year. Add to this the growing expenses of cloud tools, security, and compliance, and the math starts to shift.
Cost arbitrage alone no longer justifies a GCC’s existence. Global HQs are demanding measurable innovation outcomes. That’s why leading centers are moving beyond volume based metrics and toward outcome driven KPIs: patent filings, automation led efficiencies, faster time to market, and digital transformation impact. In this new reality, value isn’t what you save—it’s what you enable.
- Compliance Complexity Is a Strategic Risk
The compliance landscape is rapidly evolving, and for many GCCs, it’s becoming a strategic risk. New frameworks like the DPDP Act and anticipated laws under the Digital India Act are forcing enterprises to rethink how they manage data, structure teams, and report operations.
It’s no longer enough to treat compliance as a legal checklist. Leading GCCs are turning to trusted local partners who understand regional laws and regulatory nuances, helping them navigate complex transitions such as SEZ changes, data localization mandates, and evolving jurisdictional frameworks. By combining deep local expertise with global experience from partners, organizations are embedding compliance into their operational fabric. This approach not only reduces risk but builds long term enterprise trust and resilience in an increasingly regulated landscape.
- Culture Needs More Than Ping Pong Tables
In a hybrid first world, traditional engagement tactics are falling flat. Employees now seek psychological safety, inclusion, and a sense of shared purpose. Culture has become less about campus perks and more about everyday behaviors.
Progressive GCCs are using team level sentiment tools and culture heatmaps to identify what’s working—and what’s not. Leadership development is being tied to empathy, transparency, and authenticity, not just delivery metrics. Storytelling is being used to align distributed teams with shared values and rituals. Because culture isn’t built in one off events—it’s built in every interaction.
India’s GCCs have matured—and with that maturity comes a new level of responsibility. They are no longer peripheral execution arms. They are co creators of global strategy, talent innovation, and enterprise resilience.
The organizations that succeed from here will be the ones that:
- Put people and purpose at the center
- Build adaptable, cross functional talent engines
- Embrace complexity as a design input
- Measure success by outcomes, not output
If your GCC is facing talent gaps, skill shortages, or capability bottlenecks, let’s connect.
At Collabera, we offer custom built talent solutions designed for the scale, speed, and specificity your business demands. With over 29 years of experience, Collabera is a global talent powerhouse trusted by 65% of the Fortune 500. Whether it’s accelerating digital transformation, building future ready teams, or solving for hard-to-find skills through our Hire Train Deploy model, we combine local expertise with global reach to deliver results that matter.
👉 Reach out to discover how we can help future proof your GCC.