India's Global Capability Centres Fall Short of Hiring Projections

Global Capability Centres in India Face Uncertainty Amid Geopolitical Concerns and AI Adoption

India is home to more than half of the world's global centres, with companies preferring its large skilled workforce, lower operating costs, and rising ability to support high-value jobs across technology, finance, and engineering. The country is expected to host nearly 2,200 global centres and a talent base of 2.36 million by the end of the fiscal year that ends in March, according to a report by IT industry body Nasscom and consultancy Zinnov.

However, the rise of artificial intelligence could test India's edge in hosting global centres. As companies are wary about the impact of geopolitical uncertainties and growing AI adoption, they are hiring fewer people, just as a matter of abundant caution. According to ANSR, a company that helps firms build and run global centres, hiring is being slashed by 30% to 50%. Some firms that had planned global centres with more than 5,000 employees are scaling those ambitions back to about 2,000.

ANSR counts FedEx, Target, and Lowe's among its clients. The company's CEO, Lalit Ahuja, said that companies are adopting a more cautious approach, building a core workforce alongside a larger flexible pool that can be scaled up or down based on business needs. This reflects growing fatigue with a "wait-and-watch" approach, as companies choose to hire fewer people than planned, begin work on a smaller scale, and see how it evolves.

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Companies are now undertaking bold experiments, according to Ahuja. He said that new entrants would drive growth in the near term, as companies build a flexible workforce that can adapt to changing business needs.