India’s GCCs go on leadership hunt

India’s global capability centres are powering a leadership hiring surge as they rapidly shed their back-office image and emerge as strategic nerve centres. As enterprises shift more global mandates in product, engineering, data, AI, cybersecurity and digital operations to India, demand for senior leaders has accelerated, industry experts and companies said.

Leadership roles at GCCs are estimated to have grown from 6500 in end-2024 to 8500 by end-2025 and are projected to see another 40% jump by end-2026, according to research from ANSR, a leading player helping set up GCCs in India.

Albertsons, McDonald’s, FedEx, Eli Lilly, Standard Chartered, among others across BFSI, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and tech sectors are actively expanding leadership teams, it said.
“GCCs in India are moving from transactional hubs to capability-led, strategic centres. This shift is expanding leadership demand across multiple levels—from heads and VPs to global function leads,” said Smitha Hemmigae, managing director, ANSR.

She added that “2026 will see continued acceleration, driven by enterprise-wide digital transformation, the rise of AI-native operating models, and GCCs increasingly taking ownership of global portfolios from India.”

Outlook higher, study shows
A dipstick study by specialist staffing firm Xpheno showed that BFSI, retail and consumer durables lead the high-growth GCCs list in India and are expected to remain positive in leadership hiring.
“The outlook for leadership talent pool growth and leadership hiring action remains positive and relatively higher for the year ahead. The movement of more GCCs into higher value chain activities, sustained expansion plans and arrival of more greenfields, will keep the leadership funnel in motion,” Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno, told ET. “Leadership attrition in the high-growth GCCs cohort remains high and drives attrition-linked backfills.”Heads of departments and enterprise functions across technical and commercial roles are among the top leadership roles GCCs are hiring for. Leadership talent in engineering, IT, finance, talent acquisition, operations and advisory & customer success is in demand, Xpheno data found. Amazon Development Center, HCA Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, ACABES International, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, FedEx, Strides Pharma are among those actively hiring, it added.

Cos look to expand India leadership
“Our aim is to triple our GCC business over the next three years. We are actively looking to bring in senior leaders with expertise in M&A advisory, transformation, turnaround and special situation advisory, as well as digital, AI, and technology consulting,” Manish Goyal, MD and head of GCC, Alvarez & Marsal said.

Over the past two years of operations, Alvarez & Marsal’s GCC has hired and groomed nearly 150 senior leaders who work as an integrated part of its global client service teams and help the firm deliver better results.

“India plays a central role in capability building and product innovation for the firm. We are building specialised centres of excellence for M&A due diligence, deal execution, performance improvement and technology consulting,” Goyal added.

Mrinal Duggal, head of the Hyderabad Hub of Sanofi, which provides a wide range of services globally, said they have senior global positions in talent acquisition, employer branding, learning & development, R&D, digital and other medical and commercial services based out of the Hyderabad Hub. “We have hired quite a few senior roles as we grew last year, and the process will continue as we grow further.”

Similarly, Intuit plans to continue hiring for senior leadership roles in the year ahead based on the unique needs of the business.

“Intuit India is a strategic growth site for the company, and the leadership team here plays a critical role in influencing and accelerating Intuit’s broader transformation journey,” said Jharna Thammaiah, director HRBP and India People & Places Site Leader. “Our continued investment in senior and leadership roles in India reflects Intuit’s long-term commitment to the market and the ability to deliver meaningful business impact.”

The mandate for 2026 is ‘GCC 3.0’, characterised by deep strategic integration, said Agamjeet Dang, CEO of executive search firm Executive Access. “Our market intelligence indicates that 80% of GCCs now take ownership of end-to-end global processes, with a growing volume of GCC leaders participating in global decision-making. This shift signals a massive expansion in strategic leadership mandates, moving past the ‘hub’ model to a ‘Second Headquarters’ mentality.