India’s global capability centres (GCCs) continued to hire at scale in 2025 even as selective layoffs took place.
Around 5,500–6,000 roles were cut across India’s GCC ecosystem in 2025, according to UnearthIQ data estimates. One large event at Technicolour alone accounted for more than 3,000 of those roles, while the remaining reductions were spread across roughly 20 GCCs.
“Around 5,500 to 6,000 roles were laid off. One large event at Technicolor accounted for over 3,000 roles, while the rest were small cuts across nearly 20 GCCs. Layoffs were spread unevenly through the year with no single peak month,” Gaurav Vasu, Founder & CEO, UnearthIQ, told financialexpress.com.
Net hiring far outpaced job cuts
Even as layoffs continued, GCCs added between 135,000 and 150,000 net new jobs in 2025. Hiring and layoffs occurred simultaneously but largely in different skill categories. “GCCs added 135,000 to 150,000 net new jobs in 2025. Hiring continued because companies exited non-core or experimental work while expanding AI, cloud, data, and enterprise platforms. Layoffs and hiring happened at the same time but in different skill areas,” Vasu said.
Job cuts were not spread evenly across roles. They were concentrated in experimental product teams, legacy engineering, overlapping mid-management layers and certain support functions, while core engineering and AI-focused roles remained largely insulated.
“Layoffs were concentrated in experimental product teams, legacy engineering, overlapping mid-management, and support functions. Core engineering, AI, and platform roles were largely retained,” Vasu said.
AI and platform roles dominate hiring
The strongest hiring demand in 2025 came from emerging technology and platform engineering roles. The top five roles hired were AI and GenAI engineers, Cloud and platform engineers, Data engineering and analytics, Cybersecurity and Product and enterprise application engineering.
“About 20–25% of incremental GCC hiring is now directly tied to AI, GenAI, and data engineering. This reflects where new budgets are being approved,” Vasu said.
India closely mirrors global restructuring
Layoffs in India largely followed restructuring decisions taken at the global headquarters. “Workforce planning, product bets, restructuring, and investment decisions are all made at a global level, and India mirrors those priorities to remain a cohesive part of the enterprise,” Vasu said.
However, the scale of impact in India remained significantly lower than global cuts. Even when companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta announced global layoffs of 2% to 3%, only a fraction of that percentage translated into India GCC reductions, Vasu noted.
Talent absorbed quickly
Despite layoffs, most affected professionals were reabsorbed quickly into the market. According to Vasu, Most laid-off professionals found new roles within 8 to 12 weeks. The majority were absorbed by new GCCs and expanding GCCs, supported by 101 new greenfield GCCs and 220+ expansions in 2025. Some talent also moved to tech startups, especially in cloud, data, and AI roles.
GCC hiring is also becoming more senior-heavy, with companies prioritising experienced engineers and product leaders over large fresher intakes. “GCCs are hiring principal engineers and product owners instead of large batches of freshers. The focus has shifted from hiring at scale to hiring for capability, with freshers accounting for less than 4–5% of GCC hiring,” Vasu said.
Premiums rise for AI skills
Salary premiums are highest for roles in GenAI engineering, AI platform architecture, cloud security and advanced data engineering. Pay for these positions is typically 20–30% higher than standard market levels, with some GenAI and AI engineering roles commanding premiums of 30–40%. Compensation for generalist roles, however, has remained largely stable.
Outlook for 2026
Layoffs are expected to continue in a limited manner in 2026, largely driven by global restructuring rather than weakness in India’s GCC ecosystem. “UnearthIQ expects around 4,000 to 5,000 layoffs, mainly driven by parent-company restructuring, not weakness in India GCCs,” Vasu said.
At the same time, hiring is expected to remain robust, with 120,000–140,000 new roles projected across nearly 1,900 GCCs. “Calendar year 2026 will be about reinvention and repositioning… GCCs in India will continue on their expansion path, but with a sharper focus on enterprise transformation, technology consulting, and building AI-led enterprise technology stacks,” Vasu said.