A global capability centre (GCC) is a company's own team in another country, doing work for the whole group: technology, product, finance, operations, analytics. India has more of them than anywhere else. The Government of India's Economic Survey counted over 1,700 GCCs in India in 2024, employing nearly 1.9 million people, and new centres keep opening. Most sit in six cities: Bengaluru, Hyderabad, NCR, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai.
That growth makes hiring for a GCC harder, not easier. Every new centre competes for the same people as the centres already there.
What makes GCC hiring different
The first hires set the culture. The site leader and the first managers hire everyone who follows. A weak first leader is copied a hundred times.
Your standards, India's market. The bar is set at headquarters, but pay bands, notice periods (often 60 to 90 days) and what candidates expect are local. Both have to be agreed before the search starts.
GCCs hire from each other. Retention is the top concern for about half of India's GCCs (CIEL HR, 2025), and a large share of planned hiring is to replace people who left. A candidate who fits your way of working is more likely to stay.
The work keeps growing. Centres that began with support work now own products, platforms and AI programmes. More than half of GCC leaders in a PwC India and FICCI study said talent gaps limit how fast they can scale that work. The mandate grows faster than the team.
How a recruitment partner helps
A clear brief before the search. In the first call we agree the time-zone overlap, the pay band and currency, the reporting lines to headquarters, and how the person will be employed.
A map of the market. We show you who holds similar roles, at which companies and at what pay, so the brief matches what the market can give.
Screening against your global bar. Every candidate is checked for technical skill, problem-solving and cultural alignment before you see a profile, and comes with a written fitment note.
Leadership hires. We work directly with founders and top management, and approach site leaders and heads of function who are not looking. How a leadership search runs.
Notice period and joining. Long notice periods are where offers are lost. We stay with the candidate from offer to first day. Planning a hire around notice periods.
Start with the leader
Every GCC is shaped by its first leader. The site head decides who is hired next, how the centre works with headquarters and how fast it can take on more. If you are setting up a centre, make that search the first and the most careful one. How we run a leadership search, and why senior hires fail, and how to get them right.