Top trends that defined India’s GCC story in 2025

In 2025, India’s GCCs stood at the center of a global reset in technology and talent strategy. With companies racing to modernise their digital stacks, India became the hub for AI development, engineering, and enterprise transformation, fueling new investments, new locations, and more complex work.

Here are the key trends in 2025

GCC market grows with mid-cap firms taking lead

India's mid-market GCCs are growing fast, moving beyond basic tasks to become innovation hubs, focusing on digital engineering, AI, and deep tech, with companies like FactSet, Broadridge, Morningstar, and HERE Technologies leading the charge in finance, software, and analytics.

The Zinnov-Nasscom 2025 report on mid-market GCC found that more than 480 centres with over 2,00,000 employees form 27% of India’s GCC landscape. Moreover, Savills India, a global real estate firm, has predicted that this segment of companies with global revenues of USD 100 million to 1.0 billion stands as the next major growth opportunity.

According to the latest GCC mid-market report by ANSR, AI and data analytics lead the technology stack, with 75% of centers deploying AI, ML, and GenAI for data strategy, advanced analytics, and reporting.

Cloud computing follows at 70%, driven by continued investments in private, public, and hybrid cloud environments, along with core IT modernization. Digital commerce capabilities have reached 60% penetration, reflecting growing demand for omnichannel experiences, platform development, and mobile-first interfaces.

Cybersecurity has also become a central priority—55% of mid-market GCCs now run structured security operations. Meanwhile, 40% are experimenting with emerging technologies such as blockchain, robotics and automation, AR/VR, and IoT to support new digital initiatives.

GCCs look beyond metropolises

Tier-2 cities are fast emerging as strong contenders for GCC expansion, driven by a mix of rising talent availability, lower operating costs, and improving infrastructure. State governments are aggressively pushing growth through incentives and SEZ policies, attracting companies across IT, financial services, manufacturing, and tech to locations like Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Vadodara, and Kochi. These centers now deliver a wide range of services—from finance and HR to engineering, R&D, cloud, and automation.

Talent depth and affordability are major draws. Cities like Lucknow and Mangalore rank among India’s most employable, attrition is up to 10% lower than in Tier-1 markets, and the cost of living is typically 10–35% lower, multiple reports indicate. Infrastructure and quality of life have also improved: Tier-2 cities rank high on mobility and ease-of-living indices, air connectivity is expanding under schemes like UDAN, and coworking spaces are proliferating.

“By 2030, nearly 39% of the GCC workforce will operate from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. While Tier-1 locations will continue to anchor leadership and R&D, emerging hubs like Coimbatore, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar are rapidly becoming specialised delivery centres. This synergy will help create 0.715 million new GCC jobs by 2030,” Varun Sachdeva, SVP & APAC Head at NLB Services, told TechCircle in an earlier interaction.

GCCs transform into AI innovation hubs

According to EY India’s GCC Pulse Survey, nearly 70% of GCCs are actively investing in generative AI (GenAI), while 78% are upskilling employees to align with this transformation. From predictive maintenance to autonomous decision-making systems, AI is steadily redefining how these centres deliver value.

The demand for AI talent has surged in tandem. The latest GCC Tech Talent Landscape report shows a 5–7% rise in hiring between July and September 2025, driven by the need for GenAI, data science, cloud engineering, and site reliability expertise. AI and data science roles alone saw an 8% jump in recruitment, alongside rising demand for FinOps specialists, cybersecurity experts, and platform engineers.

Despite the growing momentum, AI maturity remains uneven. Industry benchmarks indicate that only 8% of GCCs have achieved full innovation maturity, while most are still experimenting with pilots rather than deploying at scale.

“Even as GenAI offers huge potential, navigating India’s complex tax, labour, and data protection regulations remains a critical challenge,” said Subir Mehra, Partner and GCC Sector Leader – Financial Services at EY India. The survey also highlighted rising cybersecurity risks, with growing vigilance around data breaches and a push for advanced security intelligence frameworks.

India’s GCCs stand resilient amid US H-1B fee increase

In September, President Donald Trump-led US government announced a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa petitions, noting that the existing system was being abused and that it posed a national security threat.

The fee, which has been hiked from the earlier $1000, applies only to new applicants and petitions and not renewals. Still, the move is largely viewed as prohibitive. It weighs heavily for Indian professionals as they form a larger chunk of the share that are issued H-1B Visas.

The decision sparked concern within India’s IT industry. GCC ecosystem in India, however, saw an opportunity here. Experts and industry watchers opined that the fee hike could push more companies to rely on India-based delivery centers, which are not affected by US Visa restrictions. 

“GCCs could actually stand to benefit, provided companies don’t take a protectionist stance. So far, we haven’t seen signs of that. We track this closely and speak with our GCC customers every day, and the sentiment remains optimistic. For now, India continues to be the largest hub for GCCs, and headquarters still see it as a critical choice. Of course, we will have to wait and watch how US counterparts respond, but India’s position looks strong,” Gaurav Vasu, CEO of research firm UnearthInsights, said at the time.