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Staffing Solutions•8 October 2026
4 min read

GCC Hiring in India: The Problem Is No Longer Too Few Candidates. It Is the Wrong Ones.

GCC Hiring in India: The Problem Is No Longer Too Few Candidates. It Is the Wrong Ones.

India's Global Capability Centres keep growing. India now hosts more than 2,100 of them, up from about 1,600 five years ago, and GCCs now hire more people than traditional IT services companies. For years the GCC hiring story was about scarcity: not enough skilled people to fill the roles. That story has changed.

What the latest data says

Taggd and CII's latest GCC report, built on input from more than 100 CHROs and talent acquisition leaders, found that quality mismatch is now the top hiring challenge for GCCs. It ranks above compensation pressure and above talent availability. The report describes this as a shift from a shortage of candidates to a shortage of candidates who meet the skill standards GCCs now demand.

Demand has not slowed. 52% of GCCs plan to increase hiring in FY27, up from 47% a year earlier. But the same research points to a two-speed reality: 22% of GCCs expect flat headcount and 26% expect cuts. The centres that are growing are competing for the same skilled people, and they are paying for it. GCC salaries run about 20% above equivalent roles outside GCCs.

Why more candidates does not fix this

When quality is the problem, adding volume makes it worse. More resumes means more screening time for your team, more interviews that go nowhere, and roles that stay open longer. Three habits keep the problem alive:

  • Job descriptions written as keyword lists. Candidates get matched on words, not on ability.
  • Submissions that arrive as bare resumes. There is no proof that anyone actually spoke to the candidate.
  • Agencies measured on how many profiles they send. Volume gets rewarded, fit does not.

What GCC talent teams can do

1. Set the skill bar before sourcing. Write down the three to five skills that decide success in the first 90 days, and how you will test each one.

2. Ask every agency for a screening summary with every submission. It should cover verified skills with examples, notice period, current and expected CTC, and the reason for change.

3. Track submission to interview ratio by agency. Volume tells you very little. The ratio tells you which agencies truly understand the role.

4. Use specialist agencies for specialist roles. A generalist desk rarely has real depth in cloud security and data engineering at the same time.

Where a marketplace fits

A recruitment agency marketplace lets you brief once and work with several specialist agencies in parallel, in one system, with duplicate profiles flagged before they reach your team. Because you pay only when a hire joins, agencies are rewarded for fit, not for volume.

A marketplace does not replace a clear skill bar. It makes that bar easier to enforce across every agency you work with.

The bottom line

Candidates are not scarce. Fit is. The GCC teams that hire well in FY27 will be the ones that define the skill bar early, ask for proof of screening, and judge agencies on interviews and joins instead of resume counts.

See how a recruitment agency marketplace works for your hiring. Book a free 20-minute demo.

Highring is a recruitment agency marketplace for companies and agencies. We are not a job board and do not accept direct resumes from candidates.