GCC leadership · Hiring to retention
Key takeaways
- India now has 2,117 GCCs and 2.36 million professionals, and GCC hiring rose 11% in the first half of 2026.
- Most of the effort goes into finding people. The race is won in the weeks after the offer.
- Five checks keep new joiners: fast and fair verification, a ready first week, 30-day goals, one view of contract staff, and one evidence room.
- India's DPDP Rules (notified 14 Nov 2025) give an 18-month window, so how HR handles candidate data matters now.
India is now the world's busiest place to set up a Global Capability Centre. The Nasscom-Zinnov landscape report for FY26 counts the numbers below. Most of the talk is about finding people. We think the race is won in the weeks after the offer is accepted.
2,117
GCCs in India, across 3,728 centres
Nasscom-Zinnov, FY262.36 mn
professionals working in them
Nasscom-Zinnov, FY26$98.4 bn
revenue in FY26 (about ₹8.7 lakh crore)
Nasscom-Zinnov, FY26~32%
growth in GCC count since FY21
Nasscom-Zinnov, FY26Source: Nasscom-Zinnov, India GCC Landscape Report 2026, "The GCC Value Orbit", May 2026. INR at ₹88 to a dollar.
The race in numbers
GCCs are no longer back offices. They hire for AI, product and engineering, and they compete for the same experienced people.
500+
new GCCs set up in the last five years
Business Today, May 20261,200+
GCCs with AI and machine learning built in
Nasscom-Zinnov, 2026~28%
of the world's GCC AI talent works in India
Business Today, May 20262,27,991
GCC hires in Jan to Jun 2026, up 11% year on year
Business Today, Jul 202664%
of new GCC roles in 2026 need AI, data or automation skills
Business Today, Jul 2026506
Forbes Global 2000 companies run operations in India
Nasscom-Zinnov, 2026Where GCCs hired in Jan to Jun 2026
Share of GCC hiring by city. Tier-2 cities grew fastest, up 23% year on year. Source: Business Today, 1 Jul 2026, citing a job-portal hiring tracker.
Who GCCs hired, by experience
56% of GCC hiring was for people with 4 to 10 years of experience: the people most likely to hold more than one offer. Same source.
Why the weeks after the offer matter
When thousands of centres hire from the same pool of experienced people, a candidate who accepts an offer usually has others waiting. What happens next decides whether the person joins, settles and performs: verification that drags on, a joining day with no plan, unclear goals in the first month, and no feedback until the yearly review.
None of this needs a bigger recruiting team. It needs a clear flow from offer to first review, with every step recorded.
A GCC does not lose people at the interview. It loses them in the silence between the offer letter and day one.USR INFOTECH leadership team
From offer to first review: one flow, every step recorded in USR One.
Five checks for a GCC people team
1
Start verification at offer accepted. Take the candidate's consent in a plain notice, run checks in parallel, and let a person at HR review any doubtful result before anyone acts on it. Never reject automatically on a database match.
2
Plan the first week before day one. Laptop, access, buddy, manager meeting and policy sign-offs should be ready when the person walks in.
3
Set goals in the first 30 days. A new joiner with clear goals knows what good looks like. Performance management starts at joining, not after a year.
4
See your contract workforce too. Facilities, security and housekeeping teams come through several vendors. The principal employer needs one view of who is on site and which vendor papers are current.
5
Keep evidence in one room. Parent-company audits ask for vendor files, consent records and policies. Keep them together, dated and easy to export.
The DPDP clock is running
India notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules on 14 November 2025, with an 18-month phased window. Consent notices must be separate, plain and tied to a specific purpose, and people can withdraw consent. Penalties go up to ₹250 crore for weak security safeguards and ₹200 crore for not reporting a breach. Hiring and background checks handle exactly this kind of personal data. This is general information, not legal advice.
Where USR fits
USR Apps is a partner-led business applications platform. For a GCC people team, the relevant apps are USR Hire, USR BGV (in preview), USR PMS, USR Workforce and USR Ready, all on one sign-in. Consent, case flow and reports stay inside USR, and verification is done by partners. USR is hosted on AWS, and our certifications include ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and DPDP Ready.
Concept preview · sample data. Screens may change before the app opens to everyone.
Free to start: use USR Ready and our GCC checklists, then ask us for a 30-day pilot on made-up data. See our GCC page: usrinfo.tech/gcc/.
Free GCC People Kit
Everything below is free today. No sales call needed.
- Every USR app free up to 10 people, so a new centre can start on day one
- USR Ready: free evidence room for vendor files, policies and audits
- Free templates: onboarding checklist, interview scorecard, appointment letter
- An instant proposal for your GCC, in USD with INR beside it
Copy this: offer-to-review checklist for GCC HR
- Consent notice sent within 24 hours of offer accepted
- Checks started in parallel; a person reviews any doubtful result
- Laptop, access and buddy confirmed 3 days before joining
- Manager meeting booked for day one
- Goals agreed by day 30
- First feedback conversation by day 90
- Contract staff and vendor papers checked monthly
- Audit evidence filed in one room, dated
Questions we hear
How many GCCs are there in India?
2,117 GCCs across 3,728 centres, with about 2.36 million professionals, according to the Nasscom-Zinnov India GCC Landscape Report 2026 (FY26).
What should a GCC people team fix first?
The weeks between offer accepted and the first review: verification, the first week, goals in the first 30 days, contract workforce visibility and audit evidence.
Does USR work for a new GCC with a small team?
Yes. Every USR app is free up to 10 people, so a new centre can start small and add apps as it grows.
Can HQ see reports?
Yes. Reports and dashboards can be shared with named people at HQ. The GCC dashboard is in Preview.
Partners wanted: domestic, regional and global partners in hiring, verification and compliance can write to apps@usrinfo.tech.
Sources
- Nasscom and Zinnov, India GCC Landscape Report 2026, The GCC Value Orbit (May 2026).
- Reuters, 6 May 2026, on GCC revenue of $98.4 billion (about ₹8.7 lakh crore) in FY26.
- Business Today, 7 May 2026: 500+ new GCCs in five years; ~28% of global GCC AI talent.
- Nasscom-Zinnov release via The Tribune, 3 Jul 2026: 1,200+ GCCs with AI/ML; 506 Forbes Global 2000 companies.
- Business Today, 1 Jul 2026, citing a job-portal hiring tracker: H1 2026 GCC hires, AI-skill share, city and experience splits.
- PIB, DPDP Rules 2025 explainer, Nov 2025: notification date, 18-month window, penalties.
