Powering India’s workforce for the GCC decade: The need for redefining talent advantage

Global capability centres (GCCs) have been in the spotlight recently for their growing impact on the Indian economy. While the first centre was established over 40 years ago, the sector’s growth in the past decade has been nothing short of extraordinary.

The capacity engine model is clearly gaining strategic prominence and is moving towards becoming a cognitive command centre for enterprises.

The recent CII GCC Summit underscored India’s potential to lead globally in the GCC space, with Deloitte supporting a vision to scale from 1,800 centres to 5,000, driven by innovation and strategic value creation.

This signals a major shift in India’s services-led growth story, with the potential to unlock up to 5 million direct new jobs and contribute between $155 billion and $200 billion direct contribution to the national economy. It also brings the $1 trillion services export target closer.

The rapid pace of technological change fundamentally alters how global enterprises engage with GCCs. These centres are now leading critical areas such as AI, cybersecurity, data analytics, product engineering and enterprise platforms. Talent is at the centre of this evolution, supported by strong infrastructure and a vibrant ecosystem. Yet, despite this progress, a compelling paradox remains to be addressed.

The output-outcome paradox: Availability versus employability versus future readiness

Output doesn’t always translate into outcomes. While India’s strong fundamentals provide a solid foundation for the growth of GCCs, the potential lies in how effectively these strengths are used to drive innovation, scale, and strategic value. India produces 31% of the world’s STEM graduates, has a median age of just 28, and in some developed markets, the rate of STEM talent entering the workforce is lower than the rate of retirements. India also ranks second globally in AI skill penetration, reinforcing its position as a talent-rich destination for global enterprises.  

Despite all of this going in India’s favour, only 43% of graduates are considered industry-ready. Furthermore, research indicates that over 50% of GCCs cite challenges in accessing skilled talent.

The challenges are largely structural. Academic curricula are struggling to keep pace with technological advancements, and industry-academia collaboration remains limited, with less structured and fragmented skilling platforms. Tier II and Tier III cities hold immense potential, with over 60% of India’s graduates coming from these regions. Yet, a clear gap remains in employability and future readiness, highlighting the need for focused interventions.

With new technologies advancing rapidly, preparing the workforce for both current and future demands calls for targeted and timely interventions. Talent should be viewed not as raw output but as a strategic asset, ready to deliver outcomes from day one. This shift becomes even more important with the growing influence of AI across industries.

The AI impact on workforce: unprecedented upskilling at scale, speed and depth

Global trends point to reorganisation over displacement, with human-AI collaboration shaping the future of work. This shift points to a net addition to the workforce, shaped by a new mix of skills. Unlocking this potential will require bold thinking and significant intervention.

India has a strong opportunity to formalise and structure the inclusion of emerging technologies such as AI, ML, quantum computing, spacetech, and convergence across the education to employment lifecycle. This includes school, university and workplace, and spans foundational literacy to deep technical expertise.

Preparing talent for India’s leadership in the global services sector

As envisioned during the CII GCC Summit, at the core is the creation of talent acceleration hubs in Tier II and III cities to expand access to high-quality skilling infrastructure beyond urban areas. Academia-Industry curriculum boards are proposed to co-develop emerging tech curricula, embedding real-time industry insights into formal education. Integrated skill passports, built on blockchain technology, would enable individuals to carry verifiable, portable records of their learning and certifications across jobs and geographies. Complementing this, AI-powered job-matching engines and regional skill heatmaps can dynamically align talent supply with evolving demand.

The vision is to bring industry into classrooms and make learning meaningful and relevant.

India’s dual focus: Leading globally, thriving nationally

As India positions itself as the talent engine of the global digital economy, it must also catalyse value for its ecosystem. The GCC opportunity must stimulate domestic innovation, deepen the startup base and modernise academia.

This calls for structured colocation models with shared innovation clusters where global firms, Indian startups and academic institutions operate in proximity, exchange ideas and accelerate joint value creation. Policy and infrastructure must be aligned to foster this collaborative architecture, and incentives must reward ecosystem outcomes, not just individual performance.

The road ahead

As global growth pivots on digital capabilities, India holds the foundational strength intact and will continue to hold it for decades to come. By integrating cutting-edge technologies, real-world problem-solving and entrepreneurial thinking into education, we can equip the next generation with the tools to shape the future.

(Kumar and Roshni are Partners, Deloitte India. Views are personal.)