As these subsidiaries of multinational corporations look to ringfence talent essential to maintaining their rapid expansion, global capability centers (GCCs) are expected to provide larger pay increases than Indian IT service providers for the fiscal year beginning in April.

According to estimations given by mass recruitment firm Teamlease, IT services companies are expected to raise pay by an average of 5–8% for the upcoming fiscal year (FY26), with exceptional performers receiving 12–14%. According to the data, the average for GCC countries will be 10%, while top achievers will see increases of 15% to 20%.

Local IT companies are already thought to be inferior to GCC paymasters. Additionally, they are employing more quickly.

According to Teamlease Digital CEO Neeti Sharma, they are paying 15-20% more to new hires for positions in artificial intelligence/machine learning and cloud in the current fiscal year.

While there is a wide variety of salary differences between junior and mid-level roles, in senior roles with more than eight years of experience, the salary increase in GCCs is largely consistent with IT services, at 27-29%.

According to Sharma, the salary disparity between GCCs and IT is the smallest for cloud engineers at all levels, indicating a considerable demand for this profession.

Salaries for professions such as robotic process automation developer, internet of things engineer, and full-stack developer are roughly 12-15% higher in GCC countries, she said.

According to Sharma, GCCs pay much more for UI/UX design, with a median annual compensation of Rs 27.3 lakh compared to Rs 11.7 lakh in the IT sector.

This, she noted, can be due to GCCs' product development and user research capabilities, which are very young. Ecommerce and banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) industries are increasingly needing specific UI/UX capabilities.

In addition, GCCs are projected to be more active in the talent market than in IT services.

Staffing businesses predict a 50-75% increase in hiring by GCCs in FY26 compared to FY25; their projection for IT services is 30%.

They expect to hire 114,000-133,000 new employees in the fiscal year ending March 2025.

In the April-June quarter of FY25, GCCs were the top recruiters of technological talent, surpassing IT services organizations for the first time.

"Hiring sentiments in IT services and GCCs in India for calendar year (CY) 2025 will be driven by ongoing demand for digital transformation and emerging technologies (artificial intelligence/machine learning, cloud, and cybersecurity)." According to Karthikeyan Kesavan, director of permanent recruiting at Adecco India, hiring rates for these skill sets have increased by approximately 30% to 40%.

In the last two years, India has emerged as the top destination for GCCs. These centres carry out high-value operations for their parent companies, resulting in more technology jobs in India. Experts believe that this reduces the need for talent relocation, resulting in higher employment within the country.

"We expect a large growth in the creation of high-value jobs in the GCC, notably in technology and R&D (research and development). Otherwise, India's IT services and GCCs are anticipated to grow nominally in double digits across all technologies. In Q2 and Q3 (April to June and July to September) of CY 2025, there will be a notable increase," Kesavan said.