India’s rise as the world’s top GCC destination has been driven by a vast, skilled talent pool, a strong STEM education ecosystem, English-language proficiency, and cost competitiveness. These strengths enabled multinational companies to establish and expand GCC operations across the country.
As GCCs have evolved from IT and business support centres into hubs for AI, product engineering, analytics, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, the capabilities they require have evolved as well.
The Journey from Support Centres to Innovation Hubs
Today’s GCCs increasingly drive high-value functions including artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, cybersecurity, product engineering, research and development, and digital transformation. Their role has shifted from executing predefined processes to solving complex business problems and creating strategic value for the enterprise.
However, the skills that helped India become a GCC powerhouse are not the same skills that will sustain the next phase of GCC growth. India’s higher education ecosystem has somewhat evolved, with greater industry collaboration, experiential learning, and technology-focused programmes.
Drawing on her experience across industry and academia, Mohua Sengupta, SVP & Head of India at The Standard, shared her perspective on the academia-industry relationship during our recent podcast. She noted the gap between academia and industry has narrowed significantly, although opportunities remain to better align education with changing business requirements.
What Should Universities Prioritize?
As GCCs take on more strategic roles, employability requires more than technical expertise. Graduates need digital capabilities, business understanding, and strong leadership skills. AI literacy, data fluency, and cybersecurity awareness are becoming essential across functions. Graduates need to understand how technology can support productivity, decision-making, and innovation.
Priyanka Chandhok, Vice President – Career Advancement, Ashoka University, explains: “As AI becomes ubiquitous, human skills become a differentiator, not fallback”.
According to Priyanka, institutions need to build capabilities that endure alongside emerging technology: critical thinking, problem-solving, and learning agility. Interdisciplinary pedagogy can support this by giving students depth and breadth through foundation courses and a range of major-minor combinations.
Students should be equipped with leadership, communication, and ethical judgement skills that cut across roles and industries. This is not just a soft-skills add-on; it is specific training in roles that demand analysis and communication, context and judgement. It also explains why recruiters spanning diverse industries value liberal arts graduates for their problem-solving skills.
She adds, this is also where closer industry-academia engagement plays a role. Courses led by industry practitioners, complemented by a career preparatory programme, help students learn to work alongside emerging technologies like AI, rather than compete with them or simply operate them.”
Developing Business and Product Thinking
As GCCs contribute more to products and business strategy, graduates need to connect technology with customer needs and business outcomes. Live projects, case studies, and interdisciplinary learning can help build this product and business mindset.
Strengthening Global Workplace Skills
Communication, collaboration, adaptability, critical thinking, and stakeholder management are increasingly essential for professionals working across global teams. Industry interaction and experiential learning can help students develop these capabilities.
Why GCCs Must Be Part of the Solution
Universities cannot build this workforce alone. GCCs also have a role in shaping the talent they will depend on.
Traditional IT services companies historically had the scale to recruit large batches of graduates and invest in extensive training programmes. Many newer GCCs begin with lean teams and require professionals who can contribute quickly, making stronger engagement with educational institutions a business requirement.
This can take the form of curriculum collaboration, guest lectures, internships, industry projects, practitioner-led courses, and mentorship. The role individual industry leaders can play through guest lectures and mentorship. Mohua notes that while students today are more aware of workplace expectations, not everyone has equal access to industry exposure or guidance.
For Sengupta, this engagement is ultimately about building the workforce that GCCs will need.
She points to the different talent models used by traditional IT services companies and newer GCCs. Large IT services organizations historically had dedicated learning and development centres where graduates could be trained before becoming workplace ready. Many newer GCCs, however, begin with leaner teams and may not have the same capacity for extensive training.
Preparing Talent for the Next Phase of GCC Growth – Our PoV
India’s talent ecosystem helped establish its position as a global GCC leader. Maintaining that advantage will require academia and industry to evolve together. Universities must prepare students for a workplace where technology and roles will continue to change, while GCCs must become active participants in developing the talent pipeline they will depend on.
The next phase of India’s GCC story will therefore be shaped not only by talent availability, but by talent readiness.
