Healthcare GCCs to open 67,000 jobs in 2026, but fresher hiring falls

Global capability centres (GCCs) run in India by healthcare and life sciences companies are expected to create about 67,000 job openings in 2026, according to the India Healthcare GCC Outlook 2026 report by staffing firm Quess Corp, released on 23 October 2026. The report says almost all of the demand is for experienced professionals, while hiring of freshers fell 12.4% year on year in the April–June quarter. Bengaluru and Hyderabad together account for 58.4% of the projected hiring.

A global capability centre is an office that a multinational company sets up in another country to do work for its global business, from software engineering and data analysis to finance, research and customer operations. In healthcare, such centres are run by companies in areas like pharmaceuticals, medical devices and health insurance, and handle technology, data and operations work for their global businesses.

For job seekers, the report sends two messages at once. First, demand is strong: 67,000 openings in one year in a specialised segment is a large number, and data, analytics and AI roles are growing fastest. Second, the doors are mostly open to people who already have experience. With 93% of demand for those with three to 12 years in the field and fresher hiring down 12.4%, new graduates face a harder entry. This mirrors a broader pattern in the technology sector, where companies using AI tools need fewer juniors for routine work while competing for people who can lead projects and apply AI to real problems.

The concentration in Bengaluru and Hyderabad matters too. Nearly three out of every five projected roles are in those two cities, which means opportunities are geographically narrow and candidates elsewhere may need to relocate. The report's note that specialist talent remains constrained, even with a workforce of about 3.2 lakh, points to a skills gap: there are people in the sector, but not enough with the combination of healthcare domain knowledge and data or AI skills that companies now want.

Short-term: Experienced professionals in healthcare data, analytics, AI, clinical operations and related technology roles are likely to see strong demand and more job offers, especially in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Freshers will find fewer entry-level openings in this segment.

Long-term: As AI use in healthcare GCCs rises towards 80–90% of centres by 2030, as the report expects, the most valuable skills will combine knowledge of healthcare processes, such as clinical trials, regulation or insurance, with data and AI abilities. Colleges, pharmacy and life sciences programmes and training providers that build those combinations could help close the gap the report describes.

Who is affected: Mid-career professionals in healthcare technology and life sciences; graduates in pharmacy, life sciences, biotechnology, computer science and data science; training institutes; and the cities competing to host GCCs.

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