GCC tech hiring dips 3.5%, but AI and cybersecurity demand rises: Quess

GCC tech hiring in India slipped 3.5% between the April-June and July-September quarters of 2026, but demand for AI, data and cybersecurity skills kept rising, according to the India GCC Tech Talent Landscape report for the second quarter of FY27, released by staffing firm Quess Corp on Thursday, 5 November 2026. Global capability centres (GCCs) are offices that multinational companies set up in India to run technology, engineering and business work for their global operations. AI, data and cybersecurity roles made up 30.3% of their tech hiring demand in July-September, up from 25.8% in the previous quarter.

With Quess projecting India's GCC workforce at 2.7 million to 2.8 million by 2030, a change in what these centres hire for is a signal for anyone planning a tech career. The report's main message is that the centres are hiring more selectively: fewer roles overall, but more of them in specialist areas. Demand fell in some industries, with telecom and networks down about 24%, manufacturing and industrial about 9% and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) about 8% from the previous quarter.

The gaps Quess estimates are large. A 38-42% gap in AI, data and analytics means that, by the firm's estimate, the supply of suitably skilled people falls short of demand by roughly four in ten. In cybersecurity and risk management, the gap is put at 30-35%. Cybersecurity here means protecting systems and data from attacks; risk management covers spotting and reducing threats to the business.

The report suggests ways companies can close those gaps by moving existing staff into nearby roles: data scientists into model operations (the work of running and monitoring AI models once they are in use), data engineers into applied AI, and cybersecurity analysts into cloud security. For students and early-career workers, the same paths show which skills sit next to each other and can be built on.

The city figures point beyond the usual hubs. Bengaluru still has the largest share, but Coimbatore's roughly 30% growth in a single quarter, and about 13% growth across Tier-2 cities, suggest that GCC jobs are spreading to smaller cities while Hyderabad and Mumbai saw declines.

Peepals calculation: The two specialist groups together gained 4.5 percentage points of share (AI and data up 3.0 points, from 16.7% to 19.7%; cybersecurity up 1.5 points, from 9.1% to 10.6%; 3.0 + 1.5 = 4.5, matching the rise from 25.8% to 30.3%). The figures are consistent: AI and data demand growing 14% while all hiring fell 3.5% lifts its share from 16.7% to about 19.7% (16.7 × 1.14 ÷ 0.965 ≈ 19.7). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Candidates with AI, data, analytics and security skills face stronger demand from GCCs even as overall hiring dips, while those in telecom, manufacturing and BFSI tech roles may see fewer openings.

Long-term: If the gaps Quess describes persist, GCCs are likely to rely more on retraining their own staff, and smaller cities such as Coimbatore could take a larger share of new centres and jobs.

Who is affected: Engineering and computer science students, early-career IT workers, data and security professionals, training institutes, and cities competing for GCC investment.

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