TeamLease: 44% of GCCs own AI work; AI skills earn 30-40% more

About 44% of India's global capability centres (GCCs) now own whole platforms, products and artificial intelligence (AI) outcomes for their parent companies, rather than only supporting work done elsewhere, according to a report by the staffing firm TeamLease Digital released on Monday, October 26, 2026. The report counts 2,117 active GCCs in India employing about 23.6 lakh professionals, and says people with AI, machine learning, cybersecurity and cloud skills are being paid 30% to 40% more than peers because demand is outrunning supply.

A global capability centre is an office that a foreign company runs in India with its own staff, to do technology, finance, engineering or research work for the parent firm. The report counts more than 2,000 of them across the country. In the past, many were treated as back offices that carried out tasks designed abroad. The report's main finding is that this is changing: almost half now run entire products or AI programmes on their own.

For job seekers, that shift changes what kind of work is on offer. A centre that owns a product needs people who can design systems, build and test AI models, secure data and run cloud infrastructure, not just follow instructions. That is why the report finds the biggest pay rises in AI, data, security and cloud roles. In plain terms, generative AI means systems that create text, images or code, and agentic AI means systems that can carry out a chain of tasks on their own, such as handling a customer request from start to finish. GCCs investing in these tools want staff who can build and manage them.

The numbers also show a split. Salary growth in GCCs is ahead of the wider market, but the gains are concentrated among people with in-demand skills. TeamLease Digital's separate salary study has warned that routine roles, such as manual testing, basic support and repetitive reporting, face pressure from automation. Graduates who rely only on general IT skills may find fewer openings, while those who add AI and cloud skills can command much higher pay.

What should a student or young professional do next? Look at the skill families the report highlights, AI and machine learning, cloud, cybersecurity and data engineering, and pick one to build properly, with projects that show real work. Following the career pages of large foreign employers in your city, and your college placement cell, is a practical next step.

Short-term: Hiring and pay in GCCs will keep favouring AI, cloud, data and security talent, with strong competition for experienced specialists.

Long-term: If more GCCs take full ownership of products, India could move further up the value chain in global technology work, creating more senior, better-paid roles here.

Who is affected: Engineering and computer science students, IT professionals considering a move, GCC employers competing for scarce skills, and cities hoping to attract new centres.

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