Rewriting the GCC playbook: Powering the next phase of growth in 2026

India’s GCC landscape is being recalibrated at a structural level. What was once designed for efficiency is now expected to deliver intelligence, adaptability, and sustained enterprise value. The People Matters GCC Talentscope India 2026 research surfaces a defining pattern: organisations are aligning around productivity, process excellence, and AI, yet the translation of these priorities into measurable business outcomes remains inconsistent. The underlying constraint sits within talent architecture. Hiring models, skilling systems, and reward frameworks are yet to fully converge around capability creation, leaving a visible gap between strategic ambition and execution readiness.

In a panel moderated by Cheshta Dora, Head of Content, Communities, and Research at People Matters, Manish Shukla, Global Head HR at Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Sameer Pennakalapatti, Founder and CEO of Ceipal, and Ritesh Jha, Head of Talent Acquisition at Lloyds Bank, examined how GCCs are redesigning their talent systems to support this next phase of growth.

Key Highlights

• Capability architecture is being rebuilt at the role level: GCCs are re-examining how work is structured. Roles are being decomposed into transactions, engagements, and insight generation, allowing organisations to redirect human effort toward higher-order contributions. This redesign is shaping productivity at its source by altering how time, effort, and expertise are deployed.

• Skill depth is emerging as the primary unit of value: Workforce strategies are shifting toward multi-dimensional capability. Organisations are prioritising talent that combines domain expertise with adjacent skills such as analytics, automation, and product thinking. This approach is enabling greater fluidity across roles and strengthening the organisation’s ability to respond to evolving business demands.

• The workforce model is transitioning to a skills-based system: Progressive GCCs are moving away from hierarchy-led structures toward role and skill-based frameworks. AI-enabled career pathing, internal gig marketplaces, and proficiency mapping are providing employees with clearer visibility into growth pathways while enabling organisations to allocate talent with greater precision.

• Hiring is being repositioned as a forward-looking capability engine: Recruitment strategies are being redesigned to anticipate future skill requirements. The emphasis is on identifying adaptability, complementary capabilities, and long-term contribution to productivity. Hiring outcomes are increasingly measured by how effectively talent integrates into the organisation’s evolving capability landscape.

• Talent economics are being reshaped by shifting skill demands: Organisations are managing a dual dynamic. Investment in emerging skill clusters continues to rise, while large segments of the existing workforce require redeployment or transformation. This is introducing new complexity into workforce planning, cost structures, and long-term talent sustainability.

• Execution discipline is emerging as the critical differentiator: While strategic priorities are clearly defined, alignment across functions remains uneven. Organisations are addressing this through structured strategy deployment models that connect enterprise goals with functional execution, supported by measurable outcomes and external benchmarking.

• Integrated talent systems are replacing fragmented interventions: High-performing GCCs are aligning hiring, skilling, rewards, and experience into a cohesive framework. The impact lies in the interdependence of these elements, where each lever reinforces the others to create a consistent capability-building engine.

• AI-led systems are redefining efficiency across the talent lifecycle: Investment in intelligent recruitment platforms and automated workflows is increasing. Organisations are building human-in-the-loop models that combine speed and scale with contextual judgement, ensuring that efficiency gains do not compromise decision quality or candidate experience.

• Learning ecosystems are becoming self-directed: The evolution of skilling is moving toward infrastructure-led models where employees can access personalised pathways aligned to future roles. The integration of education, experience, and exposure is enabling individuals to navigate career transitions with greater autonomy.

• Career visibility and mobility are central to retention outcomes: Access to meaningful work, lateral movement across roles, and clarity on progression pathways are emerging as the strongest drivers of engagement. Organisations are strengthening internal mobility frameworks to retain high-value talent and maximise capability utilisation.

• Talent intelligence is becoming a strategic imperative: Despite increased investment in HR technology, gaps remain in unified data systems. Organisations are recognising the need for integrated talent intelligence to inform decisions across hiring, workforce planning, and capability development.