India’s GCC story is no longer just about moving finance processes offshore — it is increasingly about building experienced, digitally capable finance talent at scale.
For years, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) were associated with transactional finance work such as accounts payable, reconciliations and routine reporting.
That model is changing.
India recorded 227,991 GCC hires through June 2026, with full-year GCC hiring projected to reach 510,452, according to foundit’s Insights Tracker. At the same time, the profile of GCC hiring is becoming more experienced. Fresher hiring fell from 28% of GCC intake in 2024 to 15% in 2025, while GCCs accounted for nearly 27% of India’s IT hiring demand, up from 15% in 2024, according to Quess Corp.
The message for finance leaders is significant:
GCCs are not simply creating more jobs. They are changing the experience, skills and expectations attached to finance roles.
From Finance Delivery Centre to Enterprise Capability Centre
India now has 2,117 GCCs operating across 3,728 units, employing approximately 2.36 million professionals and generating $98.4 billion in revenue in FY26, according to the Nasscom–Zinnov India GCC Landscape 2026 report.
The scale is important. But the bigger change is what these centres are being asked to deliver.
India’s GCC ecosystem is increasingly shifting from execution-focused work toward higher-value capabilities involving analytics, reporting, transformation, risk and business decision support. Reuters has also reported the broader movement from cost-focused operations toward capability-driven GCCs handling more complex work.
For finance teams, that shift changes the talent requirement.
Professionals are increasingly expected to understand the business behind the numbers, work with global stakeholders, use technology effectively and take ownership of outcomes rather than simply execute predefined processes.
Quess Corp’s 2026 GCC Non-Tech Talent Landscape found that Finance, Sales Operations and Business Operations together account for more than 60% of non-tech GCC demand, while professionals with 7–12 years of experience represent nearly 60% of non-tech hiring demand.
Why Experienced Finance Talent Is Becoming More Valuable
The decline in fresher hiring does not mean GCCs have stopped hiring early-career professionals.
It indicates a stronger emphasis on experienced, deployment-ready talent.
For finance functions, this means professionals who have already handled complex reporting cycles, stakeholder management, controls, transformation projects or business-facing responsibilities can become particularly valuable.
The same experienced professional may now be relevant to:
- A multinational GCC
- A listed Indian corporation
- A high-growth startup
- An NBFC or fintech
- A global shared-services organisation
- A finance transformation team
The competition for finance talent is therefore increasingly crossing traditional industry boundaries.
Finance Hiring Is Becoming More Digital
The GCC transformation is also changing what a strong finance profile looks like.
Quess Corp reports that around one in four Finance, Risk and Governance roles requires digital platforms, analytics or AI capabilities.
This does not mean every finance professional needs to become a technology specialist.
It does mean that finance professionals increasingly need to work comfortably with analytics, automation, ERP systems and AI-enabled processes.
The more valuable capability is not simply using technology.
It is understanding what the technology produces, challenging the output when necessary and connecting it to a business decision.
Finance professionals are increasingly being expected to become technology-enabled decision makers, rather than technology-dependent process executors.
The CFO Challenge: Technology Needs the Right Finance Capability
The wider CFO market reinforces this shift.
EY’s 2026 Global DNA of the CFO Survey covered 1,610 CFOs, Finance Directors and Heads of Finance across 28 countries. Only 21% said their finance function’s AI preparedness was leading or advanced. Just 12% said finance transformation outcomes had exceeded expectations over the previous two years.
The research also highlights the importance of adaptability.
Among respondents describing their finance teams as highly adaptable, 42% said transformation outcomes exceeded expectations, compared with 16% for generally adaptable teams and just 3% for teams that “adjust with support.”
The implication for employers is clear:
Technology investment alone does not create a future-ready finance function.
The organisation also needs professionals who can adapt, apply judgment, work across functions and translate technology-enabled information into business decisions.
GCCs Are Also Changing the Finance Talent Equation
The competition for senior finance talent is visible at the executive level.
Deloitte India’s Executive Performance and Rewards Survey 2026 reported median professional CEO compensation of ₹10.5 crore, with CEO pay growing 5% year-on-year. Compensation for other CXOs increased by 4–10%, with CFOs recording the highest increase among those CXO roles. Median CFO compensation reached approximately ₹4.5 crore.
GCC expansion is not the sole reason for this compensation movement.
But it adds another dimension to an already competitive finance talent market.
Senior finance professionals can increasingly evaluate opportunities across GCCs, listed companies, startups and financial institutions.
For employers, historical internal salary benchmarks may therefore provide an incomplete picture of the market.
What This Means for Employers
1. Treat GCCs as a real talent-market comparator
When benchmarking senior finance roles, employers should look beyond traditional competitors.
GCCs are increasingly part of the same experienced finance talent market.
2. Hire for ownership, not only process knowledge
Process knowledge remains important.
But professionals who can identify problems, redesign processes, influence stakeholders and own outcomes can create significantly more value.
3. Make digital capability part of finance hiring
Analytics, automation and AI-related capabilities are increasingly embedded in finance roles.
They should be evaluated as part of the role rather than treated as an optional addition.
4. Look for global and local finance fluency
GCC finance roles can require professionals to understand global reporting and stakeholder expectations while remaining comfortable with India’s statutory and regulatory environment.
That combination can be difficult to find.
5. Start specialised searches earlier
As GCC hiring continues to expand and experienced professionals remain in strong demand, specialised finance searches may require more time than conventional finance hiring.
The New Finance Talent Map
India’s finance talent market is becoming more complex.
The traditional competition between established corporates and startups now has another major participant: the GCC.
But the bigger change is not simply the number of GCCs or the volume of hiring.
It is the type of finance capability being built inside them.
Experienced professionals are becoming more important. Digital and analytical capabilities are becoming embedded in finance roles. Global stakeholder exposure is becoming increasingly valuable. And finance professionals are being expected to contribute beyond process execution.
For CFOs and finance hiring leaders, the GCC market should no longer be viewed as a separate talent ecosystem.
It is becoming an important part of India’s mainstream finance talent market — and a talent pool worth tracking when building the next generation of finance leadership.