Tepid Hiring at GCCs in India Amid Uncertainty

Overall, hiring trend in Indian GCC space remains low at the point of time. Hiring is happening in negligible numbers as compared to previous years. In comparison, recruitment trend in some IT firms remains strong - Supaul Chanda, President (Staffing), Galent, tells Bizz Buzz

Bengaluru: Hiring trend among Indian Global Capability Centres (GCCs) remains tepid in the current quarter with no signs of immediate revival. Industry leaders in the HR space said while most of the GCCs are not hiring engineering talent in big numbers, some have even laid off people in recent months. In comparison, some IT services companies are hiring in big numbers on the back of recent project wins.

“Overall, hiring trend in Indian GCC space remains low at the point of time. Hiring is happening in negligible numbers as compared to previous years. In comparison, recruitment trend in some IT firms remains strong,” Supaul Chanda, President (Staffing) of Galent, an HR staffing firm told Bizz Buzz.

“The trend is not showing much confidence towards revival in the coming quarter. It has to be seen how this pans out in the next quarter,” he added.

Indian GCCs have been adding employee count since last two years, while many IT firms have been doing it on need basis. However, the trend is slowly changing.

According to industry experts, hiring of engineers have slowed down as parents of GCCs see business pressure building up in their home countries. Rising macroeconomic uncertainty amid fears of a tariff war is driving GCCs to be cautious in their outlook.

Even some GCCs have shut their centres in recent months, leading to job losses. For instance, Paris-headquartered Technicolor India has shut down its Indian operations impacting more than 3,300 employees. Company management has cited financial crunch for shutting down its operations in the country. Similarly, reports suggested that companies like Boeing, Renault Nissan have laid off employees in India units.

While some GCCs have laid off or shut down Indian operations, a few others have started recruiting employees.

Sources in the know said that Citi Bank is conducting a recruitment drive in India as the company insources much of its technology operations.

“Hiring by Citi Bank is going on as they ramp up employee count in India,” said an industry source. Citi Bank is reducing its dependence on vendors like TCS, Wipro, and several other tier-I companies in India.

Meanwhile, some IT services companies are hiring more number of people as of now. “We see some IT firms hiring in good numbers. This is due to recent project wins. However, overall trend is not very bullish in terms of hiring,” Chanda of Galent said.

Amid fears of AI solutions automating several functions, Indian IT companies are hiring lesser number of people till clarity emerges on the business trend.