Survey averages, not individual offers. Each publisher uses its own sample and year; see the pay checker for sector detail.

Naukri figures are its JobSpeak hiring index for all white-collar jobs in the city, April 2026 against April 2025, not GCC hiring alone. IT park and tech-workforce figures include IT services firms as well as GCCs. Seat counts are capacity, not headcount.

How we would clean listings data

1. Collect postings from the feeds above.
2. Map to seven metros: Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. Gurgaon and Noida count as Delhi NCR, and Bombay as Mumbai.
3. Match repeats: the same employer in the same city within a 14-day window, compared by title and the start of the description.
4. Remove duplicates so a job cross-posted on three boards counts once.
5. Calibrate the totals against Naukri and foundit each month.

Steps 2 to 5 are a method, not something running today. Signal India currently publishes only the indices above, with each source named. We have not measured any accuracy for the matching, so we publish none.

Figures are the applicant’s projections as recorded by the approval committee. Where a filing names only capital-goods values, we show those. “Press” says whether we could find the item in news coverage at the time of listing.

One trade blog (V3 Staffing, March 2026) says there are more than 190 BFSI GCCs in India employing over 540,000 people, attributing both to unnamed industry reports. We have not verified the figures, so treat them as rough.

Stories from the news

Why centres stall: the patterns

Built from news reports. Companies rarely explain closures in full, so the reasons are as reported or as analysts describe them, not company statements unless marked. Job figures are reported estimates. The Cambium report relies on unnamed staff. “Lesson for TA” is TalentRubric’s view.

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Look it up yourself: Levels.fyi · AmbitionBox · Glassdoor · PayScale. Check two or more before you quote a number.

Latest policy moves

State by state

Compiled from government releases and law-firm and tax-adviser summaries. Targets are each government’s ambitions, not forecasts. Incentive amounts have conditions, caps and eligibility rules that this table leaves out.

What the surveys say

Roles to watch. LinkedIn’s Jobs on the Rise lists prompt engineer, AI engineer and software engineer among the top roles in demand in India. Deloitte’s campus report gives examples such as AI-enabled product manager, machine-learning engineer, data scientist and legal-tech specialist.

Summaries of published reports and press releases. Survey figures are each publisher’s own; vendor surveys may favour the vendor’s market. “Why it matters” is TalentRubric’s view.

The six steps

Where to build

Latest for builders

A practical guide from TalentRubric’s own building work, not a survey. Products named are examples from recent news, not endorsements.

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1. 01

   Write the charter before you pick a city

   Settle what the centre will do, how much the India leader can decide alone, and how big it should be in year one and year three. Zinnov advises spending a few weeks on this before any operational work, and puts a focused set-up at about 3 to 6 months to become operational, or 6 to 12 months for a larger centre.

   Our view: the charter decides the hiring plan. A centre set up “to save cost” hires differently from one set up to own a product, so agree this with the parent before anyone writes a job description.

2. 02

   Choose how you will own it

   Most multinationals use a wholly owned subsidiary set up as a private limited company. IT services, software, business process work, consulting, R&D and shared services allow up to 100% foreign investment under the automatic route, so prior government approval is generally not needed, though reporting to the Reserve Bank of India is. Branch, liaison and project offices exist for narrower purposes.

   The other route is build-operate-transfer (BOT). A partner sets up and runs the centre in India under its own entity, hires the team, and at an agreed point transfers the people, assets and know-how to your own subsidiary.

   It runs in three stages. Build: the partner finds the office, sets up the infrastructure and hires the first team. Operate: the partner runs the centre for an agreed period while your own managers take over the work and the direction. Transfer: people, contracts and assets move to your subsidiary, ideally with no change in pay or service for employees.

   Our view: BOT gets a first team working sooner and leaves entity paperwork and early hiring to people who know the market; you pay for that in partner fees and less control in the early years. A direct captive takes longer to start but is yours from day one. Companies entering India for the first time often start with BOT; those that already run teams here usually go direct. If you choose BOT, agree before signing how and when employees transfer, who sets their pay until then, and what happens to people the partner hires.

3. 03

   Pick the city on talent and attrition, not only cost

   Bengaluru holds about 34% of India’s GCC talent, Hyderabad 14%, Pune 13%, Chennai 12%, Mumbai 11% and Delhi NCR 10%. GCC hiring in September 2026 grew 23% year on year in Hyderabad, 13% in Chennai, 11% in Pune and 3% in Bengaluru. In tier-2 cities, GCC hiring grew 23% and attrition runs at 8–12%, against 18–22% in tier-1 cities.

   Compare all the cities side by side in City signals on the Numbers page.

   Our view: hire the first leaders where the senior talent already is, even if later teams go to a cheaper city. A tier-2 site works best as a second location with a clear mandate.

4. 04

   Check state incentives before you sign a lease

   Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have dedicated GCC policies. Tamil Nadu offers incentives for GCC employees, Telangana and Delhi have policy frameworks, and Kerala has a draft. Seven of these states together target about 1,380 new GCCs and 1.18 million jobs by 2029–31, including about 500 centres and 3.5 lakh jobs in Karnataka.

   The details vary a lot. Gujarat’s 2025–30 policy, for example, reimburses lease rent at the lower of actual rent or ₹50 per sq ft for five years, partly reimburses salaries and employer social-security contributions, and requires at least 50 people on payroll. Special Economic Zones are still an option, though their tax benefits are smaller than they were. Space is competitive: GCCs took 41% of India’s office leasing in January to September 2026.

   Our view: read the eligibility rules before choosing a building. Payroll-linked incentives often need a minimum headcount and local hiring by a set date, which belongs in the hiring plan.

5. 05

   Register as an employer and get payroll right

   India’s four Labour Codes took effect on 21 November 2025. Under the Code on Social Security, Provident Fund applies to every establishment with 20 or more employees, Employees’ State Insurance now covers the whole country, and fixed-term employees earn gratuity after one year instead of five. Allowances above 50% of total pay are added back to “wages”, which changes how a CTC (cost to company) offer is built. Lawyers also list the gratuity and POSH (prevention of sexual harassment) laws among the employer basics.

   Our view: have payroll, the offer-letter template and the salary structure signed off before the first offer goes out. Zinnov makes the same point: HR set-up should be ready before the first offer letter. States add their own registrations, so ask your payroll provider for the list for your city.

6. 06

   Set pay bands in rupees, against the right benchmark

   Employers forecast an average 9.1% salary increase across India for 2027. GCCs were projected at 10.4% for 2026, the highest of any sector, and skills in GenAI, machine learning and advanced analytics command a base pay premium of 30–40% or more. GCC attrition was 16% in 2026.

   Try the pay checker and the public salary data on the Pay and rules page.

   Our view: benchmark against other GCCs in the same city, not against IT services firms or your home country converted at today’s exchange rate. Set the bands in rupees, and review them every year.

7. 07

   Plan the first hires around notice periods

   Experienced people in India often cannot join quickly. Almost one in three IT roles carries a 90-day notice period, by one magazine’s analysis, while across the organised sector 54% of jobs have one month or less. Zinnov advises having the India leader in place before the first team joins, and a first hiring wave weighted towards senior people.

   Our view: count a senior hire’s start date from the day they accept, plus their notice period, plus a cushion for counter-offers. Budget for notice-period buyouts on critical roles, and keep in touch with accepted candidates until they join.

8. 08

   Handle candidate data under India’s rules from day one

   India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules were notified on 14 November 2025, with duties phasing in over 12 to 18 months. GCCs also need to check cross-border data transfers against both Indian and home-country rules, and follow CERT-In’s cybersecurity directions.

   Start with the candidate data notice in our templates, and see the rules tracker for dates.

9. 09

   Learn from the centres that stalled

   About 30% of GCCs set up since 2021 have plateaued, and 80% have less than 10% of their leadership roles in India, according to figures reported by Business Standard. Read the closures and sales, and why they happened, in When GCCs stall or shut.

   Our view: a centre with no senior roles in India struggles to win bigger work. Put some leadership roles in India from the start, and give them real decision rights.

Before the first offer letter: a checklist

• The charter is agreed with the parent: scope, decision rights, year-one and year-three size
• The entity is incorporated, with a bank account and tax registrations in place
• The city is chosen and you have checked the state’s incentive eligibility rules
• The India leader is hired, or has accepted and has a joining date
• Pay bands are set in rupees and the salary structure is checked against the 50% wage rule
• Payroll, Provident Fund and Employees’ State Insurance are set up, plus your state’s own registrations
• The offer-letter template and employee policies are reviewed by Indian counsel, including a POSH policy
• The candidate data notice, consent wording and deletion schedule are ready
• An ATS, interview rubrics and an interviewer panel are ready for the first roles

A planning aid from TalentRubric’s advisory work, not a complete legal checklist.

Latest additions

Built from company releases, news coverage and state-government announcements. Headcounts are plans announced by the company, not confirmed hires. The directory lists companies and public facts only: it never includes personal contact details. Spotted something wrong? Email Shravan@talentrubric.com and we’ll fix it and log it. How we build this list.

Our view: BOT buys speed, not savings. If you choose it, agree the transfer price, the people who move, and who owns the IP before the first hire, because renegotiating at handover is where most of the cost hides. We advise on BOT handovers.

Start here: three fixed-scope studies

1. A 30-minute call. You tell us what the centre is for and where you are. No preparation needed.
2. A one-page scope. Within two working days: what we’ll deliver, by when, and the fixed fee.
3. The work. Weekly check-ins, every number sourced, and drafts you can share early.
4. The handover. A plan, a model you can edit, and a call with your leadership team.