 "Global capability centres in India see hiring dip amid western disturbances")
The hiring by global capability centres (GCCs) in India has slowed down in the year to March, according to a survey of 80 companies by specialist staffing firm Xpheno.
Kedar Pathak, GCC specialist at Xpheno, said, "As a reflection of the uncertainties and slow recovery in the West and global markets, GCCs have kept a cautious capacity growth trajectory in FY2024."
Although India remains a hotspot for GCCs, with the number of such centres increasing, this segment added 50,000-80,000 people in FY24, down from 150,000 in FY23.
According to a report in the Indian Express, experts said that the reasons behind this could be inflation, geopolitical conflict, supply-side challenges and high-interest rates. The survey showed that with 16-18 per cent average attrition, the GCCs in FY24 had a gross talent demand for over 250,000 people.
The firm had conducted the survey across sectors and included IBM, Oracle, Bank of America, Citi, American Express, Barclays, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Grant Thornton, Google, Target, Walmart, Shell, BP, Novartis, AstraZeneca and British Telecom.
Rohan Lobo, partner, Deloitte India, said, "In 2023, companies across the world were confronted with a bearish geopolitical outlook, macroeconomic uncertainty and credit tightening, While companies continued to configure their business to adapt to such changes, they were cautious with large technology spends and consequently with their talent acquisition plans. Moreover, the great resignation had also led to a great realignment wherein companies started resetting their talent plans to address market shocks."
GCCs initially came to India to save costs. However, experts say having a technology and research base in India has become a strategic imperative for global companies.
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Rishi Jhunjhunwala, senior vice president and tech sector analyst at IIFL Securities, said that global IT spending has seen a fall in 2023. Jhunjhunwala said, "Last 2-3 years, we have seen a rush of new GCCs in the country and many of them were hired proactively in 2021 and 2022. Last year was a year of caution and this year too, till the US elections, there will be a general mood of caution that will prevail. Demand pick-up is likely in CY2025 and it will benefit the GCCs too."
"The years post pandemic, 2021 and 2022, saw record hiring at GCCs," said EY partner and GCC sector leader Arindam Sen.
"However, the market has now stabilised and it is business as usual. We are unlikely to see the massive surge in hiring that we witnessed immediately post-Covid as most of the pent-up demand has been met. This calendar year I don't see much drastic pick-up in hiring," Sen said.
"However, the market has now stabilised and it is business as usual. We are unlikely to see the massive surge in hiring that we witnessed immediately post-Covid as most of the pent-up demand has been met. This calendar year I don't see much drastic pick-up in hiring," Sen said.
According to the Indian Express report, The global slowdown in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector has had an impact on the hiring pace as most companies await clarity on the US elections and US Federal Reserve rate action.
Arindam Sen, EY partner and GCC sector leader, said, "However, there is a reprioritisation of talent demand with focus on emerging new tech areas such as AI, Gen AI, ML and others and these are areas that will continue to see robust hiring. That apart, there are many new GCCs lined up over the next year and those will hire new people."