Mumbai: Strengthening its position as the leading destination for skilled back office work, India has emerged as the preferred destination for retail Global Capability Centres (GCCs), a report by TeamLease Digital revealed.
According to the report, India hosted 180 retail linked GCCs, with a market 34% larger than those in Poland, the Phillippinnes, Mexico, Germany, and Egypt combined. Along with this, India’s GCCs lead in AI adoption, with 6-7% penetration, higher than all others reviewed, including Germany. Companies continue to prefer India for its large talent base, business friendly policies, low infrastructure costs and favourable government policies, even as major retailers like Tesco, Amazon, Walmart and Lowe’s have been present in India for long.
These GCCs collectively employ more than 2.7 lakh professionals, with the GCCs operating across tech hubs like Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai, besides venturing into emerging Tier 2 and 3 towns as well. Bengaluru alone hosts 84,000 professionals, with Delhi behind at 66,000 and Hyderabad coming third at 45,000.
Across these GCCs, professionals with core AI and technology skills are commanding salaries that are 50-60 percent higher than those with comparable roles, with more than 90 percent of the 28,500 professionals hired by these retail GCCs coming from outside the industry.
These GCCs have been the biggest threat to Indian IT companies, as experienced talent has been moving to them since leading multinationals started setting up shop in the country.
However, these GCCs continue to face challenges in attracting AI talent, with only around 320 professionals across the ecosystem with relevant skills, averaging about 2 senior AI specialists per center.
