India’s global capability centre (GCC) ecosystem is witnessing strong competition among major technology hubs, with Karnataka continuing to dominate AI-related hiring while Hyderabad steadily increases its share in the country’s growing GCC landscape.
According to the government-backed Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), nearly 29% of AI-related GCC job postings in India are currently coming from Karnataka, reflecting the state’s growing strength in AI-focused hiring and deep-tech capabilities.
KDEM CEO Sanjiv Gupta said Karnataka remains a major destination for companies looking for AI talent and innovation-driven operations.
“GCCs, when they’re now looking at AI resources, the postings of the AI resources by the GCCs… if there are 100 jobs open all over India on AI, then 29 percent is actually coming out from the state,” Gupta said.
The comments come as Hyderabad continues to close the gap with Bengaluru in overall GCC presence. According to the latest Nasscom-Zinnov GCC Landscape Report 2026, Bengaluru maintained its 29% share of India’s GCC ecosystem between FY24 and FY26E, while Hyderabad’s share increased from 12% to 14% during the same period.
Despite rising competition, Karnataka officials believe the state’s long-term advantage lies in AI talent density, innovation ecosystems and deep-tech infrastructure rather than only the number of GCCs.
Gupta said Karnataka’s GCC sector has evolved significantly over the past 4 decades, shifting from traditional offshore operations to AI and innovation-led strategic centres.
“From last 6 years, from 2020 onwards, we see the AI and innovation decade that is coming up,” Gupta said. “Earlier it was more of AI/ML, now going into more of cybersecurity AI and many other things.”
According to Gupta, nearly 70-80% of discussions with new GCCs are now AI-first. Hyderabad’s growth, meanwhile, has been supported by engineering research and development, semiconductor ecosystems, infrastructure expansion and policy support from the Telangana government.
Karnataka is also expanding GCC growth beyond Bengaluru into cities such as Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad.
India currently hosts 2,117 GCCs and 3,728 GCC units employing nearly 2.36 million professionals, according to the report.
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