India’s Global Capability Centres are increasingly turning inward to build AI talent, shifting from external hiring to structured internal development as companies face tight adoption timelines, limited specialist supply and rapidly evolving skill demands. Workforce intelligence data shows that this transition is happening quickly across mature GCCs.
TeamLease Digital reports that internal mobility now accounts for about 27 percent of future tech and AI roles within GCCs. Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, said that large GCCs which expanded in recent years are now focused on transforming processes and building internal AI capacity.
Data from Bharatiya Converge highlights a similar pattern, showing that internal redeployment into AI and ML roles has risen sharply from about 15 percent last year to 30 to 45 percent this year. This surge is driven by structured capability building programmes rather than informal learning. A major reason for this push is the rapid shift in required skills. Roop Kaistha, regional managing director for APAC at AMS, said that by 2027 nearly 40 percent of current tech skills will be partially obsolete due to skill fusion and AI aligned requirements. He noted that GCCs are creating multidisciplinary roles internally because existing engineers are often better suited for hybrid skill sets than new lateral hires.
The expansion of global AI mandates anchored in India is further driving the trend. According to consultancy ANSR, more than 70 percent of GCCs in India now lead global AI work for their companies, including model development, fraud analytics, platform engineering, cybersecurity and AI integration across products.
ANSR said that rather than competing in a tight lateral hiring market, GCCs are finding that structured internal development pipelines deliver skilled talent faster, more cost effectively and with stronger enterprise context.
Many major employers have formalised these efforts. GCCs have launched internal academies, role based skill stacks and AI proficiency pathways to prepare employees for AI heavy roles. Tech Mahindra, for instance, trained tens of thousands of workers through multi tier AI learning modules. Kunal Purohit, president of Next Gen Services, said that internal hiring for AI and ML roles has nearly doubled since last year.
Bhartiya Converge noted that upskilling is now measured not by training participation but by actual redeployment. The fastest transitions are happening in analytics automation, AI product enablement and solution consulting.
However, internal mobility varies across roles. According to Xpheno, internal transitions work well for service end AI jobs like analytics operations, automation support and AI product workflows. But lateral hiring remains essential for core AI engineering roles due to limited supply. Anil Ethanur, co founder of Xpheno, said only about 6000 professionals currently work in AI engineering across GCCs. Roles such as AI architects, ML platform engineers and systems specialists continue to face sharp talent shortages.
NASSCOM data shows that around 15 percent of GCCs have achieved advanced AI capability maturity. More than 30 percent of technology and internet companies have established AI Centres of Excellence in India. With external hiring slowing and internal capability deepening, India is emerging as a global hub for enterprise scale AI workforce development. GCCs increasingly view AI talent as a capability they must build, not buy.
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