Automation hits India’s tech hiring, and staffing giants are feeling the chill

This trend raises concerns for staffing and job-hunting firms including TeamLease Services Ltd, Quess Corp, and Info Edge (India) Ltd, as IT-related hiring by GCCs and IT services companies is among their biggest sources of business, fetching them up to 44% of their revenue.

“Most large scale GCCs that had expanded majorly over the past few years are now focussing on transforming their processes in areas of people management, technology, and shared services (IT and customer support functions). Hence, currently their hiring volumes are not in line with their previous years’ hiring," said Neeti Sharma, chief executive of TeamLease Digital, in an emailed response to Mint's queries.

GCCs, which traditionally hire specialized talent at higher salaries than IT outsourcers, are looking to reduce their intake of people, according to a Mint report on 1 September. Lower hiring by these tech centres has started to show its impact on staffing firms, which get between 4-10% of their revenue from such centres.

IT slowdown spreads to captives

For two years, staffing firms have flagged muted hiring by IT outsourcers because of weak global demand. This year, GCC hiring has also begun slipping, forcing staffing companies to trim growth expectations.

Still, Sharma added that GCCs are hiring in areas of AI/ML (machine learning), cybersecurity, cloud, and data roles. TeamLease ended July-September 2025 with ₹3,032 crore in revenue, up 4.9% sequentially.

A similar trend was highlighted by Quess Corp.

“Certain traditional IT and support roles (for GCCs) have plateaued due to automation - but the slowdown is not uniform," said Kapil Joshi, CEO of IT Staffing at Quess Corp, in an emailed response to Mint's queries.

“The decline is concentrated in entry-level, repeatable roles. Specialized talent demand remains resilient," said Joshi.

Quess ended last quarter with ₹3,832 crore in revenue, up 5% sequentially. To be sure, Quess is the only large staffing and recruitment firm that shares revenue from GCCs.

The Bengaluru-based firm earned 4% of its total revenue— ₹155 crore—from GCCs last quarter, down 13% sequentially. The decline signals weakening demand from captives and highlights the risk of over-reliance on IT-linked hiring.

Most other staffing and job-hunting platforms, including Info Edge, club GCC income with IT or specialized staffing categories.

For now, there is a shift to specialized hiring, according to a third staffing and job-hunting firm, which added that GCCs are not hiring as they used to in the past.

“They (GCCs) have also over time moved up the value chain. You are seeing a lot of high-end jobs also move to India now, which was perhaps not the case earlier. Earlier, most GCCs or back offices used to be about just hiring IT workers and call centre employees. That's not the case anymore," said Hitesh Oberoi, co-promoter and managing director of Info Edge, during the company’s post-earnings analyst call on 12 November.

Info Edge, the parent company of Naukri.com, ended the last quarter with ₹746 crore in revenue, up 1.36% sequentially.

H-1B hope fades amid uncertainty

Expectations had risen that US moves to tighten H-1B visa rules would push more Fortune 500 companies to open GCCs in India, creating new jobs. India is already a major hub thanks to its scale and skilled talent.

However, Oberoi said the impact of the norms was “hard to say" even as multiple companies continue to open their tech centres in the country.

“So now, will this H-1B issue lead to more hiring in GCCs? I don't know, because things keep changing every few weeks. So, a lot of clarifications have been issued by the US government. So, I don't know whether this will have an impact on more jobs getting created in India," said Oberoi.

A questionnaire sent to Info Edge went unanswered.

Hiring pivots to non-tech sectors

Staffing firms expect hiring to become more value-driven, with higher salaries for specialized roles even as IT-related hiring remains weak.

“IT hiring remains soft, but non-tech sectors such as retail, manufacturing, and GCCs continue to show steady growth," said Motilal Oswal analysts Abhishek Pathak, Keval Bhagat, and Tushar Dhonde in a note dated 12 November.

Firms also anticipate more hiring from pharma, retail and manufacturing, alongside a rise in AI-led investment by GCCs.

“GCCs are evolving into AI-native capability centres. Investments in university partnerships, stack-aligned upskilling programs, and advanced AI platforms will drive the next phase of growth," said Quess’ Joshi.

Demand from tier-2 cities is also expected to shoot up.

“Growth will come from nano GCCs which are AI-powered, 50–150 person delivery hubs, emerging in Tier-2 cities. These are delivering specialized output with lower cost and faster deployment," said Sharma, adding that growth will shift from headcount to capability.

According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), India has more than 1,760 GCCs, of which 875 are in Bengaluru and 355 in Hyderabad. These GCCs generate export revenue of at least $64.6 billion, which is almost a fourth of the IT sector's $283 billion.

Nasscom estimates India to have 2,200 GCCs by March 2030 with its market worth $105 billion by then.