India’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) ecosystem has traditionally been anchored in major metropolitan hubs such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, and Gurugram.
For decades, these cities have hosted large technology and operations teams for multinational enterprises, supporting functions ranging from digital engineering and analytics to financial services and product development.
However, the next phase of GCC expansion in India is increasingly moving beyond these established locations. Global enterprises are now exploring Tier-2 cities as viable destinations for technology and innovation teams. Cities such as Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, and Mangalore are gradually emerging as alternative locations where companies can access skilled professionals while maintaining operational efficiency.
India currently hosts more than 1,700 GCCs employing nearly 1.9 million professionals and generating over $64 billion in annual revenue, according to industry reports. As global enterprises expand their technology, data, and digital operations from India, hiring demand continues to rise. This growth is pushing companies to explore new talent pools beyond saturated metropolitan markets.
Rising costs and talent competition
One of the primary factors driving the expansion into Tier-2 cities is the increasing cost of operating in major technology hubs. Over the past decade, cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad have seen rising commercial real estate prices, growing infrastructure pressure, and intense competition for experienced professionals. As GCCs expand their mandates to include advanced technology functions such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity, the demand for specialised talent has intensified. Companies often face longer hiring cycles and higher compensation expectations for these roles in traditional hubs.
The growing acceptance of remote and hybrid work models has also enabled companies to rethink traditional hiring strategies. Rather than relying exclusively on centralised offices, many organisations are building distributed teams across multiple regions. This approach allows companies to tap into talent pools that may not be available in major metropolitan cities. As a result, GCCs are increasingly adopting flexible hiring models that combine physical centres with distributed teams across several locations.
Tech roles driving GCC expansion
Many of the centres established in emerging hubs are focused on areas such as digital engineering, advanced analytics, and enterprise technology platforms.
Roles related to artificial intelligence, machine learning, data engineering, cloud architecture, cybersecurity, and digital product development are increasingly in demand, as these capabilities support ongoing digital transformation efforts across industries, including banking, automotive, manufacturing, and consumer technology.
Tier-2 cities hosting GCC ops
Several Tier-2 cities have already begun attracting global capability centres across industries.
In Ahmedabad, Kraft Heinz has established a GCC with over 600 professionals supporting global operations across analytics, finance, and technology functions. Thiruvananthapuram has emerged as a technology hub through the Technopark ecosystem. Nissan Digital operates a centre here with more than 200 employees, while Allianz Services employs over 1,500 professionals supporting global insurance and financial services operations.
Coimbatore hosts a major Bosch Global Software Technologies presence with more than 5,000 employees, working on embedded engineering and digital engineering solutions for global products.
In Mangalore, Bose has established a technology centre with 25+ employees, with plans to expand the team to over 100 professionals supporting software engineering and product development.
Talent, cost, and preference shift
For junior and mid-level roles, yes, and more reliably than metros. Most of India's 1.5 million annual engineering graduates come from Tier-2 institutions.
Add the post-COVID reverse migration of experienced professionals who left metros by choice, and you have a ready pool with metro pedigree and hometown loyalty. Attrition runs 10–15 percentage points lower than Tier-1 cities. That changes hiring economics entirely.
The real challenge is mid and senior leadership. Professionals with 12–20 years of experience in scaled GCC environments, heads of engineering, analytics leads, and delivery directors, are scarce in Tier-2 cities. Most of that talent is either embedded in metro GCCs or not actively looking. Relocating them requires a compelling proposition beyond salary: meaningful mandates, ownership, and a genuine career path. Many GCCs underestimate this and end up with strong junior benches but thin leadership layers.
The ones that solve it, by rotating leaders from metros, building internal growth paths and giving Tier-2 centres real capability charters, find that over time, retention compounds. What starts as a cost play gradually becomes a value creation engine, as stable teams build domain depth, institutional knowledge, and eventually, innovation capability that metro centres with high churn simply cannot match.
Cost is what gets the proposal approved. It is not why the best GCCs stay and grow. The real saving is not the Day 1 salary. It is the hidden cost of replacing 20 per cent of your workforce every year, which is what Tier-1 cities demand. When you price that in, the Tier-2 option is often the cheaper one over a 3-year horizon. The person who grew up in a Tier-2 city, spent five years at a metro GCC, and came back — they already know what a metro offers, but chose not to stay.
At 80 per cent of metro pay with zero rent inflation, zero commute, and proximity to family, it is not a compromise. It is the deal they actually want. The question is not why they would stay; the question is why we assumed they all wanted to leave in the first place.
The rise of Tier-2 cities as GCC destinations could reshape India’s broader talent landscape. As global companies expand operations into emerging hubs, they are likely to accelerate workforce development and skill creation across regions.
Local universities and technical institutions may increasingly align programs with industry demand in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and data engineering. This shift could also contribute to more balanced economic growth by distributing high-value technology jobs beyond major metropolitan areas.
The author is the founder and CEO of Zyoin Group, a talent advisory firm.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.