The Next Big Shift in GCCs Isn’t Hiring—It’s Capability: Kartik Narayan

Kartik Narayan is the Chief Executive Officer of the Jobs Marketplace vertical at Apna.co, where he is responsible for scaling the platform. His responsibilities include strengthening employer partnerships and accelerating the adoption of AI-powered hiring solutions.

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He comes with a distinguished career spanning 24 years across leading organizations such as TeamLease Services, Vodafone Idea, Cisco, and Bharti Airtel. Prior to joining Apna, he served as CEO of the TeamLease Staffing Business and was an executive board member of the Indian Staffing Federation.

He is known for driving business growth, operational excellence, and large-scale workforce transformation. Narayan brings deep expertise in talent ecosystems, technology-led hiring, and organizational scaling, helping shape the future of recruitment and employment in India.

Q1. How GCC expansion is reshaping hiring trends and talent demand across India

GCC expansion is increasingly becoming a capability-building story rather than a hiring-volume story. As organisations move higher-value functions to India, demand is expanding beyond traditional technology roles to include analytics, cybersecurity, finance, operations, customer experience, and product functions.

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The question for employers is no longer how many people they can hire. The focus is increasingly on building and scaling capabilities from India. As a result, hiring is becoming more specialized, with greater emphasis on domain expertise, digital fluency, and adaptability.

India’s role in the GCC ecosystem is gradually evolving from a talent destination to a capability hub, reshaping hiring demand across industries.

Sectorally, data from the Apna platform shows that the top three sectors driving GCC hiring activity are Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), and Technology (IT/ITeS). Engineering and Industrial together account for the majority of GCC job postings on our platform.

Q2. The skills and roles currently witnessing the highest demand across AI, analytics, cybersecurity, product development, finance, and operations

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The strongest demand today is emerging in roles that combine technology with business outcomes. AI, analytics, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, product management, digital operations, and technology-enabled finance functions are all experiencing significant hiring momentum.

What is changing is that AI is no longer confined to specialist technology teams. Employers are increasingly looking for professionals who can apply AI and data-driven decision-making across their respective functions, whether in finance, operations, customer experience, or business strategy.

On Apna’s platform, over 50% more GCC jobs now require skills such as analytics, data tools, and CRM platforms than a year ago. Tools like Tableau and digital transformation literacy are appearing in job descriptions for the first time. We also see that the average number of skills

required per GCC job has grown from roughly 3 to over 5. Technology fluency as a desired skill is becoming fundamental to hiring needs.

Q3. The rise of Tier-2 cities as emerging GCC talent hubs and the opportunities they present

The geography of opportunity is becoming increasingly distributed. Employers are becoming more confident in building teams beyond traditional technology hubs as digital infrastructure, workforce mobility, and access to skilled talent continue to improve nationwide.

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The opportunity is not only about cost optimization. Organizations are looking to access deeper talent pools, diversify hiring strategies, and reduce concentration in a handful of locations.

Cities such as Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Lucknow, and Indore are rapidly growing as GCC talent hubs, with cities like Nagpur and Jaipur quickly catching up as employers expand beyond established hubs in search of specialized skills and workforce depth.

For professionals, this expands access to high-quality career opportunities without necessarily requiring relocation, making GCC-led growth relevant to a much broader workforce.

Q4. How GCCs are adapting hiring through skills-first recruitment, workforce upskilling, and broader talent outreach

Skills-first hiring is emerging as a practical response to the rapid evolution of business requirements. While qualifications remain important, employers are increasingly prioritizing demonstrated capability, learning agility, and role readiness. Apart from the above, organizations are investing more actively in workforce development through upskilling, internal mobility, and continuous learning programs.

Q5. What the next phase of GCC-led employment growth could mean for India’s workforce, job creation, and the future of work

The next phase of GCC growth will likely focus more on capability depth than on workforce size. As organizations expand their mandates in India, demand is expected to grow across specialized technology roles, analytics, product functions, operations, and business services.

This creates an opportunity for India’s workforce to participate in higher-value work, gain greater exposure to global business environments, and build more specialized capabilities. AI will play an important role in this transition.

While certain tasks may become automated, demand will continue to grow for professionals who can combine domain expertise with technological fluency. The organisations and individuals that invest continuously in skills development will be best positioned to benefit from the next phase of growth.

Thank you, Kartik!

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