GCCs Drive 40% Salary Hike in 2026 Campus Placements

Global Capability Centres (GCCs) have emerged as the dominant force in India’s 2025-2026 campus placement season, significantly outperforming traditional IT mass recruiters.

As legacy services firms maintain a cautious hiring stance, GCCs are aggressively scouting for top-tier talent, offering salary packages that are 30% to 40% higher than the industry average for freshers.

The New Salary Benchmarks

Data from the current academic cycle indicates a massive shift in entry-level economics.

While traditional IT services typically offer packages between ₹3.5 lakh and ₹7 lakh per annum (LPA), GCCs are providing an average starting salary of ₹11 lakh to ₹15 lakh.

High-demand roles in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Cybersecurity are commanding even steeper premiums, with some premier engineering institutes reporting top offers as high as ₹56 LPA from global financial and tech hubs.

GCCs Shifting Recruitment Strategies

The number of GCCs participating in campus drives has surged by nearly 300% this year.

Major players—including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and Honeywell—are moving beyond premier institutes like IITs to tap into local and Tier-2 colleges in cities like Hyderabad, Pune, and Coimbatore.

Unlike the volume-based hiring of the past, GCCs are focusing on “skills-first” recruitment.

These firms are seeking candidates with interdisciplinary knowledge and practical problem-solving skills rather than high GPAs.

Many centers are initially offering six-month internships with stipends that eventually convert into full-time roles, reflecting a long-term commitment to talent development.

Impact on the Regional Economy

The expansion of GCCs is also driving geographic diversification.

While Bengaluru and Hyderabad remain the primary hubs, there is a notable 30% rise in GCC setups in Tier-2 cities.

This decentralization is creating high-paying tech ecosystems in smaller urban centers, allowing freshers to access global-standard career opportunities closer to home.

To bridge the remaining “readiness gap,” many GCCs have launched internal “academies” to provide specialized training in cloud-native and AI-native architectures immediately after hiring.

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