India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are undergoing a significant transformation as they pivot from traditional functions to a future driven by automation and artificial intelligence. With over 80% of routine tasks predicted to be automated by 2026, companies are restructuring their workforce to focus on high-value roles in product development, data governance, and model operations. This sweeping change is largely attributed to the rise of copilots, cloud-native platforms, and low-code workflows, which are redefining operational priorities.
The shift is evident in the roles being deprioritized within the industry. Functions such as L1 IT Support, Legacy Application Development, Manual QA/UAT, ERP Maintenance, and On-Prem Infrastructure Management are expected to see a contraction of 9–11% over the next 12–18 months. This marks a definitive move away from maintenance-oriented jobs toward positions that emphasize modernization and innovation.
As transactional tasks become increasingly automated, the focus is shifting to enhancing the value of human contributions in engineering, data governance, and model operations. High-value engineering and AI governance roles are anticipated to grow by 11% annually, signaling a transformation of India’s traditional “back-office” reputation into a hub for AI-enabled engineering expertise.
Looking towards 2026, several roles are expected to emerge as pivotal to this new landscape. Cybersecurity and AI Governance Architects will be essential as businesses prioritize governance in AI design, with demand for this position projected to rise by 29%. Similarly, Prompt Engineers, tasked with optimizing AI deployment, are expected to see a 26% surge in hiring, particularly in research and development-heavy sectors like automotive and telecommunications. As Generative AI continues to move from experimental applications to widespread integration, GenAI Product Owners will become indispensable, witnessing a projected demand increase of 22% across manufacturing, engineering, and infrastructure domains.
Moreover, AI Policy and Risk Strategists, who will define frameworks surrounding AI utilization, and GenAI Content QA Leads, responsible for ensuring the quality of AI-generated content, are also projected to experience significant growth—by 21% and 19%, respectively. These roles highlight the industry’s commitment to establishing trust and accountability in AI deployment.
Conversely, several traditional roles are anticipated to fade or be redefined. L1 IT Support Technicians face a dramatic reduction in demand as automated troubleshooting systems increasingly handle routine ticket resolutions, potentially resulting in a 75% drop in traditional ticket resolution tasks. The decline in Legacy Application Developers is even steeper, with demand expected to shrink by 74% as cloud-native and API-first architectures become the norm. Manual QA/UAT Testers are similarly at risk, with a projected 72% decrease in the volume of manual testing efforts due to the adoption of AI-led testing platforms.
Additionally, traditional ERP Maintenance Engineers are set to see an anticipated decline of 69%, as the industry transitions toward configuration and platform engineering, fueled by the rise of cloud ERP and composable enterprise platforms. Lastly, as companies migrate to hybrid and multi-cloud environments, the demand for On-Prem Infrastructure Managers is expected to diminish by 67%, replaced by specialists in cloud orchestration and automation.
This transformative landscape indicates a broader shift from execution-focused roles to those centered around trust and governance in AI delivery. GCCs in India are evolving from mere execution hubs to global centers for AI trust, governance, and product stewardship. As part of this transition, 25-30% of new hiring is projected to focus on capabilities in AI engineering, governance, cybersecurity, and model operations.
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