Zinnov SIAH 2026

Salary Increase, Attrition& Hiring Trends in GCCs 2026

The GCC talent market appears more stable today. Underneath, however, compensation and workforce dynamics are beginning to diverge around a narrower set of critical capabilities.

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Why Zinnov
220+
GCCs shaped

GCCs built, operated, and transformed across every stage of the lifecycle.

Zinnov partners with GCCs across the full lifecycle — from setup and location strategy through maturity assessment, talent strategy, and transformation. This report is one layer of a continuous benchmarking and advisory engine that helps GCC leaders make decisions with data, not assumptions.

The numbers that matter · 2026
Average salary increase
9.8%
Flat for two years. Underneath it, ER&D functions receive 10.8% while non-ER&D gets 7.5%.
Average High performer attrition
16.5%
Higher than the overall average. The drivers are skill stagnation and limited growth exposure - not pay.
AI demand–supply gap
51%
~416K AI professionals in India. Demand still outstrips supply by half.
The picture beneath the averages

Are GCC salary budgets in India
keeping up - or falling behind?

For the past two years, GCC leaders have been telling themselves the same reassuring story: attrition has cooled, salary budgets have stabilized, the talent market has normalized.

The data points to two GCCs running inside one. The talent market for AI, cybersecurity, cloud, and data is fiercely competitive - compensation architectures are being redesigned, scarcity premiums deployed, equity structures rethought. Meanwhile, legacy IT and routine engineering roles are being thinned through rising involuntary attrition and automation-led redesign. The organizations making the right calls have recognized this split early. The ones that haven't are managing the wrong problem.

Key findings

What should GCC leaders in India
be worried about in 2026?

Finding 01
21.1%
AI/ML salary increase
  • 9.8%Average
  • 20.0%Cybersecurity
  • 16.1%Cloud

Same salary budget. Two talent economies.

The average salary increase is 9.8%. For AI/ML it's 21.1%; for cybersecurity, 20.0%. Over 85% of GCCs have already moved to differentiated compensation structures. Most are managing two talent markets. Few have built the architecture to match.
Finding 02
16.5%Average High-performer attrition

Your best people aren't leaving for money. They're leaving for relevance.

Above the overall average. Nearly 80% report FOBO: Fear of Becoming Obsolete. The top exit drivers aren't pay - they're limited exposure to emerging tech and insufficient skill-building.
Finding 03
7.6%Non-ER&D involuntary attrition

Involuntary attrition is rising by design, not by accident.

Overall involuntary attrition rose from 3.4% in 2023 to 4.2% in 2025. In non-ER&D functions it's nearly doubled. GCCs are deliberately reshaping: fewer people, higher cost per head, more output per person.
Finding 04
51%AI demand–supply gap

The AI talent gap has a number. Your build plan needs one too.

India's AI talent pool reached 416,000 in 2025. GCCs that win this market deploy scarcity premiums, AI impact bonuses, and front-loaded equity vesting - not standard pay bands.
Finding 05
10.9%Infant attrition

One in ten new hires leaves within a year. The fix isn't hiring better.

Over 70% of CHROs flag first-year retention as critical. The drivers: role mismatch, weak onboarding, cultural misalignment. Leading GCCs have redesigned onboarding into a 90–180 day structured immersion.
Finding 06
80%Leaders citing Tier-II retention edge

Your location strategy is now a retention strategy.

Tier-II cities report 10–15% lower attrition than Tier-I metros. Over 80% of GCC leaders report stronger retention there. These cities are delivering AI, cloud, and cybersecurity work - not just shared services.

A GCC paying 9.8% average salary increases across its workforce and 21% for AI talent is already operating across multiple talent economies. Most workforce models, however, still assume one.

Nitika Goel
CMO and Managing Partner, Zinnov
Questions GCC leaders are asking

How does my GCC compare to peers in India?

The overall average is 9.8%, but that number is nearly meaningless for benchmarking. ER&D functions are getting 10.8% while non-ER&D is at 7.5%. Top performers earn 1.4x-2.2x the average increase. Niche skills like AI/ML command 21.1%. The report breaks this down by level, function, and vertical - so you can benchmark the specific roles that matter to your center.

Overall attrition at 16% looks stable. But the risk has shifted to two cohorts. High-performer attrition is 16.5% - driven not by pay, but by skill decay anxiety and limited growth exposure. And infant attrition is at 10.9%, with role mismatch and weak onboarding as the primary drivers. The headline has stabilized. The composition of the risk has not.

The data makes a strong case. Tier-II cities report 10-15% lower attrition than Tier-I metros, and over 80% of GCC leaders report meaningfully stronger retention there. These cities are no longer shared-services destinations - they're delivering AI, cloud, and cybersecurity work. This is reinforcing a shift toward more distributed GCC operating models that balance Tier-I depth with Tier-II stability.

Wage bills are likely to rise by 3-10% as GCCs realign pay structures with the new codes. The redefined "wages" requirement (minimum 50% of total remuneration as basic pay) recalculates gratuity, PF, overtime, and leave encashment upward. Fixed-term employees now qualify for gratuity after one year, eroding the cost advantage of contract-based hiring.

The fastest-accelerating roles are AI engineers, prompt engineers, forward-deployed engineers, AI forensic specialists, data annotators, and data governance leads. Traditional roles aren't disappearing - they're being redefined as automation absorbs routine tasks. GCCs are shifting from volume hiring to precision hiring: fewer hires, higher capability density per person.

Get the Report

Salary, Attrition & Hiring Trends 2026

48-page report based on primary research with 95+ GCCs across 150+ centers in India. Deep dive into salary increase, attrition, hiring trends, and New Labour Codes across levels, functions, and locations.

  • Salary increase trends averaged 9.8% across GCCs in 2026
  • High-performer attrition remained elevated at 16.5%
  • GCCs reported ~27.4% average annual hiring demand

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