Indian GCCs cut 6,000 jobs in 2025 amid global slowdown
What's the story
Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India have laid off thousands of employees in 2025. The job cuts were triggered by sector-specific pressures faced by their global parent companies, including trade tariffs and AI-led workforce restructuring. According to data from UnearthIQ, a market intelligence firm for GCCs, and EIIRTrend, an engineering services research platform, over 5,500-6,000 GCC employees were laid off last year.
Sector impact
AI disruptions and GCC growth
The job cuts were particularly high among big tech companies as they adjusted their global teams and product strategies to AI disruptions. The sectors most affected include engineering, automotive, aerospace, retail, and technology. Despite the layoffs, India saw a record number of new GCCs being established in 2025. The net new jobs grew significantly to 135,000-150,000 as more multinationals look toward India for quality talent acquisition.
Major layoffs
Major layoffs by visual effects and animation giant Technicolor
The biggest layoff came from visual effects and animation giant Technicolor, which accounted for around 3,000 job losses. Other companies that announced major layoffs include AUMOVIO Ford (1,000 jobs), Fidelity Investments (about 500 jobs), Wells Fargo, Target, Boeing, Renault Nissan, Avaya, and Oracle. Gaurav Vasu of UnearthIQ said that most big tech companies had cut jobs in teams aligning with their global strategies.
Industry perspective
'Sectoral reset aimed at improving productivity'
Industry experts view these layoffs as a sectoral "reset" aimed at improving productivity in a post-AI world. Hani Mukhey from Zinnov said teams built on older staffing assumptions are being measured against sharper output benchmarks, leading to consolidation in non-strategic areas. She emphasized that while AI is accelerating this reset across various sectors, it doesn't automatically mean job cuts but rather a different skill mix with some roles tapering and others scaling quickly.
Economic impact
Driving efficiency is core for operations, layoff decisions
Pareekh Jain of EIIRTrend said most India-based layoffs reflect the macroeconomic headwinds affecting the parent organizations of these GCCs. He emphasized that Indian teams are no longer seen as cost control exercises and every team here is aligned with global product teams. Jain also noted driving efficiency is at the core for operations and layoff decisions for global organizations, citing Meta's workforce trimming after setting up its AI division.
Sector growth
Positive outlook for GCCs in India
Despite the layoffs, India's GCC sector continues to thrive with 1,800 GCCs employing two million professionals in the country. In 2025 alone, 101 new GCCs were launched while 115-120 existing ones expanded their operations in the region. Analysts believe that the overall trajectory for GCCs in India will remain positive as demand would shift steadily toward higher-value and knowledge-intensive work.