India's GCC boom in 2026, what the office and salary numbers mean for consulting

There are two stories in Indian services this month. In one, office space is being leased at record speed and AI architects are being paid like cricketers. In the other, the country's second biggest IT company has cut its growth forecast for the second quarter running. They are the same story, told from different floors of the same building.

The leasing numbers

Gross leasing across India's top seven office markets touched 61.06 million sq ft in the first nine months of 2026, the highest for that period in any year, according to JLL data reported by The Economic Times. Global capability centres, or GCCs, leased 26.2 million sq ft of that, up 30.6% year on year and 42.9% of the total.

Other trackers agree on the shape. CBRE put GCCs at about 41% of office take up in the July to September quarter, and Cushman and Wakefield put them at 42%, with GCCs driving about 65% of leasing in both Bengaluru and Pune. "Companies aren't waiting for global uncertainty to clear," JLL India CEO Radha Dhir said.

A GCC, for anyone who has managed to avoid the acronym, is a multinational's own team in India, doing work it might once have bought from an outsourcer or a consultancy.

The salary numbers

The work inside these centres is changing. Nearly 44% of India's GCCs now own platforms, products, AI adoption and business critical outcomes, a TeamLease Digital report found, Telangana Today reported. AI architects with 15 years or more of experience command a median fixed pay of up to Rs 108.6 lakh a year. The 2026 salary increment in GCCs is 10.4%, ahead of the 9.1% India Inc. average, and AI, ML, cyber and cloud skills carry a 30% to 40% premium.

The interesting line came from TeamLease Digital CEO Neeti Sharma. The next phase of GCC growth, she said, will be led less by headcount and more by judgement, governance and the ability to turn AI into business outcomes. That sentence could have come from any consulting firm's pitch deck. Which is the point.

The other floor

Infosys cut its FY27 revenue growth guidance to 1% to 2% in constant currency, from 1.5% to 3%, and its shares fell 4%, BusinessLine reported. Citi said the midpoint implies organic growth of minus 0.2%. Deal wins were strong, including a mega deal, but brokerages pointed to cautious client spending and pricing pressure.

AI is cutting both ways. Infosys's AI revenue rose 29% quarter on quarter, while AI led productivity gains are squeezing revenue in traditional segments, Nikkei Asia reported.

What it means for consulting

When clients build their own capability in India, the outside adviser's job changes. Less staff augmentation, more of the work that a captive team finds hard to do for itself: setting up the centre, governing AI, measuring whether it creates value and telling leadership the uncomfortable parts. Firms that sell hours will feel the Infosys squeeze. Firms that sell judgement will find a new client sitting in a very well leased building.

There are still openings on both sides. Today's Yes Bro Consulting jobs list includes a Senior Manager role in AI and ML at PwC in Pune and a Senior Consultant role in AI and data at EY in Bengaluru.

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The verdict

The GCC boom is not bad news for consulting. It is bad news for consulting that looks like outsourcing. The money is moving to people who can own an outcome, and the leasing data says those people will increasingly sit in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, with good coffee and a long list of questions.