SynopsisThis fiscal year, global capability centres are gearing up to boost their fresh graduate hiring by 12 percent, a notable uptick amid the IT services sector's deceleration. Entry-level salaries at GCCs are anticipated to soar, while counterparts in IT services remain stagnant.TIL CreativesIndia GCC jobs (Image for representation)New Delhi: Global capability centres (GCCs) will maintain fresher hiring momentum, boosting their intake by 12% this fiscal year. This contrasts with an overall subdued market for fresher hiring in India's IT services sector, according to a TeamLease study shared with ET.Notably, overall IT services sector fresher pay is expected to stay unchanged in FY27, while those of entry-level staff for conventional skills will rise, reflecting a widening of compensation gap.Annual entry-level salaries at GCCs are projected to surge about 50% to ₹7.5 lakh this fiscal. Fresher pay for IT services firms will stagnate at ₹4.5 lakh. Executives at leading GCCs, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorganChase, confirmed they are actively continuing campus recruitment drives.Also read | Gen Z is normalising therapy at work: Report"Campus hiring remains a consistent and key talent pipeline for us, reflecting strong momentum in our global businesses and the presence of world-class talent in India," said Gunjan Samtani, co-chairman, Goldman Sachs India and country head at Goldman Sachs Services India. "Over the past three years, we have hired about 600 freshers annually from more than 100 schools across business and engineering functions."JPMorganChase has centres in multiple cities across India supporting a range of technology and business operations in India, said a company spokesperson."Entry-level hiring remains aligned to business needs and may vary over time by role and location," the spokesperson said, adding that as roles evolve, the firm would continue to scout for candidates with strong foundational skills, ability to learn quickly and working in a more tech and AI-enabled environment. "This is while (we) continue to hire across a mix of technology and business roles," said the spokesperson.GCC fresher hiring rose to 140,000-150,000 in FY26, buoyed by the opening of 100 new centres and expansion of existing ones, according to the report which surveyed 30 companies across tier 1 and 2 IT services firms and GCCs.Also read | Can AI financial advice help you retire more comfortably?"AI-fluent freshers are now strategic hires, not cost plays-87% of GCCs own end-to-end global processes requiring continuous talent pipelines," said Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital.Lateral movement from IT services firms to GCCs-currently at 23%-is being backfilled at entry level, while tier-2 expansion is unlocking new campus catchments, according to the report."IT services fresher hiring declined ~11% in FY26 (from 125,000 in FY25 to 110,000 in FY26) as AI automated the L1 work-coding, testing, support-that historically absorbed freshers," said Sharma, pointing out that "the revenue-headcount link is breaking; for instance, TCS cut 23,460 jobs while growing revenue." Every year, about 1.5 million students tend to graduate from computer science and IT streams alone.Read More News onRead More News on