GCC growth is turning Bangalore into one of the world’s elite tech hubs

For the first time, Bangalore has come out on top as the best city in India to hire software engineers. In our 2025 Top Cities to Hire Software Engineers report, Bangalore saw a big jump in its concentration of elite software engineers from last year. This propelled Bangalore into the top five cities globally, jumping from 15th in our 2024 rankings to 4th in 2025.

What caused this to happen? When we look at the contributing factors, Bangalore’s movement points to larger trends that are occurring across India.

More Companies Are Establishing GCCs

An increasing number of companies are setting up Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India. While GCC creation has historically been driven by global enterprises and large tech companies from the U.S., smaller U.S. companies are now looking at GCCs as a way to combat high inflation and talent shortages. This is why about 55% of the GCCs set up in India over the last three years come from companies with less than $10 billion in revenue, and two-thirds of GCCs in the last two years are small first-time entrants to India.   

GCCs Are Choosing Bangalore

With the increase in GCCs, one in every three new GCCs is selecting Bangalore. The city has the highest share of GCCs in the country at 34%. 

While other cities and states are also trying to attract GCCs, some say that things like concessions on land or power aren’t enough. Instead, talent is the key. Companies want a large talent pool of good engineers that they can hire from and have them start working immediately. This is something that Bangalore excels in. 

Bangalore has the largest software engineering talent pool in the world, and it’s the best city in India for both elite and strong engineering talent. There’s a constant pipeline of young engineering talent due to Bangalore’s excellent educational institutions: the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT Bangalore), Ramaiah Institute of Technology (RIT), and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). 

Additionally, the state of Karnataka introduced the country’s first policy for GCCs, which aims to create 500 new GCCs by reimbursing companies for internship stipends and offering exemptions from the electric duty. 

Talent Is Going Where GCC Jobs Are

Today, 68% of tech hiring flows through southern India. This may be because engineers prefer to work for GCCs over IT firms. For many, working for global brands like Walmart or JP Morgan at GCCs provides better career opportunities, allows engineers to work on new technologies, and offers more flexible working policies. There’s also a widening salary gap between GCCs and IT companies. 

This follows a trend we’ve seen across other geographies. Full-time engineering roles at major companies attract higher concentrations of elite talent than contractor roles. It’s the reason why many organizations struggle to match the quality of their FTE engineers with contractors, especially at scale. This, in turn, is leading more enterprise organizations to establish GCCs and move away from the IT services approach that drove much of India’s tech hiring over the last quarter century. 

With its high concentration of GCCs, Bangalore is drawing talent from other Indian tech hubs like Hyderabad, Delhi National Capital Region, Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai, which all saw declines in their concentrations of elite software engineers. 

Learn more about Bangalore and other top cities for elite engineering talent by downloading the full ranking of the 2025 Top Cities to Hire Software Engineers.