AI talent penetration In Indian retail GCCs projected to reach 10.6 pc by 2028

Business To Business, New Delhi, 26 August 2026:   AI workforce penetration in retail GCCs has more than doubled, rising from 2.1 per cent in 2022 to 4.8 per cent in 2025 and projected to reach 10.6 per cent by 2028, according to a new report on Wednesday.
 
Retail and consumer GCCs currently employ close to 7,800 professionals in core AI and data roles, with demand for AI and Data talent standing at 990 positions in 2025.
 
Of the 180 GCCs assessed, only 22 among the top 50 mega Retail GCCs were found to have established AI capabilities, where they are building, not just consuming AI, according to a TeamLease Digital report.
 
Bengaluru commands 54 per cent of India's retail GCC AI talent pool with 4,200 professionals, while senior AI leadership above 8 years of experience remains a scarce, concentrated layer across the country.
 
Delhi-NCR is a distant second, followed by Hyderabad. Chennai, Mumbai and Pune each hold fewer than 20 senior leaders apiece.
 
Within this workforce, the senior AI talent pool — professionals with 8 or more years of experience — stand at just 320 individuals nationally. Nearly two-thirds of that cohort (63 per cent, roughly 202 professionals) sit at the AI engineering lead level, averaging 9 years' experience.
 
AI/Data directors account for 22 per cent (around 71 professionals, averaging 12 years). At the apex, AI architects and principal scientists represent just 15 per cent of the pool -- approximately 47 professionals nationally, averaging 14-plus years of experience.
 
GenAI specialists, averaging 5 years, sit outside this senior band and form a separate emerging layer of the talent structure, said the report.
 
“Retail GCCs in India have moved decisively past the pilot stage on AI, adoption has more than doubled in just three years, and it now touches how these centres plan supply chains, price products and serve customers. But leadership hasn't kept pace,” said Neeti Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, TeamLease Digital.
 
“The durable answer is to build senior AI talent, not buy it back at a premium. That's where we work with GCCs: combining specialist hiring with structured transformation programs so centres build their own AI leadership capability, instead of just renting it,” said Sharma.