New Delhi [India], August 17 : Skill gaps could put as much as 19.32 per cent of the future value or revenue of India's Global Capability Centre (GCC) sector at stake by 2030, highlighting the growing business cost of shortages in AI, technology and domain-specific capabilities, according to a PwC India-FICCI report.
The report, Navigating the skills imperative for India's GCCs in the AI era, said GCCs already have the potential to generate an additional 7.83 per cent of value or revenue annually by addressing critical skill gaps.
"GCCs have the potential to unlock an additional 7.83% of value or revenue annually by addressing critical skill gaps. This figure could expand to 19.32% of total sector value or revenue by 2030," the report said.
The findings are based on a survey of 200 senior GCC executives across eight industries. The report said unresolved talent and skills gaps are already constraining annual value creation by up to 10 per cent.
The report identified the shortage of professionals combining industry knowledge with advanced technology capabilities as the biggest talent constraint. About 62 per cent of GCC leaders cited the absence of professionals with both deep domain expertise and advanced technology capabilities as a challenge, while 55 per cent pointed to intense competition for scarce talent. Another 52 per cent cited a shortage of senior leaders with strategic capabilities needed in the AI era.
"The single biggest constraint facing GCCs today, as cited by 62% of leaders, is the absence of professionals who combine deep domain expertise with advanced technology capabilities," the report said.
The skills shortage is also affecting how quickly new employees can contribute to businesses. The study found that new entrants take an average of 8.69 months from hiring to begin generating tangible value. Nearly 46 per cent of the workforce, on average, will require significant upskilling or reskilling over the next three years.
"The average 8.69-month journey from hiring to productivity highlights the significant value that could be generated through more targeted, sector-specific, and outcome-oriented skilling models," the report said.
The study also found significant gaps in specialised AI capabilities. Domain-specific AI recorded the highest composite skills gap score, followed by AI and machine learning engineering, generative AI and large language models, and advanced data engineering.
To address these gaps, GCCs expect spending on talent development to increase sharply. Current annual talent investment budgets are typically around 3 per cent of operating budgets, but 94 per cent of leaders indicated that investment of at least 6 per cent would be needed, while 27 per cent expected it to exceed 8 per cent.
The report said eight in ten GCCs believe decisive action is required within the next 12 months to strengthen capabilities across workforce, managerial and leadership levels.