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The first quarter of FY26 has brought a noticeable shift in the IT-ITeS industry, including the Global Capability Centres (GCCs). After a stretch of cautious hiring, the sector has seen an 8–10% rebound in recruitment, driven not by a rush to fill cubicles but by a deliberate move towards specialised, high-value skills — artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and advanced engineering.

This new focus marks a turning point. GCCs are no longer just the quiet, dependable back offices of multinational giants; they are emerging as strategic engines for innovation and digital transformation. But there’s a question lurking beneath the optimism: as the skill profile sharpens across the tech industry, will women be at the forefront of these opportunities, or left watching from the sidelines?

From Volume to Value 

In the earlier years of the IT boom, hiring often meant volume: large intakes of early-career engineers feeding into project teams. Diversity targets, when they existed, were often met at junior levels.

Today’s picture is more selective. Roles in AI model design, secure cloud architecture, and next-gen data platforms require deep technical expertise — the kind built over years, often in male-dominated environments. The risk is that the “value over volume” approach could unintentionally narrow the door for women, especially in leadership-track roles, unless organisations act with intent.

Women in Tech: The Big Picture

Within India’s corporate landscape, the IT sector leads in gender representation, with women comprising 34% of the workforce — mirroring global benchmarks. Over the past decade, the sector has added one million women employees in India.

Company disclosures paint a clear picture of both progress and gaps.

At Infosys, women represent 39.3% of the total workforce and hold 22.22% of board seats. The company’s Return to Work programme after maternity leave boasts a 99% return rate, with 74% of participants still with the company a year later — a sign that retention is possible when policies align with lived realities.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), through its “Rebegin” initiative, reports 45% women at junior levels, 30% at mid-level, but only 13% in senior positions (TCS Careers – Rebegin). The company’s FY24–25 CSR spend of ₹960 crore on digital inclusion, skilling, and women’s empowerment shows investment muscle, but translating that into senior technical leadership remains a challenge.

Both firms have the building blocks: scale, structured policies and the global visibility to influence industry norms. Yet in the deep-tech specialisations now driving hiring, female representation is still thin.

The Deep-tech Gap

Emerging skill areas, from AI and machine learning to cyber defence, have historically been male-heavy domains. The pipeline problem is well-documented: women may enter STEM in healthy numbers at the graduate level, but their representation drops sharply in technical mid-career roles, and even further in leadership.

For tech companies, this matters. The current demand curve is tilted towards talent with 8–15 years’ experience in niche areas — precisely the career stage where attrition among women spikes. Without targeted skilling and leadership development, the rebound could reinforce, rather than correct, imbalances at the top.

Signs of What Works

The retention data from IT major Infosys’ post-maternity programme is instructive. It shows that when transition support is built in — flexible scheduling, mentorship, clear re-entry pathways — women stay.

TCS’s investment in digital inclusion offers another lever. Imagine a slice of that ₹960 crore earmarked specifically for AI and cybersecurity scholarships for women, paired with internal apprenticeships on live projects. That could change the profile of applicant pools for tomorrow’s high-value roles.

What GCCs Can Do Now

The hiring rebound is an opportunity. But, only if organisations play their role effectively. 

Build targeted skilling pipelines: Use corporate learning budgets to fund women’s upskilling in AI, engineering, and cyber disciplines, linked to open roles.

Strengthen leadership pathways: Expand mentorship beyond general career guidance into domain-specific sponsorship — pairing women with leaders in emerging tech.

Make inclusion a metric in hiring: Require diverse candidate slates for every strategic role. Track outcomes and hold managers accountable.

Retain with flexibility: Hybrid work, extended parental leave, and clear promotion criteria help keep women in the pipeline at the mid- and senior-career stages.

Action Trumps Promises 

The numbers show that women in the tech sector are better represented today than a decade ago. According to reports, women currently comprise 36-40% of the GCC workforce in India, up from 18% in 2010. However, despite growing talent pools in India, women in GCCs continue to face structural, social and cultural barriers. Gender bias often limits their access to technical and leadership roles, while the lack of role models and mentorship makes long-term career planning difficult, noted a report by Inductus.   

As the industry enters a crucial phase, the next 24 months will be decisive. The current hiring rebound — with its emphasis on high-value skills — can either accelerate progress or deepen existing disparities. But if GCCs apply the same strategic focus to inclusion as they do to technology adoption, the future could be significantly more balanced, diverse and equitable.

The question is no longer whether women can fill these roles. It is whether companies will design hiring, training and career systems to ensure they do.

In this new phase of GCC growth, that choice will define not only the inclusivity of workplaces but the resilience and innovation capacity of the sector itself.