India’s GCC boom drives surge in cybersecurity firms and raises engineering quality concerns

The number of cybersecurity companies operating global capability centers (GCCs) in India has risen sharply, climbing from about 30 to 59 in six years. Eighty‑three percent of these centers are owned by U.S. firms, including newcomers such as Arctic Wolf, Sonatype, Deepwatch, Rapid7 and N‑able, alongside established players like Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Zscaler, Sophos and CrowdStrike. The broader GCC ecosystem in India now totals 2,117 centers employing roughly 2.36 million professionals and generating an estimated $98.4 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2026.

At the same time, rapid expansion of engineering‑focused GCCs is creating quality‑control challenges. Companies report that hiring to meet headcount targets often places junior engineers on senior‑level projects, compresses design‑review cycles, and leads to higher defect rates. Attrition rates of 12‑15 percent annually exacerbate knowledge loss. Some firms are adopting “no‑bench” hiring policies, assigning engineers directly to specific programmes to preserve technical judgment and improve retention.

These trends highlight India’s growing strategic importance for global tech firms while underscoring the need for robust processes to maintain engineering standards amid fast‑paced growth.