AI disrupts routine roles in Global Capability Centres across South Asia

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally altering the employment landscape in Global Capability Centres across the region, with routine administrative and transactional roles facing unprecedented pressure. Procurement functions have borne the brunt of this transformation, recording a 41.7 per cent decline in 2025 as automated systems increasingly handle vendor management, order processing, and contract administration tasks that once required substantial human intervention.

Beyond procurement, other traditionally high-volume service sectors are similarly experiencing workforce contractions. Analytics roles, customer support positions, and finance and risk management functions have all recorded steep declines as organisations deploy AI-powered tools to handle data processing, customer inquiries, and routine financial operations. The pattern suggests a fundamental recalibration of how GCCs allocate human resources amid rapid technological advancement.

The disruption reflects broader trends in India's outsourcing and business services industry, where companies are increasingly leveraging automation to enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs. Rather than simple headcount reductions, many organisations are repositioning staff toward higher-value analytical and strategic functions that require human expertise and creative problem-solving capabilities.

Industry analysts suggest this shift will likely accelerate workforce upskilling initiatives across the sector, as GCCs seek talent capable of managing, refining, and deriving insights from AI systems rather than performing the routine tasks these technologies are designed to automate.