India's $280-billion IT industry heads into 2026, balancing visa-related headwinds and global trade uncertainty against its biggest-ever push into artificial intelligence and the rapid expansion of global capability centres (GCCs). Heightened scrutiny of the US H-1B visa programme - including a proposed $100,000 fee for new visas and concerns over a potential 25 per cent outsourcing tax - has complicated cross-border delivery for Indian firms, even as companies accelerate efforts to reduce reliance on onsite staffing.
'Given that India underperformed emerging markets by 28 per cent in 2025, the worst performance in over 30 years, the timing of the sharp STT hike could have been better.'
Pakistan international kabaddi player Ubaidullah Rajput has been banned indefinitely by the national federation after he appeared for an Indian team in a private tournament in Bahrain
To meet its $50-billion export target by 2030, the Uttar Pradesh government is looking to significantly scale up services sector, with a focus on Information Technology (IT) and Global Capability Centres (GCC) domains. Under the UP Export Promotion Policy 2025-30, the state aims to raise goods and services exports from $21 billion in 2024 to $50 billion by 2030.
The deal includes a security deposit of 10.10 crore and features an unusually steep 15 per cent escalation every three months, which stands out in Bengaluru's commercial leasing market.
Next week's three-nation foreign tour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will see India and Oman sign a free trade deal. The visit will also pave the way for agreements with Ethiopia and Jordan to increase India's bilateral trade and investments.
Companies' rent and lease expenses have seen a significant decline relative to the money they make since the pandemic.
The secretary of the Pakistan Kabbadi Federation, Rana Sarwar, said an emergency meeting of the PKR had been called on December 27 in which the matter would be discussed and decision taken on disciplinary action against Rajpoot and some other players.
With discretionary spending still under pressure, the information technology (IT) services industry continued to face an uncertain demand environment in the third quarter of 2025-26 (Q3FY26).
Average employee salaries in India are set to increase by 9 per cent in 2026, with a renewed focus on short-term incentives and skills-based systems, a report said on Wednesday. According to Mercer's Total Remuneration Survey 2026, organisations in India are shifting toward broader, more holistic value propositions and the top factors influencing salary increases include individual performance, inflation and the organisation's competitiveness in the job market, among others.
'Employers increasingly want candidates who can take AI pilots from proof-of-concept to production-ready systems.' 'That requires governance, monitoring, and ROI measurement -- skills that go beyond coding and into business impact.'
A shift appears underway in India's tax landscape. States with relatively smaller tax collections like Odisha and Telangana are emerging as the fastest-growing contributors to indirect and direct tax collections, respectively.
Marriott International will set up a global capability center (GCC) in Hyderabad, which will be its first such offshore unit in India and will help support Marriott's various operations across its global enterprise in 141 countries and territories. Marriott Tech Accelerator is also -- in all likelihood -- the first ever GCC from a hospitality major being set-up in India. While the company did not give details of the size of the center, senior state government officials said that the company will hire 300 people by the first quarter of the calendar year 2025.
FDI inflows into India are expected to register robust growth in 2026, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals, big-ticket investment announcements, sustained efforts to improve the ease of doing business, and a new generation of investment-linked trade pacts.
Colliers reports that GCC leasing has jumped from 4.6 million square feet in 2021 and is expected to hit 10.6 million square feet by 2025 -- a clear sign that multinationals see Bengaluru as a long-term base.
With average returns of 18 per cent over the past year, listed real estate investment trusts (Reits) have clearly outperformed both the Nifty Realty index and the Sensex. Over the same period, Nifty Realty fell 15.5 per cent, while the benchmark index was largely unchanged. Steady office leasing, the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) decision to reclassify Reits as equity instruments, and ongoing portfolio expansion have strengthened the sector's appeal.
...compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
Fresher hiring grew by 8 per cent driven by non-IT services oil and gas, real estate, and education sectors.
The Telangana CID has arrested the secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association in connection with a probe into alleged forgery, cheating, and criminal breach of trust.
The era where nations thrived through rigid alignments is giving way to an age where the connective State defines power. For India, that era has arrived, points out Dr Nishakant Ojha.
'The battle for brain power among Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla and newer AI companies is fierce.' 'Given the race for AI with China, these companies will find it hard pressed to fill that talent gap,' notes an IT professional based in the US.
'An asset must generate income. Equities yield dividends, bonds pay coupons, deposits give interest, and real estate earns rent.' 'Gold, silver, and even Bitcoin produce no income, they merely store value. So, they should not be compared to productive assets.'
'When global politics has some intervention on the core software one uses, and if you are cut off from your own data in critical workflows, sovereignty is no longer optional. It becomes a necessity.'
MeitY is in discussions with global Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies, mid-tier firms, and state government officials on a three-pronged approach to setting up new GCCs in India.
'Saudi-Pak defence pact is to anchor the defence and security of Saudi Arabia and not Pakistan, per se, with Islamabad being the junior partner.'
Fuelled by the global capability centre (GCC) boom, gross leasing of office space across top eight cities soared 5 per cent to touch 21.4 million square feet (msf) in the second quarter of calendar year 2025, according to Cushman & Wakefield's Q2 India Office Market report.
'Every parent should rethink their decisions to send their children to the US.'
Apex exporters body FIEO on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over high US tariffs on Indian goods and said that textiles and apparel manufacturers in Tirupur, Noida, and Surat have halted production amid worsening cost competitiveness due to these steep duties. The US duties on Indian goods will increase to 50 per cent from August 27.
'...are young Indians with aspiration to go to the US.' 'The dream has to be more about working in India...'
On August 7, the US president announced doubling tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent for India's purchases of Russian crude oil, but gave a 21-day window to negotiate an agreement.
The GCC had sought and received government approval to pass a resolution for the renaming of the street.
Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) is deepening its push into data centres and defence manufacturing while keeping an eye on emerging opportunities in nuclear and thermal power, chairman and managing director SN Subrahmanyan said. The engineering and construction conglomerate has invested around Rs 2,200 crore in data centres, with 32 megawatts (Mw) already operational.
The USA's steep 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods entering America will severely impact exports and job creation in labour-intensive export sectors such as shrimp, apparel, leather and gems and jewellery. Exporters said that the imposition of a 25 per cent penalty on India over and above the 25 per cent tariffs move will disrupt the flow of Indian goods to its largest export market.
Communication channels between India and the US are open to resolve the ongoing tariff issues, and the glitch in trade ties is only temporary, given the long-term relationship between the two nations, government sources said on Wednesday. The US' 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exports to America came into effect from August 27, barring a few sectors.
More than 7,700 senior professionals with over 15 years of experience have exited India's IT services firms -- TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, and LTIMindtree -- over the past 12 months.
'The background for the Saudi-Pakistan agreement is the fact that the regional security order has collapsed due to the Israeli attack on Doha.' 'The Americans have largely abandoned their security guarantee for West Asia and the region has no choice but to look at alternatives.'
'This means that there will be more than 1,000 tech talent in India over the next 12-18 months.'
After Chennai, it is Coimbatore, Madurai, and Tiruchirappalli, that are emerging as manufacturing hubs. Coimbatore is India's top Tier-II city in terms of the number of GCCs, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
'Operation Sindoor is still ongoing. The Prime Minister himself said that blood and water cannot flow together, that talks and terrorism cannot go together. So how can we have a cricket match with a country that indulges in terrorism?'
Lulu Retail announced on Wednesday that its initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed 25 times across all tranches, excluding cornerstone investors, generating demand exceeding $37 billion-a record for a private sector IPO in the United Arab Emirates. The company is controlled by Kerala-based business tycoon MA Yusuff Ali. The final offer price for Lulu shares was set at AED 2.04 per share, raising a total of $1.72 billion (AED 6.32 billion), making it the largest IPO in the UAE in 2024 to date.
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