The flip-flops on tariffs by the Donald Trump administration, which has suspended the imposition of reciprocal tariffs across sectors by 90 days for now, may lead to a 6-7% hit on net talent addition in this financial year, according to experts, who attributed the decline to companies adopting a wait-and-see policy until more clarity emerges.
“We have observed a slowdown in talent demand since the middle of March due to tariff related uncertainty and macroeconomic reasons,” said Kapil Joshi, CEO, Quess IT staffing.
Companies are cautious about large transformational projects and discretionary spend and would prefer to wait till clarity on the macroeconomic situation emerges, Joshi said. However, he added that it’s a temporary phase and India continues to be a crucial source of talent and expansion for global pharma MNCs.
Earlier this month, US President Trump declared that his government would impose pharma tariffs at unprecedented levels.
MNCs are unsure of the extra costs they would incur on account of imports and hence the pause in manpower expansion plans, according to people in the know.Active talent demand from the top 20 firms has fallen below 1,000 from 3,000-4,000 per month seen in 2024, according to a dipstick study of companies such as Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Ferring, GSK, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi by staffing firm Xpheno.
There are currently about 100 GCCs in the healthcare sector in India. GCCs of US pharma firms account for 11 out of the top 20 and contribute to 45% of the headcount. These GCCs, which were set on a trajectory of higher headcount growth and expanded by 18% in 2024-25, have seen a more significant drop in hiring over the past four to six weeks. “The outlook for the pharma GCCs in India for FY25 was to grow headcount at 18-22%, as more higher-end research and development work were set to be undertaken. However, due to the current slowdown in both the volume of hiring and speed of closing positions, the headcount growth is estimated to be 12-15% for FY26,” said Kedar Pathak, GCC talent specialist, Xpheno. “As enterprises wait it out to see what the US tariffs will impact on the GCCs front, a cautious slowdown is evident.”
R&D Advantage
The current slowdown notwithstanding, the shift in business strategies of the healthcare MNCs in India from mere operations centres to being offshore units for crucial research and development (R&D) projects will continue to spur talent demand as global pharma firms keep investing in innovation, said experts.
“Healthcare GCCs in India have transitioned to R&D and that is an advantage for India as innovation work will not stop because of tariffs,” said Joshi.
Pharma GCCs, which currently employ more than 300,000 people and account for 15% of the total GCC manpower, are estimated to increase their headcount by 15% in 2025, according to data from Quess. More than 55% of the Indian healthcare GCCs are headquartered in the US. The sector added nearly 25,000 new jobs in 2024.
The India centres are engaged in leveraging cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI), data engineering and automation to streamline clinical trial documentation, accelerate research timeline, fast-track drug discovery and enhance R&D and process development capabilities. Several GCCs have ambitious expansion plans in India, especially in the area of research. Apart from growth in engineering and IT functions, pharma GCCs have been adding capacity in research, consulting and programme management practices.
“There is significant growth happening in the pharma industry in India, both for Indian and international players. Lot of investments are happening in the R&D function, and new molecules and formulations are being developed here …Even as we study carefully, how tariffs pan out, we remain very optimistic about future investments and growth in this sector,” said Joydeep Ghosh, partner, life sciences and healthcare industry leader, Deloitte India.
Large Talent Pool
“One may also expect a significant cessation of brain drain of highly qualified scientific talent out of India, due to growing uncertainties in international visa regimes,” he said.
