An open door spilling warm light beside the title "Global Companies Are Coming to India. Is your child ready to walk through the door?" — a Future Pathways careers reflection.

GitLab, Cursor, DigiKey and Johnson & Johnson are all building teams in India. What that means for students and parents, and the skills that will open these doors.

Last week I came across a news item that made me pause over my morning coffee. GitLab, the American software company used by more than 50 million people to build and manage code, announced that it plans to open its first office in India, most likely in Bengaluru. [1]

On its own, that is a nice headline. What caught my attention was the timing. Just a few months earlier, in June, GitLab had pulled out of 22 countries and cut around 350 jobs, about 14 percent of its workforce. The company went from operating in more than 60 countries to roughly 40. And yet, while shrinking almost everywhere else, it decided to grow in India. [2]

Its CEO, Bill Staples, put it simply. India is one of its most important markets, and the sheer number of engineers here makes it a market no company can ignore. [1]

As someone who sits across the table from students and parents every week talking about careers, I could not stop thinking about what this means for the young people I work with. So I went looking for more stories like it. I did not have to look far.

It is not just one company

Cursor, the AI coding tool that has become hugely popular with developers, has said it will open its first physical office in India before the end of 2026. Its Indian user base has tripled in a single year to more than three million developers, making India its third largest market in the world. It has already started hiring people in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, for roles in customer success, technical support, sales and even government affairs. It also launched a cheaper subscription plan made only for India, the first time it has done that for any country. [3, 4]

DigiKey, a global supplier of electronic components, opened a new office in Whitefield, Bengaluru, this month. What struck me here is the growth story. DigiKey India started in 2022 as a team of just five people. Today it has close to 300 employees, and the Bengaluru office now supports the company’s teams around the world. [5]

DePuy Synthes, the orthopaedics business of Johnson & Johnson, is setting up a new centre in Bengaluru and plans to build a team of about 500 people over the next 18 to 24 months. Notice the kinds of work they are hiring for: software development, data and AI, cybersecurity and technology services. This is a healthcare company, but the jobs it is creating in India are deeply technical. [6]

Add to this the AI companies that have already arrived. Anthropic opened its first Indian office in Bengaluru in February this year, and OpenAI has announced offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai. The list keeps getting longer. [7, 8]

The bigger picture: Global Capability Centres

Many of these new offices are what the industry calls Global Capability Centres, or GCCs. In simple terms, a GCC is a company’s own team in India that does real, important work for the whole global business. It is not outsourcing to another firm. It is the company itself, building its own people here.

Years ago, these centres were seen mainly as a way to save money. That is changing fast. Today, global companies are setting them up to run engineering, research, data and AI work that their entire business depends on.

The numbers are remarkable. India’s GCCs are on track to hire around 510,000 people in 2026 alone. And here is the figure every parent should read twice: about 64 percent of these new roles need skills in AI, data science or automation. [9]

What this means for students and parents

When I speak to parents, I often hear the same worry. “Will there be good jobs for my child here, or do they have to go abroad?” These stories give a more hopeful answer than many people expect. World class companies are bringing world class work to India. A young person in Bengaluru, Hyderabad or Chennai can increasingly work for a global brand without leaving the country.

But I want to be honest too. The opportunity is real, and it is also selective. These companies are not hiring for degrees alone. They are hiring for skills, and the skills they want are changing quickly.

Here is what I would encourage every student to start building, whatever stream they are in:

  1. Comfort with data. Whether you want to be an engineer, a doctor, a designer or a business leader, the ability to read, question and work with data is becoming a basic expectation. Statistics is not just a maths chapter anymore. It is a career tool.
  2. A working understanding of AI. You do not need to build AI models to benefit. You need to know how AI tools work, where they help, where they fail, and how to use them responsibly. Companies like Cursor exist because developers who use AI well are more productive.
  3. Problem solving across subjects. DePuy Synthes is a healthcare company hiring software and cybersecurity experts. The most exciting jobs now sit where two fields meet. Students who enjoy both biology and computing, or business and data, are well placed.
  4. Communication and teamwork. Many of these roles involve working with colleagues in the US, Europe and Asia. Clear writing, confident speaking and the ability to work across time zones and cultures matter more than ever.
  5. Proof of what you can do. A project, an internship, a portfolio, an online course you actually finished. Employers want to see evidence, not just marks.

I also want to say something to parents directly. Not every child needs to become a software engineer for this wave to matter to them. Look again at the roles Cursor is hiring for: customer success, sales, technical support, government affairs. DigiKey’s centre supports business operations as well as technology. These companies need people who understand technology and people who understand people. Both paths are valid.

A moment worth paying attention to

When a company like GitLab chooses to shrink its global footprint but grow in India, it is telling us something important. India is no longer just a large market to sell to. It is becoming a place where serious, global work gets done.

For our students, that is a door opening. The question is whether they will have the skills to walk through it when the time comes. The good news is that the preparation can start now, in school, with the right subject choices, the right exposure and the right guidance.

If you are a parent wondering how your child can prepare for these opportunities, or a student unsure which path fits you best, I would be glad to talk. Reach out to me on LinkedIn, and let us work out the next step together.

References

  1. NewsBytes (October 2026). GitLab to set up 1st India office, likely in Bengaluru, reporting CEO Bill Staples’ interview with Moneycontrol. https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/business/gitlab-to-set-up-1st-india-office-likely-in-bengaluru/story
  2. The Next Web (June 2026). GitLab to cut 14% of staff and exit 22 countries in “agentic era” restructuring. https://thenextweb.com/news/gitlab-cuts-14-percent-workforce-exits-22-countries
  3. TechStory (2026). Cursor to open first India office in 2026 as Indian user base crosses 3 million. https://techstory.in/cursor-to-open-first-india-office-in-2026-as-indian-user-base-crosses-3-million/
  4. eWeek (July 2026). Cursor launches ₹649 AI coding plan in India. https://www.eweek.com/news/apac-india-cursor-start-ai-coding-plan/
  5. Circuit Digest (October 2026). DigiKey India opens new Bengaluru office. https://circuitdigest.com/news/digikey-india-opens-new-bengaluru-office
  6. BioSpectrum India (August 2026). DePuy Synthes to establish Global Capability Centre in Bengaluru. https://www.biospectrumindia.com/news/104/28261/depuy-synthes-to-establish-global-capability-centre-in-bengaluru.html
  7. Deccan Herald (February 2026). Anthropic bets big on Bengaluru with new India office. https://www.deccanherald.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-bets-big-on-bengaluru-with-new-india-office-3900383
  8. The South First (February 2026). After Anthropic, OpenAI to open office in Bengaluru. https://thesouthfirst.com/karnataka/after-anthropic-open-ai-to-open-office-in-bengaluru/
  9. Business Today (1 July 2026). At 5.1 lakh jobs, India’s Global Capability Centre hiring boom scales new peak, citing the foundit Insights Tracker. https://www.businesstoday.in/jobs/story/at-5-1-lakh-jobs-indias-global-capability-centre-hiring-boom-scales-new-peak-540328-2026-07-01

Numbers in square brackets in the text point to the references above. Figures are as reported in October 2026 and will change.