FY 2025-26 BFSI GCCs in India: Investment Banking Tech & Data Roles Lead in Pay

The recent report by Careernet (“BFSI GCCs in India: Salary Benchmarks and Market Trends”, FY 2025-26) based on data from ~50,000 professionals confirms that investment banking GCCs are the highest paymasters among BFSI sectors in India. [3][1] The premium is especially large in specialised tech and data roles (data scientists, full-stack developers, big data engineers, DevOps), and widens between junior and senior levels (e.g. ₹22.1-46.9 lakh vs retail/insurance ₹18-44 lakh). [3][4]

Other BFSI segments (retail & commercial banking, financial services, insurance) show steadier but lower pay bands. However, insurance, while starting lower, shows sharper growth at senior levels driven by adoption of fraud analytics, predictive underwriting, and automation. [3][4] Roles such as cybersecurity specialists and scrum masters—though starting at more modest pay—experience steep increments at senior levels. [4][1]

Strategically, the findings suggest that investment banking GCCs are positioning their Indian operations not simply as cost centres but as high-value hubs for innovation, data engineering, AI, and regulatory/digital resilience. The war for talent in such skills is feeding upward salary pressure. For companies in other BFSI sectors, failing to elevate technical capability may mean losing critical talent or facing increased remediation costs later. Also, GCCs in investment banking may become magnets for senior technical talent, altering where leadership and product-engineering centres are located.

Open questions remain: What is the role of bonuses, incentives, and non-fixed pay in total pay mix vs fixed pay? How sustainable are these salary levels if macroeconomic conditions shift, especially in global markets? What is the geographic distribution (cities, metro vs secondary centres) of salary premiums? And how do these pay levels compare globally (i.e. cost arbitrage)? Lastly, how are firms structuring career paths and skill development to justify these steep senior-level salary curves?