TiEcon Mangaluru 2026: Deloitte to hire 50,000 employees in India, eyes Mangaluru entry for future expansion

Global professional services firm Deloitte plans to hire about 50,000 more people in India and is closely evaluating Mangaluru as an expansion location, its South Asia CEO Romal Shetty said, underlining the growing importance of Tier II cities in the country’s GCC (Global Capability Centre) expansion story.

“Deloitte has 140,000 people in the country. One in every four Deloitte employees in the world is in India or is an Indian. We will hire about 50,000 more people. We came very close to Mangaluru. Mangaluru has talent. We will come to Mangaluru, no doubt, it is only a question of time,” Shetty said.

Shetty was speaking at TiEcon Mangaluru 2026 in conversation with Rohit Bhat, president of TiEcon Mangaluru and founder of 99Games and Robosoft, on January 17.

He said India continues to dominate the global GCC landscape.

“India is a powerhouse of GCCs. Fifty percent of all global GCCs are in India. There is still a lot of potential here, especially from a Tier II and Tier III city point of view,” he said, adding that expansion, even if not initial entry, is likely to flow into emerging cities.

Shetty proposed the creation of digital economic zones that combine GCCs, GPU-based data centres, startups and academia with plug-and-play infrastructure.

“Opening a GCC can take six months, but it should take only two weeks,” he said, stressing the need to reduce friction in setting up operations.

He also flagged infrastructure challenges, particularly energy and water requirements for data centres, while pointing out that Mangaluru has strong fundamentals such as talent availability and real estate. Drawing parallels with the US, he said universities must work more closely with corporates and government to build a stronger ecosystem.

Highlighting innovation as critical, Shetty said, “You have to innovate for Bharat. We should start investing in R&D,” and added that India’s growth would remain incomplete unless “200 or more cities prosper.”