A ₹1,000-crore R&D centre can’t fix a perception problem. Legacy companies must reframe themselves as innovation platforms, or lose the AI race.
Across India, legacy global brands are investing heavily in R&D and GCC expansion. Facilities are modern, budgets are substantial, and ambitions are serious. Yet many of these organisations face the same challenge: attracting top-tier AI and deep-tech talent remains difficult.
The constraint is rarely capability. It is perception.
To younger engineers, many established brands are still viewed through the lens of what they historically produced, not what they are building today. This gap between internal reality and external belief is what we call Legacy Debt. It cannot be erased through infrastructure investment alone.
Deep-tech talent is drawn to complexity, autonomy, and visible impact. When recruitment narratives focus on stability, scale, or heritage, they fail to resonate. Legacy organisations must reposition themselves from product manufacturers to innovation platforms, places where difficult problems are solved and future systems are shaped.
Ironically,these companies possess advantages startups often lack: access to real-world data, physical integration, and long operational histories. When positioned correctly, the opportunity to see software influence machines, optimise systems, or operate at scale becomes a powerful draw.
Winning the AI talent war requires narrative ownership. This means showcasing technical depth, accelerating decision-making, modernising culture, and positioning GCCs as global nerve centres rather than downstream execution units.
The talent market does not owe any organisation attention. It must be earned through relevance today, not reputation from the past.
If your hiring story still sounds like from a decade ago, top talent has already moved on. Let’s help you reposition your GCC as a future-facing innovation hub.