Investment-banking GCCs emerge as highest payers in financial sector in FY26: Report

Mumbai, Dec 4 (PTI) Investment banking global capability centres (GCCs) are offering the best pay scale across most roles and experience levels in 2025-26, followed by retail and commercial banking, financial services, and insurance GCCs, as per a report.

Investment banking leads in compensation across all roles, with the steepest salary growth from junior to senior levels, talent solutions provider Careernet's report - BFSI GCCs in India: Salary Benchmarks and Market Trends, which was released on Thursday.

Retail and commercial banking and financial services offer balanced compensation, with steady and consistent salary growth across career levels, added the report.

The report is based on current compensation data for around 50,000 professionals in 2025-26 across GCCs in investment banking, retail and commercial banking, financial services, and insurance sectors.

The report revealed that a data scientist in investment banking earns between Rs 22.1 lakh and Rs 46.9 lakh annually, while those in retail banking and insurance earn slightly lower ranges of Rs 19.9-44.5 lakh and Rs 18.4-44.3 lakh, respectively.

Similarly, full-stack developers in investment banking earn the most, from Rs 20.7 lakh at the junior level to Rs 47.5 lakh at the senior level, indicating that the sector pays a premium for professionals managing large-scale, mission-critical systems, it stated.

On the other hand, roles such as scrum master and cybersecurity specialist begin with more modest salaries but show steady, long-term growth, with cybersecurity in particular witnessing steep pay increases at senior levels, it said.

"Investment banking GCCs are leading the reinvention, embedding technology and data science into the fabric of strategic decision-making to enhance automation, resilience, and regulatory precision. In parallel, insurance and financial services GCCs are rapidly maturing," Careernet Sector Leader BFSI GCCs Ranjeet Singh Narang said. PTI SM TRB TRB