An Empirical Analysis of the Talent Trap in Structural Attrition and Knowledge Paradoxes with Human Capital Sustainability in India's GCC With Reference to Pune Ecosystem

Global Capability Centers, talent acquisition, attrition, knowledge workers, human capital sustainability, employer branding, Pune ecosystem, GCC India, Dynamic Capabilities, STCD Framework

India hosts over 1,700 Global Capability Centers (GCCs) employing 1.9 million knowledge professionals and generating approximately USD 46 billion annually. The Pune Metropolitan Region, with over 360+ active GCCs, has emerged as one of India's fastest-growing GCC clusters. Yet this rapid scale-up conceals a structural paradox: the very knowledge-intensity that makes GCCs strategically indispensable also generates attrition rates of 22–28%, threatening the human capital sustainability these centers require for long-term competitive advantage. Drawing on a systematic secondary data synthesis spanning 14 industry intelligence reports, 62 peer-reviewed articles (2010–2025), Government of India policy documents, and published corporate case studies, this paper advances three contributions. First, it reframes talent management in Pune GCCs through the intersecting lenses of the Resource-Based View (Barney, 1991), Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964), and the Dynamic Capabilities framework (Teece et al., 1997). Second, it presents integrative quantitative evidence on the structural drivers of acquisition and attrition, identifying five root-cause pathways that conventional HR interventions routinely address sub-optimally. Third, it introduces the Strategic Talent Capability Development (STCD) Framework — a four-stage circular model that reconceptualises talent acquisition and retention as phases in a self-reinforcing human capital accumulation cycle rather than as discrete HR activities. Findings yield six evidence-based recommendations for GCC leadership, HR practitioners, and policymakers, and identify four directions for future empirical research.