New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) Nearly 90 per cent of India’s global capability centre leaders said they are confident of retaining global leadership through 2030 despite citing unresolved talent and skill gaps in AI and sector knowledge, a report said on Wednesday.
The report from PwC India and FICCI said at least 72 per cent of GCCs must reskill or upskill more than 40 per cent of their workforce to maximise value.
The report based on a survey of 200 senior GCC executives across eight industries, saud most GCCs currently allocate 3–5 per cent of operating budgets to talent development.
Nearly 94 per cent respondents believed that skilling investment must rise to at least 6 per cent and more than a quarter expect spending to exceed 8 per cent.
“AI aspirations are outpacing leadership preparedness, and the gap between hiring talent and making it truly AI-ready needs to be bridged through deliberate, structured, and sector-relevant skilling pathways,” Raghav Narsalay, Partner and Leader – Research and Insight Hub, PwC India.
“India's GCC story is at an inflection point. GCCs are increasingly becoming the enterprise nerve centre where strategic decision‑making, digital innovation, and AI‑led transformation converge to create global business impact," said Rajesh Ojha, Partner and Leader - GCC Market Segment, PwC India.
Ojha, however, maintained that sustaining this shift will require a fundamental reimagining of workflows, leadership models, and skilling ecosystems.
Leadership AI literacy stood at just 27 per cent on average, with over 90 per cent of GCCs reporting that 40 per cent or fewer of their leadership team possess sufficient AI literacy for strategic decision-making.
Reskilling needs are steepest in regulated, knowledge-intensive sectors like energy, life sciences, and healthcare, though even the lowest-need sectors (BFSI, TMT, manufacturing) sit near 50 per cent.
Nearly 57 per cent of leaders asked AI and digital modules to be embedded into engineering and management curricula, while 51 per cent recommended government co-funding of GCC reskilling programmes.
—IANS
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