This article first appeared on ETINSIGHTS February 25, 2026.
In the early 2000s, the “India story” was often illustrated by the image of vast call centres with thousands of voices providing support to a world half a day away. But walk into a modern Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India today, and the conversation has fundamentally changed. You aren’t just hearing support; you are meeting the architects of global strategy.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it,” Peter Drucker famously noted. In 2026, India’s GCCs are doing exactly that. With over 1,700 centres contributing 4.5% to the national GDP and generating $178 billion in total annual revenue, we are no longer a support hub. We are the cockpit. Yet, as we scale, we face a daunting paradox: we have the world’s largest talent pool, but according to the Mercer-Mettl 2025 Skill Index, only 42.6% of graduates are enterprise-ready.
The question for HR leaders is no longer about finding talent; it is about how we evolve it. At Dentsu Global Services (DGS), our mission is to move beyond “hiring for roles” and instead manufacture potential for an AI-native future.
The AI-Native Mandate: Evolving talent for today and tomorrow
In the current landscape, simply knowing about AI is no longer enough. The goal is to be AI- Native. Most organizations treat AI as a tool to be learned; at DGS, we treat it as a colleague to be integrated.
Evolving talent for the future starts with what we do today. According to the EY India GCC Pulse Survey 2025, 81% of centres are prioritizing internal upskilling in Generative AI. At DGS, we have moved past occasional workshops to an organization-wide mandate. To date, over 90% of our workforce has completed the first phase of our AI-native training. This commitment to proactive evolution won us Gold for Best Skilling Initiative for Future Readiness at the People Matters LLC Awards 2025.
The Human Core: Skills that machines cannot replace
As we lean into an AI-augmented world, we must double down on the durable human qualities that an algorithm simply cannot replicate. While AI can process data at lightning speed, it cannot exercise ethical judgment or navigate the nuances of a global brand collaboration. At DGS, we prioritize five core skill sets:
- Analytical Thinking: Seeing the “why” behind the
- Complex Problem Solving: Navigating challenges with no historical
- Creativity: Taking the irrational leaps that data alone cannot
- Collaboration: Harmonizing diverse global teams across
- Adaptability: Thriving when the rules of the industry change
These are not just soft skills; they are the most resilient assets in our portfolio. By focusing on these, we ensure our workforce doesn’t just use tools but masters the strategic context in which they operate.
Demystifying “Skills-First”: The death of the rigid job title
For decades, a “Software Engineer” had a fixed orbit. Today, those boundaries have dissolved. In a skills-first ecosystem, we organize work around what people can do rather than what they are called. By using AI-driven intelligence to map capabilities at a molecular level, we identify hidden strengths. The impact is measurable: organizations with this visibility can redeploy talent 20% to 25% faster to high-value projects. It creates an organization that is agile by design, ensuring our people are ready for the market’s next pivot before it happens.
Investing in Future Talent: The rise of day-zero readiness
We apply this same thinking to the talent of tomorrow. Our RISE internship program brings final-year students into the heart of enterprise problem-solving. This eight-week immersion is designed to create Day-Zero ready professionals who view change as their natural state. We invest in them as “future talent,” inculcating the mindset that their value lies in their ability to evolve.
Orchestration: A new breed of leadership
As GCCs take on global accountability, leadership has shifted from “command-and-control” to “orchestration.” With global leadership roles in India growing at a 40% CAGR, the leader’s role is now to harmonize diverse capabilities across time zones. At DGS, we focus on building architects who can manage the ambiguity of global mandates while fostering empathy.
The Road to 2030: Designing for human potential
Vaishali Mehta, HR Lead, Dentsu Global Services
By 2030, the GCC workforce is projected to reach 3.46 million professionals. Scale, however, is only half the battle. The true differentiator will be the speed at which we can empower our people to evolve.
Success is not defined by the number of roles we fill, but by the resilience of the human potential we unlock. At Dentsu Global Services, we are not just observing the future of work; we are building the architects who will lead it. By ensuring our people are ready for whatever the next decade brings, we ensure that the “India story” remains one of leadership, innovation, and enduring impact.
