People factor is a critical boardroom priority: Rajesh Nambiar

The people (human resources) agenda has emerged as a critical boardroom priority today, driven by the need to combine artificial intelligence (AI) with human ingenuity rather than relying on traditional, linear planning, said Nasscom president Rajesh Nambiar.

Speaking on the future of work at Nasscom People Summit in Bengaluru on Tuesday (July 14, 2026), he said that human resource strategies have officially shifted from a back-office function directly into a critical boardroom priority.

Mr. Nambiar emphasised that future business success depended on the adaptability of the workforce and nurturing a ‘learn-it-all’ culture, departing from the traditional know-it-all’ culture, as rapid, non-linear disruptions make long-term predictions obsolete and causes traditional entry-level jobs to disappear.

According to him, the traditional corporate talent model is obsolete because the quick adoption of AI and the subsequent disruptions are now forcing a massive restructuring of business operations. Future organisational survival depended on cultivating a workforce of agile learners who could quickly pivot to entirely new, undefined job requirements, he told a large audience of chief human resources officers.

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This structural shift may effectively eliminate the historic campus-to-corporate pipelines that previously served as the primary training grounds for fresh graduates, he indicated.

However, Mr. Nambiar added that true competitive advantage no longer stemmed from simply deploying AI tools; rather, maximum economic leverage would come from successfully blending AI intelligence with raw human ingenuity and potential.

“The future market winners will not be the companies with the best predictive models, but those with the greatest organisational adaptability,’’ he said, adding businesses must quickly embed structural flexibility into their core operating units to respond to ongoing geopolitical and technological market shocks.

AI-proficiency

Nearly 70% of India’s early-career technology talent is AI-proficient, while around 23% qualifies as AI-native, said Nasscom in a study released at the summit.

This indicated a strong functional adoption, with young professionals increasingly integrating AI into their work, learning and decision-making. At the same time, it also highlighted significant headroom to deepen India’s AI-native talent base by strengthening engineering judgment, AI orchestration skills and technical depth, reported the study.

Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice-president and chief strategy officer, Nasscom, said, “Academia must strengthen fundamentals, while industry must redesign onboarding and mentorship to ensure that the decline of routine work does not lead to a decline in deep engineering expertise.”

According to the report, over 90% of India’s early-career technology talent falls within the AI-Proficient or AI-Native archetype, positioning India to emerge as a global hub for AI-native talent. It underscores the need for academia and industry to jointly reimagine talent development by strengthening foundational engineering capabilities, AI orchestration skills, independent problem-solving, and mentorship models to build a truly AI-native workforce.