Chief Guest

Smt. Droupadi Murmu Hon'ble President of India

In The August Presence Of

Shri Mohan Charan Majhi Chief Minister Odisha
Dr Mukesh Mahaling Minister, Health and Family welfare, Parliamentary Affairs, Electronics & Information Technology Odisha
Shri Suryabanshi Suraj Minister, Higher Education, Sports & Youth Services, Odia Language Literature & Culture Odisha

All speakers

Makoto Shibata

Head of FINOLAB, Chief Community Officer

FINOLAB Inc.

Mr. Shibata is currently in charge of FINOLAB community operation since 2019. In his former position at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, he was leading R&D initiatives in emerging technology and online/mobile financial services as Head of Global Innovation Team. He also held positions in corporate planning, accounting, corporate finance, and retail customer services at the bank. He is one of the founders of FINOVATORS, a mentor group consists of FinTech experts. He also became an external board member at new digital bank, UI Bank, when it acquired a banking license in 2021. For his undergraduate course, he studied Economics at the University of Tokyo, with a year at Harvard University. And for his graduate course, he studied at the University of Oxford to obtain Master of Science in Development Economics.

Speaking at

1:45–2:45pmThu 5 FebBlack Swan DebatesCentral HallPremium
Next-Gen Global Capability Centre

Assessing Odisha’s GCC ecosystem: In the age of automation and AI, should we adopt technology-led or talent-led growth strategy to future-proof the GCC ecosystem more effectively?

Black Swan DebatesCentral HallPremium
About this session

As AI and automation reshape the Global Capability Centre (GCC) landscape, Odisha faces a critical strategic choice: should it build its competitive advantage around cutting-edge technology infrastructure and AI capabilities, or invest primarily in developing specialized talent pools that can adapt as technology evolves?
The Technology-Led Case: GCCs will gravitate toward locations with superior digital infrastructure, AI/ML platforms, data centers, and automation-ready facilities. Odisha should become the testbed for next-generation GCC operations focused on analytics and innovation rather than routine tasks.
The Talent-Led Case: Technology commoditizes quickly. What differentiates sustainable GCC ecosystems is specialized talent, particularly in regulated domains (finance, insurance), multilingual capabilities for ASEAN/Japanese markets, and the human judgment and creativity that AI cannot replicate. Odisha should invest in academia-industry partnerships and niche expertise that builds irreplaceable human capital.
This debate brings together GCC leaders, technology providers, policymakers, and talent strategists to examine Odisha's optimal path forward, identifying critical success factors for each strategy, deal-breakers that make either approach unviable, and whether a precisely sequenced hybrid model offers the most realistic route to making Odisha a competitive, future-proofed GCC destination by 2030.

Past Speakers

Makoto Shibata

Speaking at

Assessing Odisha’s GCC ecosystem: In the age of automation and AI, should we adopt technology-led or talent-led growth strategy to future-proof the GCC ecosystem more effectively?