Tanuj Kapilashrami, Chief Strategy and Talent Officer, Standard Chartered. Photo: Bijoy Ghosh | Photo credit: Bijoy Ghosh
Gone are the days when job descriptions guided the hiring process. As businesses become disrupted, skills are now becoming the ‘currency of work’, says Tanuj Kapilashrami, Chief Strategy & Talent Officer at Standard Chartered.
The global bank has a ‘Talent Marketplace’, its version of a gig economy, being piloted in its offices in India, where employees take on projects that match their skills, thereby accelerating deployment. 60 percent of the global workforce uses this platform and it has delivered $8.5 to $10 million in productivity, the executive says.
“The working world is changing so quickly; no one can guarantee permanent employment for their colleagues. We can [companies] are going to provide you with tools and training platforms, and employees need to commit, upskill and become employable,” she adds, in an exclusive interaction with business line while in Chennai to launch their largest global office in Chennai.
Edited excerpts
What place does India have in Standard Chartered’s global strategy?
Standard Chartered has a very long and illustrious history in India, spanning over 170 years. Our first branch was opened in India, in Calcutta. If you look at our India business, it’s split into two: we have the bank in India, which is our third most profitable market in the world, and also our largest shared services destination. The teams here support the realization of our strategic ambitions worldwide. We employ approximately 28,000 people in India, of which 22,000 are in Global Business Services (GBS). Thirteen thousand of these 22,000 live in Chennai alone. We are a cross-border and prosperous bank, underpinned by our focus on sustainability, and India’s story on these fronts is huge today.
Standard Chartered was one of the first global banks to set up a captive center in India. How do you view the GCC boom today?
Twenty-five years ago, the bank’s visionary management team came up with the idea to create what was then called SCOPE International. And today we talk about the number of GCCs opening in India every week, but Standard Chartered did that in 2001. What started as back office operations is now evolving into a true capacity center. There has been a real improvement in the quality of the work carried out in our GCCs. Today, Chennai supports all of our retail products, investment banking, digital assets, financial operations, balance sheet optimization, M&A and more.
So after decades, you have now consolidated your presence in Chennai with a new office. Why this step?
We wanted to create a work environment that is more representative of the experience our staff wants, such as more collaboration spaces, breakout rooms and the like. We loved our old building. It has a very emotional meaning for all of us who have been working at the bank for a while, but it did not give our colleagues the experience and space to work together. There is also a huge focus on well-being in this building with spaces dedicated to recreation and conviviality. People go to exercise or hang out, and for me that is real passion for the brand. And Chennai is special to us because we have been here before many others.
What has the GCC boom done to the talent war?
The war for talent has now become a war for hot skills. Overall, we have a very strong employer brand in India; We have also invested heavily in our employment proposition. We took a very progressive stance on flexible working, while some of our competitor banks took a much more rigid stance. In India, we have a number of first-class benefits that we offer to our colleagues. In terms of skills, almost 45 percent of our operations and technology teams have been upskilled in generative AI.
How has this ‘skills’ approach changed compensation and performance management?
Performance management done once or twice a year doesn’t work. We focus much more on what we call continuous performance assessment, which is given at the end of a project, at the end of a meeting. Assessing potential should be based on your ability to acquire skills quickly and the motivation you have. It’s not just past achievements. In terms of compensation, comp levels are ultimately adjusted based on the demand for a particular skill. GenAI, deep data specialists, cyber risk management and others are some of the best skills today.
Are you hiring people at the same pace when deploying automation tools internally?
Our business is growing, so yes, we are hiring, but we balance this with a sharp focus on internal retraining and redeployment. One of the figures we regularly publish in our annual reports is what percentage of our vacancies are filled by internal talent, which is 55-60 percent in certain areas.
Published on October 11, 2025
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