GCCs focus on retention strategies, fintechs turn to local language tools

Access to talent along with the ability to attract and retain it is an important prerequisite for the growth of industries in any region or city. It becomes crucial if access to talent is limited.
 

This was the overall focus of discussions at the recently-concluded Business Standard Tamil Nadu Round Table 2023.

Chennai has become a chosen destination for several global capability centres (GCCs) of large multinationals as well as an innovation hub for the rising fintech sector due to access to talent that the state has.
 

“GCCs normally face challenges with respect to talent attraction and retention when there are hordes of other players in the ecosystem trying to hire from the state or the country. To keep up with the pace of these developments, a talent management strategy is the key,” said Sunil Kumar, Centre Head of the Chennai office, World Bank Group. 
 

Kumar was part of the panelists discussing Rising Stars: GCCs and Fintech Driving Innovation.
 

Retention of talent at GCCs in the country remains a challenge as there are other players looking to hire the same individuals, said Prashanti Bodugum, vice-president, e-commerce, US omni platforms tech, Walmart Global Tech India.
 

She added that as companies continue to grow and invest in disruptive technologies, they have to ensure there is a sufficient supply of talent as they scale operations. 

 

“It is necessary to ensure that colleges keep up with the pace of talent and come ahead of the game. We have partnered with IIT Madras and the Government College of Engineering in Coimbatore to see how colleges can participate in this,” she added.  Bodugum added the company is looking at ways on how colleges or institutes can partner with companies to nurture and attract talent. 
 

Meanwhile, Kumar said his organisation chose Chennai as one of the sites for their office in the country on account of factors such as cost, talent, value addition and risk management, among others.
 

“We looked at the talent availability when we started with the accounting functions in 2001. We knew we were going to grow over a period of time to other verticals such as human resources (HR). We found that Chennai could provide those skills then,” he said. 

Kumar believes once themes such as research and development (R&D) and product development work, among others, gain traction, it will be possible to arrest any ‘brain drain’ that may be happening. 

“If one can bring a level of work, which can help stop brain drain and keep the talent, one will be able to deliver high-end work. So, that’s another challenge, I think, which can be a positive outcome in the end,” he said. 
 

Bodugum’s reasons to choose Chennai as one of the sites was also to tap into the financial as well as manufacturing talent pool in and around the city. 
 

“We have been able to attract a lot of our female associates in Chennai. The fact that we were adjacent to what we 

could tap into from a financial talent pool here or the manufacturing talent pool has really helped us to get a base as well,” she added.  

One of the strategies to retain talent and reduce attrition in an organisation, is to foster a sense of belonging among employees, she believes. 

“And post-pandemic, we have seen a lot of value coming from how our associates start thinking about solving problems. That’s been a great retention strategy apart from responding in time to an associate’s needs,” she highlighted. 

Talent also becomes crucial as states want to be a part of the growing new-age startup companies. Mathangi Sri Ramchandran, chief data officer, Yubi, a credit platform, believes there is a large pool of talent available in Tamil Nadu. 

“The talent in the state is innovative and thriving. I agree with Tamil Nadu’s minister of industries TRB Rajaa when he said talent need not come only from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISC) or even the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). It could come from a variety of educational institutes within the state,” she said. 
 

Mathangi noted that she has seen value while working with such talent pools across the state’s regions. When it comes to fintech, the state is surely attracting its share of startups.

B Ramkrishnan, chief executive officer (CEO), BRK Soft, suggests the need to build ‘finance labs’ in a similar fashion as to a chemistry or physics lab that one comes across in schools or colleges. 

“Unlike other disciplines, the country does not have a finance lab. We need to drive such programmes and the demonstrator in such labs should have practical skills in major areas such as corporate finance, private equity,  venture capital, mutual funds, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as well as banking and insurance sectors,” he said. 

Ramakrishna trains individuals fresh out of college on practical finance with the help of case studies. 

“Today, there are nearly 90 financial products in the market. We train students to help them get related jobs as fast as possible,” he said.   

Meanwhile, financial inclusion has been a focus for several fintechs in the state.  When asked about how Kaleidofin, a fintech firm, is expediting financial inclusion, the company’s co-founder Puneet Gupta said it is focussed on regional languages to tackle language barriers. 
 

“A lot of our work has been to design everything in local languages and local dialects via use of voice as people are not necessarily using only smartphones. Feature phones, coupled with voice, become a powerful medium to address the financial inclusion challenge. That is how one can reach a large population,” he added. 
 

Apart from building an app in local languages, Gupta said they use more symbols against the utilisation of too much text on the platform as the former is understood by a large section of the population. “We use symbols, which are universally understood. Our call centres are run in local languages. For example, in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we run call centres in Bhojpuri and Maithili. We have people available where the cost structures of providing such assistance still works,” he presented. 
 

Similarly, Shanti Lal Jain, managing director (MD) and CEO, Indian Bank, said fintechs have turned out to be useful for entities such as banks on the back of their capabilities surrounding customer experience and minimum turnaround time. 
 

“Today we are taking advantage of fintechs, right from the payment systems, to lending, for a better customer experience. This is the reason why we are able to grow at a rate of 12 to 13 per cent every year and expand our customer base,” he said.  Jain added that his bank has a base of over 130 million customers. He stressed on the need for collaboration with fintechs in the country as these companies provide value-added services to their clients. 
 

“We are changing from traditional banking to digital banking today. Collaboration with fintechs is important for us on multiple fronts, including general banking, as everybody wants a value-added product nowadays,” he said.