MUMBAI: Deutsche Bank’s India Global Capability Center (GCC) is betting on a startup-style approach to accelerate AI adoption, with its Deutsche India Pvt Ltd (DIPL) in-house incubator attracting 100 ideas within its first 100 days, indicating what its leadership describes as an unusually high openness to technological change among the local workforce.Stephen Schaefer, MD & CEO, DIPL, said the India-based GCC has seen employees adopting AI-led transformation with much less resistance than many mature markets. He attributed this to the broader cultural association of change with progress, shaped by rapid digital adoption in India, including platforms like UPI. He said this adaptability is proving valuable in bringing about structural change in the 150-year-old institution.DIPL, which employs over 20,000 people across Pune, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Mumbai, is promoting its AI through a program called “AI Forward”, which combines top-down investment with bottom-up participation. A key pillar is the incubator, based on the startup ecosystem, where employees can pitch ideas directly to leadership and refine them with expert input. Complementing this is a large-scale training effort that has already covered 20,000 employees on large language models and responsible AI use, as well as a “Catalyst” initiative that engages experts within teams to prototype solutions in live environments.The shift toward AI is part of a broader strategic reset in Deutsche Bank’s technology operations. Having already rebalanced its workforce mix from 30% internal employees to 70% and increasing the share of engineers to 70%, the bank is now targeting deeper ownership from its GCC counterparts. Under a new “70-50-30” framework, it aims to locate 50% of portfolio owners and 30% of senior leadership roles within its technology centres, including India, to ensure end-to-end accountability.Schaefer said that while AI is becoming embedded in mainstream operations, core enterprise platforms will remain important. Rather than replacing fundamental systems, AI is expected to replace the “last mile” of configuration, enabling faster and more flexible evolution while maintaining the structural integrity required in a regulated banking environment.
