Davos 2024: India will account for 30% of Deloitte's global workforce, says south Asia head Romal Shetty

Romal Shetty (R), chief executive officer, Deloitte South Asia

India will account for 30% of Deloitte's global workforce from the current 25% in the next three to four years,  said Romal Shetty, Deloitte’s south Asia chief executive officer, in an interview with Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the WEF.

This translates to a target of 1,50,000-1,60,000 employees from the current 1,20,000 employees, he said.

Shetty said some of the areas that Deloitte India would invest includes AI, renewables and energy, cloud, digital and cyber. He added Deloitte has invested a lot in mergers and acquisitions.

Shetty said Deloitte is working with various state governments, and sees that the focus is on bringing investments into the country.

“The trust levels are a bit low. And that is because I think we haven't done as much on governance as we should be doing”, Shetty said.

It is important that companies with great ideas also invest tremendously in governance, said Shetty, who is also a member of Deloitte’s global executive committee. He further said investors and the management team should follow "good corporate governance standards."

He said for foreign investors willing to invest in India, the story is fantastic as the country stands out compared to every other country. Further saying investors will be very happy to have a joint venture partnership in India.

Reacting to Moneycontrol’s newsbreak on 35 Deloitte partners being offered early retirement, Shetty said it was based on their request and that they wanted to follow some other passion. “They wanted to do something on their own… as a firm we said okay,” Shetty said.

He said Deloitte is what it is today because of the contributions of these partners, and others. “We always call in Deloitte, partners for life. And so they're going to be a partners for life,” Shetty said.

He said the conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) in the boardroom is more than ever before. Secondly, he also said a lot of focus has been on productivity and cost reduction, from an AI perspective. However, there's not much change when it comes to product innovation and business model changes.

Shetty pointed there's an issue around trust and ethics, as far as AI is concerned. "Because what's important is... when an AI is being built, it's not after the AI model is built that you incorporate trust, you incorporate trust during the entire thing," Shetty said. He added that a small inaccurate calculation can cause havoc.

When asked about the upcoming interim budget expectations, Shetty said there will not be major announcements and investors would want clarity from the viewpoint of policy.

He said many CEOs of Indian companies are not talking about 2x growth, but of 3-4x growth in five years, and not 10 years. "I think that mood is quite infectious, global companies are a little bit more cautious," Shetty said.