Bengaluru : The CHRO Boardroom, a closed-door thought leadership roundtable, concluded on 21st January in Bengaluru, convening leading CHROs and senior HR leaders from Karnataka’s industry—especially the IT and digital services ecosystem—alongside government and ecosystem stakeholders to align on workforce priorities as AI reshapes jobs and skills.
The roundtable was organised by CHRMP and Ripples Learning & Research, in association with the Department of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Livelihood (Government of Karnataka) and the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM). The session was chaired by Dr. E.V. Ramana Reddy, Chairman, Karnataka Skill Development Authority (KSDA).
Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, CEO, KDEM; Mr. Animesh N. Rai, COO, Ripples Learning & Research; and Mr. N. N. Rao, Technical Advisor, KSDA ,graced the occasion and contribured immensely to the deliberations
Setting the context, Dr. EV Ramana Reddy underscored the importance of structured industry–government collaboration to support Karnataka’s aspiration of becoming a USD 1 trillion economy, while leveraging AI-led productivity gains, through stronger skilling pathways and workforce readiness.
Emphasising the need for policy to keep pace with change, Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, highlighted that policymakers require better visibility into the rapidly shifting skills and jobs landscape to respond faster and drive more effective government interventions.
Adding to this, Mr. Animesh Rai, noted the speed at which technology is evolving, and stressed that initiatives and policies must become far more adaptive for India to stay ahead in global competitiveness.
HR leaders shared practitioner perspectives on how AI is already changing work—shifting roles toward oversight, validation, and orchestration of AI-enabled workflows—and the resulting need to strengthen employability and readiness through clearer skill signaling, faster job-relevant reskilling, and tighter alignment between institutional learning and workplace expectations. Key insights from the session will be consolidated into actionable inputs to support refinements to Karnataka’s skilling approach and policy implementation.