Agentic AI is not a magic wand | Arundhati Bhattacharya, President and CEO at Salesforce, South Asia

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Arundhati Bhattacharya at Dreamforce 2026 | Photo Credit: Sahana Venugopal

As she is gathering her papers after a meeting, an attendee sometimes approaches Arundhati Bhattacharya — President and CEO at Salesforce, South Asia — wanting to share a comment. A conversation begins and the person says something significant that wouldn’t have been possible in a virtual conference where everyone quickly logs out.

The takeaway: while AI agents have captured the attention of technologists and leaders alike, an unprompted conversation between two human beings can lead to insights that become the most important part of the work meeting.

During an interview with The Hindu at the Dreamforce enterprise technology convention in San Francisco, Arundhati Bhattacharya, President & CEO at Salesforce, South Asia, discussed opportunities for young South Asian tech professionals, the evolving workplace culture in India, the nuances of deploying AI agents, cyber-crimes in the banking sector, and Salesforce’s ambitions in the country.

South Asians have a lot to offer the world as technologists, designers, scalers, builders, and leaders, such as yourself. But many are being held back by very human biases that affect visa applications and job relocation opportunities. What is your advice to these young tech professionals right now? And as a leader, how are you navigating this very troubled relationship between the U.S. government and a South Asian workforce that is being viewed with hostility?

What I would like to say is that within the organisation, we have had no such difficulties. Wherever there has been a requirement for talent, we have got it from whichever part of the globe it is available in. Otherwise, you know, a company such as ours would not have grown the way we have grown.

Overall, you have to remember that geopolitics will impact certain things at certain times. But still, you have also to remember that we have one of the youngest nations. And therefore, if there is a need for people — no matter what kind of politics gets in the way — it will be temporary in nature.

So, I don’t really believe this is something that will become a permanent impediment. But having said that, if we want to remain in technology, we have to ensure that we have the right skills in the people who are going to remain there. So, we need to upgrade our skills.

We know today that much of the basic coding can be done by the AI agents that we currently have. So, vibe coding is very much there; our own people are doing a lot of vibe coding. But when it comes to actually contextualising it, when it comes to actually putting it in the architecture of what you already have — because nobody is without anything — you always got to go and fit it into the existing way that things are operating. Whenever you look at how you will also ensure that the compliance is completely done, the requirements for regulatory issues are met — whenever you need or do all of that, you still need people to do it.

You’ve got to understand that things can happen from wherever you are.