Corporate Universities and Strategic Talent Architecture in the Indian Banking Industry

Corporate universities (CUs) have emerged as one of the most consequential institutional innovations in contemporary human resource development. Yet, the theoretical literature remains fragmented across disciplinary boundaries while practitioner adoption has accelerated globally. This chapter provides an integrated analysis of corporate university theory, typology, function, design, and evaluation, anchoring the review in two richly documented industry cases from India's service sector. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from human capital theory, the resource-based view, knowledge management, organisational learning, and institutional theory, the chapter traces the intellectual evolution of the CU concept from its definitional ambiguities through its emergent typologies to its strategic functions under VUCA conditions. A dedicated case analysis then examines how Axis Bank and HDFC Bank have constructed strategic talent architectures in Indian private banking, including the theoretically significant 'Hire-Train-Deploy' model.