Now Reading: India less exposed to AI job losses: Goldman, PPFAS
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India less exposed to AI job losses: Goldman, PPFAS
Goldman Sachs Chief India economist Santanu Sengupta said on Friday that India's labour force faces limited AI-driven job losses, mainly because 40 per cent of workers are in construction and retail, roles…
The Story in Brief
Goldman Sachs Chief India economist Santanu Sengupta said on Friday that India's labour force faces limited AI-driven job losses, mainly because 40 per cent of workers are in construction and retail, roles less exposed to AI. “The services sector is getting impacted,” he noted, warning of substitution risks in postal, telecom and call-centre jobs. If AI adoption is gradual, productivity gains could outweigh job losses, possibly adding 0.4 percentage points to productivity over a decade.
Separately, PPFAS Mutual Fund CIO Rajeev Thakkar told investors that fears about AI wiping out jobs are overblown. He cited tech analyst Benedict Evans, who argued that automation has created more jobs than it destroyed over the past 200 years. Thakkar noted that banking computerisation in the 1980s and 1990s did not reduce headcount. While some IT roles may shift, AI will likely increase demand in areas like cybersecurity, he said.
The Indian Opinion
Two lazy narratives vie for attention: one that AI will sweep away millions of IT jobs tomorrow, and another that no disruption will happen at all. The truth, as both Goldman's numbers and Thakkar's historical examples show, is more nuanced. India's large physical workforce buys time, and past automation waves created new roles. But the pain of re-skilling is real. The test to watch: will net hiring in India's IT services sector shrink or grow over the next two quarters?
Sources (2): economictimes.indiatimes.com, thehindubusinessline.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
