Jobs at Risk: AI's reality check

Time of India

a day ago

ETtech
India's white-collar workforce has started feeling the tremors of job displacement due to AI with India's largest IT employer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announcing it will cut 12,000 roles. While the country's technology industry has weathered several downturns in the past—from the post-Y2K lull to the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-era freeze—the current shift is unlike any before. AI is rewriting job descriptions, replacing repetitive roles and forcing a reset on what skills are truly futureproof. It's part of a broader trend. Recruitment firms report the erosion of jobs across the board–from finance and insurance to marketing and customer service.According to the World Economic Forum's 2025 Future of Jobs report , the structural labour market shift will impact 22% of today's jobs globally, although it foresees an overall rise. Nearly 8% (92 million) will be lost, while 14% (170 million) new jobs will be created. This will result in net growth of 7% in total employment, or 78 million jobs in 2025-2030, it said. For India, 38% of existing core skills are expected to change.The traditional job pyramid of the Indian white-collar workforce—wide at the base with repetitive roles—is being compressed, experts said. Hiring is becoming more selective, with companies placing a premium on value-creation over volume.Rule-based and pattern-driven processes are already being replaced with AI's speed and accuracy, said Sachin Alug, CEO of recruitment firm NLB Services. 'We're already seeing it in roles such as customer service agents, data entry operators, invoice processors, and junior audit staff. In many cases, AI handles the first layer of work, such as responses, validations, and summaries, faster and with fewer errors.'The BPO and KPO (business and knowledge processing outsourcing) sectors, India's largest employment engines, are also under pressure. Voice-based customer service agents, chat support, transcription and data-cleaning roles are all at risk due to co-pilots and conversational bots. Nearly 65% of retail jobs and up to 70% of financial reporting tasks could be automated in the coming years, said Neeti Sharma, CEO at recruitment firm TeamLease Digital.'Already, about 30% of global customer service requests are handled by AI, and junior roles in legal and audit are being reduced as AI reviews documents and checks compliance,' she said. The squeeze isn't immediate but seems inevitable.'While these roles are not vanishing overnight, many organisations, especially in captive centres and large shared services setups, are seeing a slowdown or freeze in hiring unless driven by fresh investments or expansion mandates,' said Sanketh Chengappa KG, director and business head, professional staffing at Adecco India. The cascading effect of job displacement is creating higher entry barriers for younger people entering the workforce, he said. It may create urban unemployment clusters, particularly in cities with a high concentration of BPO/KPO jobs, and enhance income inequality. AI disruption isn't confined to entry-level workers. Mid-career professionals are increasingly vulnerable, especially those with 15–25 years of experience in functions now becoming redundant, said Shyam Menon, co-founder of the Bharat Innovation Fund. He noted that this cohort is at risk due to outdated skillsets and limited exposure to newer tools.He also noted that the narrative around AI is heavily skewed towards coding and data science. 'This creates a perceived 'tech wall' for professionals in fields like human resources, marketing, sales, and arts,' he said. According to Maya Nair, executive director at Grafton Recruitment India, companies are beginning to prioritise productivity over manpower. 'In manufacturing and healthcare sectors, automation or data entry folks and base level roles in finance, admin, HR are where chatbots are being introduced to provide solutions to queries raised within minutes, which previously took two days by employees doing the same role,' she said.