Marcellus Investment Managers founder Saurabh Mukherjea has sounded the alarm on the complacency of India’s middle-class white-collar workforce in the face of growing AI-driven disruption.
Using Naukri’s job index as a measure, Mukherjea explained that while the West faces labor shortages and an aging population, India, with a median age of just 28 and 10 million graduates every year, faces a far more “worrisome” situation.
“Such is the nature of free market economies — worrisome situations will develop, but what’s making me more perturbed is there doesn’t seem to be that much realization that the situation is worrisome,” he said in a podcast with Mint.
Mukherjea noted that while 22-23 year-olds are understandably job hunting, he is concerned that professionals in their 30s and 40s — those already deep into their careers — are not planning financially for a future where job security will rapidly erode.
“I’m not hearing from them a lot of financial planning going on… thinking that I’m 40 today, I have 20 years left of working life, and I need to think very carefully about my finances,” he said.
He pointed out that spending habits on holidays, electronics, and cars seem out of sync with modest savings rates.
“Middle class debt in India, rather than savings, is among the highest in the world,” he warned, adding that net household financial savings are at a 50-year low.
Mukherjea predicts that many white-collar workers will soon find themselves effectively self-employed, much like lawyers, accountants, or financial planners today. “I suspect in the India of 10 years hence, journalists, engineers, coders, bot trainers — all will be like that,” he said.
Repetitive tasks, especially in sectors like HR, will increasingly be automated by generative AI.
“First the IT services companies and banks, then media houses, will replace HR with bots,” Mukherjea said, warning that stable office jobs could quickly transition to freelance, gig-based roles.
Quoting former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Mukherjea noted that in five years, coders might no longer be needed.
“I feel 2-3 years hence India will have to readjust fast… moving from ‘graduate and find a job’ to ‘graduate and become an entrepreneur’,” he said.
