9-to-5 Job To Die Soon? Saurav Mukherjea on How AI Will Disrupt 'Salaried Employment' For Middle-Class

The era of devoted employees, who used to work hard for a single company, is likely to fade away in India due to the advent of automation, robotisation, artificial intelligence in the industry, warned Marcellus Investment Managers' founder and chief investment officer (CIO), Saurabh Mukherjea.

Citing the example of his parents, who were government employees, Mukherjea said, "Earlier, devoted employees used to work hard in a single organisation. That mode of employment is gradually going to die away in India."

"It is evident from looking at the impact of AI and automation that there are increasingly fewer jobs available for bright white collar employees," Mukherjea said in podcast, 'Beyond the Paycheck: India's Entrepreneurial Rebirth'.

Saurabh Mukherjea mentioned data from 'Naukri JobSpeak Index' and said that there has been a constant decline in the number of available white collar jobs over the past few years.

"Much of what was hitherto done by white collar workers is now done by AI i think Google has made public that a third of its coding is now done by AI i'm pretty sure the same is going to be true for the Indian IT firms," he added.

Jandhan, Aadhaar, Mobile Trinity Boosting Entrepreneurship in India

While defining "the gradual demise of salaried employment as a worthwhile avenue" as the defining flavour of the decade, Mukherjea mentioned how the "rise of entrepreneurship" is emerging as an economic opportunity for India.

Apart from warning about the risk of being replaced with AI, automation and other modern technologies, Saurabh Mukherjea mentioned how the trinity of Jandhan, Aadhaar card and mobile has significantly supported entrepreneurship in India.

"You don't need tons of VC funding, family lineage and prestigious degrees to become a successful entrepreneur the combination of Jandhan Aadhaar mobile the combination The jam trinity has unleashed entrepreneurship on an epic scale in India," he added.

One of the reasons why JAM trinity is unleashing entrepreneurship spirit in India is people have been empowered with credible identity due to Aadhaar and made a part of financial system with schemes like Jandhan Bank account schemes. Additionally availability of smartphones has provided better access to information.

AI Will Eat 40-50% of White Collar Jobs

Saurabh Mukherjea is not the first to flag about job uncertainty amid the era of AI and automation. In March, Atomberg founder Arindam Paul raised similar concerns about the fear of job loss due to AI.

In a LinkedIn post, he had shared serious concerns over the potential impact of artificial intelligence on AI and India's white-collar job market.

"I don't think most people, including our leaders, understand how big a threat AI could be to our economy. Our manufacturing is nowhere close to where it should be in terms of generating jobs that pay Rs 3-6 lakh per year. Our IT services and BPOs will see a significant reduction in manpower, and in many cases, in their business," he wrote on LinkedIn in March.

"Almost 40-50 percent of white-collar jobs that exist today might cease to exist. And that would mean the end of the middle class and the consumption story," he added.