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The risk of large-scale job losses due to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India is currently low. Compared to many other countries, the impact of AI on India's workforce is expected to be less significant. However, certain jobs in the service sector—including those in IT and call centers—could certainly be affected. This assessment was recently made by Shantanu Sengupta, Chief India Economist at Goldman Sachs.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Sengupta cited India's large population and vast workforce as key reasons for this. Many people in the country are employed in roles where immediate transformation through machine intervention is not easily feasible. Approximately 40% of India's workforce is engaged in construction and retail trade—sectors where AI's impact is not yet very pronounced. The most significant changes are likely to be seen in the service sector.

**Benefits Outweigh Job Loss Risks**
Goldman Sachs estimates that if AI is adopted gradually and correctly in India, the benefits could outweigh the losses associated with job displacement. Over the next decade, AI could boost the country's overall productivity by about 0.4 percentage points. Sectors such as finance, healthcare, education, and business services are expected to benefit from AI. Conversely, there is a higher risk of AI replacing human workers in postal and telecom services, as well as in IT and—specifically—call center roles.

**India's Economy Remains Robust**
According to Goldman Sachs, India's economic resilience has also been surprising. Despite a heavy reliance on crude oil imports, India remains one of the world's fastest-growing major economies. While inflation has risen slightly recently, it has stayed within the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) target range of 2–6%. Meanwhile, domestic demand remains strong, driven by record vehicle sales, a rise in credit uptake, and double-digit growth in GST collections. Sengupta suggests that the RBI could begin raising interest rates as early as December; however, if inflation rises gradually, these hikes might be deferred to February or April. He said that this phase of interest rate hikes is expected to be very limited.

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