Goldman Sachs: India is less exposed to AI-driven job losses than most economies, but services will feel it

Goldman Sachs’ Chief India Economist Santanu Sengupta told Bloomberg Television that India’s labor force is unlikely to see widespread AI-driven job losses because construction and retail trade, largely physical and mechanical work, make up around 40% of the workforce and remain largely unaffected. Services will see more disruption: finance, healthcare, education, and business services stand to gain from AI adoption, while postal, telecom, and IT services, especially call-center roles, face substitution risk. Sequenced adoption could add roughly 0.4 percentage points to productivity growth over a decade, with gains outweighing job losses over a five-year horizon.

India's workforce mix offers a buffer overall, but IT services and call-center-heavy operations carry real substitution risk. Enterprises with India-based delivery centers should plan reskilling now for the roles most exposed.