By Sumit Sarawgi, head of India at Oliver Wyman and a partner in the Communications, Media, and Technology Practice
Indian workers are embracing artificial intelligence. Eighty-six percent of Indians say they’re more efficient at work with AI, according to a recent 17-nation Oliver Wyman Forum survey.
That’s welcome news for the Indian government, which is investing heavily in local AI capabilities and attracting top talent to become a global AI hub. Education initiatives like the IndiaAI program are democratizing access to AI and offering courses designed for entry-level workers across sectors like manufacturing, services and agriculture.
But Indian workers are also among the most worried globally that AI will eliminate their positions, leading many to switch jobs and even fields. To keep India competitive, business and government need to prevent talented yet worried employees from leaving white-collar jobs they believe are at risk. Giving them confidence and fulfillment at work, offering a suite of holistic training, and enabling their AI success with digital infrastructure could help.
Address their concerns about job security
While Indians are enjoying AI’s productivity gains, 77% fear that AI could automate their roles — considerably higher than the global average of 56% — and they are more likely to believe AI will replace at least 50% of jobs in their department or division in the next one to two years.
That anxiety may be motivating Indian workers to protect themselves. They lead among other nationalities surveyed in networking, learning about AI, learning skills they believe are less likely to be automated, and switching to industries they think will be less impacted by AI. They also are more likely to look for another position because they are worried AI will eliminate their job or because they want a position that provides training that prepares them for the future.
Making employees feel fulfilled could help soothe that anxiety while addressing a global workplace crisis, with fulfillment ranking second as a workplace necessity — rising from 8th place in 2023 — according to a new report on changing global consumer sentiment since 2020. Employers that treat employees as collaborators in AI deployment can perhaps both retain and offer a stronger sense of work gratification.
Invest in holistic training programs – Not just AI-related upskillings
Overall, global demand for training and development has doubled since 2021 across every generation. That makes it a top-three workplace priority for workers, tied with work-life balance and just behind pay. Workers at AI-leading firms — defined as the 17% of companies with revenues of $1 billion or more that reported revenue or cost improvements of more than 10% from AI initiatives — are nearly twice as likely to have received formal AI training and to use AI tools for skill development, and nearly three times more likely to understand AI agents and their applications, according to a separate report.
These employees are nearly three times more likely to believe strongly in their company’s future and are nearly twice as likely to feel their jobs are secure during AI transitions. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle: Engaged employees drive better AI outcomes, which builds more confidence. Employees become advocates for their companies, helping to attract like-minded professionals while reducing turnover costs that plague organizations struggling with AI adoption.
India’s workforce is hungry for new skills, reporting above average rates in believing that skills across the spectrum — from creative thinking and leadership to motivation, empathy, talent management, AI, and analytical thinking — will be important to have in the next five years amid AI disruption. Business should provide training that develops soft skills and find ways to operationalize this knowledge in day-to-day business activities.
Invest in digital readiness for macro-level productivity gains
AI implementation is translating to productivity gains for many Indian workers. Sixty-one percent of Indians say they use time saved by AI to complete other tasks that were previously on hold, while 38% are pursuing additional projects at work unrelated to their primary responsibilities. And nearly half of workers say they are using time gained to devote themselves to new learning and development opportunities.
Yet while small-scale productivity gains are tangible, macro-level impact across organizations remains subdued. Many organizations globally are in the build-up phase of AI’s productivity J-curve — the period in which a general-purpose technology demands huge investments before it can deliver broad returns. Businesses that spent the last decade modernizing their infrastructure and workflows will see productivity gains faster and outpace those with legacy systems and unprepared workers.
Investing wisely in digital readiness is imperative for any firm looking to keep AI-talented workers. Frequent AI users are leaving rather than waiting for employers to catch up: Those using AI at least three times weekly are three times likelier to be job hunting. Firms delaying those preparations will discover that when automation becomes affordable, they lack both the systems and the workforce ready to use it.
Fortunately for India, many are already investing heavily in AI. Private AI investment in the country has surged since 2021, eclipsing $7 billion, according to recent research, and nearly 90% of new Indian startups in 2024 used AI in their products and services.
The pieces are in place for India to seize the AI opportunity. But business leaders and employees need one another to make it happen.