A quarter of Indian workers are in AI-exposed jobs, with youth most at risk, study finds

A white paper from the Great Lakes Centre for Finance and Economic Research, Chennai, launched on Sunday 11 October 2026 with a special address by Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, finds that the share of Indian workers in occupations highly exposed to AI rose from 21.1% in 2012 to 24.6% in 2025. The paper, by Vidya Mahambare, Vivek Jadhav and Vishnu Venugopalan, estimates that about 46 million workers are in jobs where AI is more likely to raise productivity than replace them. It also finds nearly 197 million workers are in jobs with a high share of routine tasks that could be automated, though the shift is likely to be gradual. The risk is highest for the young: 39.4% of employed under-25s are in high-routine jobs. At the launch, Nageswaran warned that if firms stop training junior staff because AI agents can do routine work cheaply, those workers may never build the skills to become senior professionals, Financial Express reports.