India’s middle-class story might be coming to an end, according to market expert Saurabh Mukherjea, founder of Marcellus Investment Managers, a portfolio-management services firm. As per Mr Mukherjea, India has entered a new economic phase this decade where “salaried employment as a worthwhile avenue” is expected to face a “gradual demise”.
“I think the defining flavour of this decade will be effectively the death of salaried employment, the gradual demise of salary employment as a worthwhile avenue for educated, determined, hardworking people,” Mr Mukherjea said in a recent podcast named Beyond the Paycheck: India’s Entrepreneurial Rebirth.
“The old model where our parents worked 30 years for one organisation is dying. The job construct that built India’s middle class is no longer sustainable.”
Mr Mukherjea added that hardworking people are expected to be replaced by automation and artificial intelligence (AI).
“Much of what was supposed to be done by white-collar workers is now done by AI. Google says a third of its coding is already done by AI. The same is coming for Indian IT, media, and finance,” he said.
He also mentioned that mid-level career options are now facing an existential crisis due to the rapid advancement of technology.
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Entrepreneurship as the future
Despite the doom and gloom, Mr Mukherjea pointed towards the Indian government’s noteworthy achievements in the last few years. He said the ‘JAM Trinity’, which is a combination of Jandhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile could set the stage for the upcoming wave of entrepreneurs.
The Centre has spent considerable resources on getting JAM right as it aims to provide easy access to identity, banking, and information products for low-income groups.
“If applied with the same intellect and grit we brought to corporate careers, entrepreneurship can be the new engine of prosperity,” he said.
He also advised that the Indian society needed to change its philosophy associated with stability and salaries.
“We’re a money-obsessed society. We define success by paychecks. That has to change,” Mukherjea said. “We should be solving for happiness and impact-not just monthly income.”
“Families like yours and mine must stop preparing kids to be job-seekers. The jobs won’t be there.”
