New Delhi, July 22 (UNI) The corporate sector in India has flourished as its profitability is at a 15-year high in FY24 with profits quadrupling between FY20 and FY23, the Government said adding the businesses have an obligation to themselves to strike the right balance between deployment of capital and deployment of labour.
Noting that Indian economy needs to generate an average of nearly 78.5 lakh jobs annually until 2030 in the non-farm sector to cater to the rising workforce in the country, the government asked the corporate sector to bear in mind their responsibility for employment generation and the consequent impact on social stability.
With the global labour market amidst a ‘disruption,’ and constantly being reshaped by the fourth industrial revolution, the Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, recognized that India would also not remain immune to the transformation caused by it.
While attributing the biggest disruption in the future of work to the accelerated growth in AI, the Survey says that India, with its vast demographic dividend and a very young population, is uniquely situated as AI poses both risk and opportunity.
A particular risk is the BPO sector, where GenAI is revolutionising the performance of routine cognitive tasks through chatbots, and employment in the sector is estimated to decline considerably in the next ten years.
In the following decade, however, gradual diffusion of AI is expected to augment productivity, it said.
But given the affinity of India’s population to work with technology, as seen with the digital public infrastructure, proactive interventions by the Government and industry can position India as a key player in the AI age, the Economic Survey noted.
Highlighting the need for research and development in this sector, Survey mentioned a policy brief which suggests a need for an Inter-Agency Coordination Authority for AI which would act as a central institution guiding the research, decision-making, policy planning on AI and job creation.
The Government has launched several initiatives to ensure an AI enabled ecosystem and to connect AI to the youth of the country. Some of these include ‘Future Skills Prime’, ‘YUVAi: Youth for Unnati and Vikas with AI’ a national programme for school students and ‘Responsible AI for Youth 2022’.
A budget of Rs 10,300 crore has been provided in 2024 for the India AI Mission, a significant move to strengthen the AI ecosystem.
