'Privately, CEOs say a third of workforce will be eased out'

Summary: A quiet warning is spreading through India Inc’s boardrooms. White-collar roles may be under siege. And the real danger? Most Indian households, even high earners, are financially unprepared. HNIs saving less than 20 per cent of income, rising household leverage, shrinking emergency buffers… the numbers tell a harsh story. But there is a way to gain financial stability. This is a sober reminder from Saurabh Mukherjea, founder and chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers. Mukherjea has been speaking openly for months about how our workplace may get reshaped, possibly violently, by generative AI and automation. In a recent podcast with Anshuman Sharma, he put it starkly: “My reckoning is technology will turn the tables on this paradigm. As generative AI becomes powerful, a lot of what constitutes (deep-thinking roles) will become automated.” This isn’t vague futurism. Mukherjea pointed to real examples, including legendary coders at Microsoft being shown the door, and the immense transformation underway at global asset-management giant BlackRock. Its software, Aladdin, has been hailed as a precursor to an era where research and stock selection may move from analysts to AI packages. And it isn’t just high-end roles. He has warned that low-paying repetitive jobs are also on borrowed time. The part that should make most professionals sit up is this: “Privately, CEOs of Indian firms tell us that almost a third of their workforce will gradually be eased out… and India will become a massive gig economy.” Pause and let that sink in. A third. If this were happening in a country with robust financial preparedness, it would still be alarming. But India’s preparedness i

This article was originally published on November 18, 2025.