India likely to add 33.9 mn jobs to its workforce by 2028 in AI era

New Delhi: With AI-driven transformation, India is projected to increase its workforce from 423.73 million in 2023 to 457.62 million by 2028, a net gain of 33.89 million workers, according to a report on Wednesday.

Emerging technology will transform talent across India’s key growth sectors, generating 2.73 million new tech jobs by 2028, according to new research by AI platform for business transformation, ServiceNow.

The research, commissioned from the world’s leading learning company, Pearson, showed that the retail sector is set to lead employment growth, requiring an additional 6.96 million workers to fuel its expansion.

This is followed by manufacturing (1.50 million jobs), education (0.84 million jobs) and healthcare (0.80 million jobs) sectors.

“AI will be a key catalyst for job creation across India’s growth engines, particularly in roles requiring advanced technical skills. This strategic emphasis will not only create more high-value opportunities for professionals but will also empower them to build enduring digital careers,” said Sumeet Mathur, SVP and Managing Director, ServiceNow India Technology and Business Center.

Tech-related jobs are growing across industries and leading this trend are software application developers, with an expected increase of 109,700 positions.

Other notable roles include systems software developers (48,800 new jobs) and data engineers (48,500 new jobs).

Web developers, data analysts and software testers are also on the rise, with projected additions of 48,500, 47,800, and 45,300 roles, respectively.

Additionally, roles such as data integration specialists, database architects, data scientists and computer and information systems managers are expected to see increases ranging from 42,700 to 43,300 positions, the report mentioned.

“Key tech roles were evaluated at a task level to explore how the impact of emerging technologies differs across them. Among these, Systems Administrators will experience the largest shift, with 6.9 hours of their weekly tasks automated or augmented by emerging technologies,” said the report.

AI Systems Engineers will also benefit significantly from Gen AI, with half of the total tech impact on this role coming directly from AI technologies.

—IANS