How Agentic AI Will Transform Indian Jobs, And The Skills You Will Need To Stay Ahead

Last Updated:November 19, 2025, 16:09 IST

The key skill is not to become an AI programmer, but to be someone who can work with AI, using it like a digital colleague. Agentic AI will not replace workers, but upgrade them

For years, artificial intelligence (AI) felt like an interesting technology, capable of writing emails, answering questions, making artwork, and even assisting with coding. But it was never seen as something that could fully act like a decision-maker. That is now beginning to change.

Agentic AI is different from ChatGPT-like tools. This AI does not just respond. It thinks, plans, acts, and executes tasks on its own. It can manage schedules, respond to customer queries across multiple channels, process invoices, screen job applications, track inventory, run automated reports, and even assign work to teams, without constant human guidance. It behaves less like a tool and more like a digital executive.

This shift is particularly significant for India. Unlike many countries, India’s workforce has a large concentration of jobs based on routine, process-heavy, operational work, exactly the kind of work Agentic AI is now learning to handle. That includes IT services, BPO operations, customer support, financial processing, HR workflows, healthcare administration, compliance, logistics management, and auditing. These are industries that employ millions of Indians.

And this time, AI is not just supporting these roles; it is stepping into them.

A report in July by Pearson and ServiceNow had predicted that Agentic AI could reshape over 10 million jobs in India by 2030. It is important to understand what that means. Will these jobs be transformed? What skills would workers need, and how will work itself get structured? Let’s try to answer these questions.

Just like ATMs did not eliminate bank jobs but changed them, Agentic AI will make certain roles less about execution and more about supervision, strategy, problem-solving, creativity, empathy, and human judgment.

What Makes Agentic AI So Different?

Traditional AI tools wait for instructions. They reply when asked something. But Agentic AI can independently carry out goals. For instance, in a corporate workflow, instead of just summarising data, an AI agent can analyse client emails, schedule meetings, update spreadsheets, send reminders, escalate issues, make forecasts, and prepare reports, without being told what to do at every step.

It is similar to hiring a junior employee whose work you review, but you don’t need to micromanage. This is where the disruption begins.

Why India Is More At Risk, And Also Equipped To Gain?

India is a global centre for knowledge services and digital back-office operations. But because many of these jobs involve repetitive, structured tasks, they are more vulnerable to automation. For years, international clients outsourced these processes to Indian teams. Soon, they may outsource them to Indian-built AI systems instead.

The flip-side? India could also become the global hub for AI-driven work, creating an entirely new category of roles: AI supervisors, workflow architects, digital operations designers, domain-AI specialists, and human-AI project managers. As AI does the heavy task work, humans will manage judgment, ethics, context, creativity, and leadership.

From Workers Doing Tasks To Workers Directing AI

In many sectors, AI will not replace jobs; it will become part of them. A customer service associate in 2025 may not manually answer 100 calls a day. Instead, they might oversee AI bots that handle basic calls while they intervene in cases that require empathy or negotiation.

A financial analyst may not manually compare documents or run tax validations, but they will interpret AI-generated insights and advise clients.

A software tester may not run manual tests, but will design testing strategies, review AI results, and fix deeper architectural issues. This is the new human-AI partnership.

So, How Should Indian Workers Prepare?

The most important skill is not to become an AI programmer, but to be someone who can work with AI, using it like a digital colleague.

Workers who succeed in this shift will be those who:

• Understand how AI works and where it can help

• Have strong domain knowledge—in finance, healthcare, law, logistics, or public policy

• Can interpret AI outputs and question its decisions

• Possess communication, creativity, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving skills

• Can design, manage, or supervise AI workflows rather than do all the work themselves

In short, the most valuable skill is not knowing how to code, but knowing how AI can support what you already do.

Can India Leverage This For Growth, Not Just Fear?

India has advantages that few countries do. A young population. A strong digital infrastructure. Large tech service companies. A rapidly growing start-up ecosystem. Government initiatives in AI, semiconductor manufacturing, digital skilling, and remote-work infrastructure.

Global firms are already moving AI operations supervision roles to India, not just data processing.

Yet, there are challenges. AI education is still limited to urban areas. Smaller cities lack access to quality training. And many Indian companies still see AI as a cost-saving tool rather than a workforce transformation tool.

If India can scale AI literacy, not just coding, it could build the world’s first truly AI-ready workforce.

When Does This Change Begin?

The shift has already begun in offices quietly experimenting with AI-driven workflows. By 2025, Agentic AI pilots will be visible in large IT, HR, finance, and logistics firms. By 2026-27, AI will be integrated into daily operations, and many job descriptions will explicitly include “AI supervision” or “AI collaboration.” By 2030, the concept of a purely task-based job may no longer exist.

According to a report published by Ernst & Young on November 16, nearly 47% of Indian enterprises now have multiple Generative AI (GenAI) use cases live, while 23% are in the pilot stage. This shows that Indian enterprises are showing “strong confidence by embedding AI into core business workflows to deliver measurable results”, the report mentioned.

Mahesh Makhija, Partner and Technology Consulting Leader, EY India, said in the report, “Our survey shows that corporate India has moved beyond experimentation. Nearly half the enterprises already have multiple use cases in production.  For enterprises, the focus must now move from building pilots to designing processes where humans and AI agents collaborate seamlessly. Enterprises that prioritize data readiness, model assurance, and Responsible AI will shape the competitive advantage of the decade.”

Will India Lead Or Lag?

Agentic AI is not here to replace India’s workers. It is here to upgrade them. The future will not belong to those who can do everything by themselves, but to those who can effectively work with highly capable AI.

The real race is no longer just between humans and machines, it is between AI-trained humans and AI-untrained humans.

Shilpy Bisht

Shilpy Bisht, Deputy News Editor at Mobile News 24×7 Hindi, writes and edits national, world and business stories. She started off as a print journalist, and then transitioned to online, in her 12 years of experience. Her prev…Read More

Shilpy Bisht, Deputy News Editor at Mobile News 24×7 Hindi, writes and edits national, world and business stories. She started off as a print journalist, and then transitioned to online, in her 12 years of experience. Her prev… Read More

Agentic AI is different from ChatGPT-like tools. This AI does not just respond. It thinks, plans, acts, and executes tasks on its own. It can manage schedules, respond to customer queries across multiple channels, process invoices, screen job applications, track inventory, run automated reports, and even assign work to teams, without constant human guidance. It behaves less like a tool and more like a digital executive.

This shift is particularly significant for India. Unlike many countries, India’s workforce has a large concentration of jobs based on routine, process-heavy, operational work, exactly the kind of work Agentic AI is now learning to handle. That includes IT services, BPO operations, customer support, financial processing, HR workflows, healthcare administration, compliance, logistics management, and auditing. These are industries that employ millions of Indians.

And this time, AI is not just supporting these roles; it is stepping into them.

A report in July by Pearson and ServiceNow had predicted that Agentic AI could reshape over 10 million jobs in India by 2030. It is important to understand what that means. Will these jobs be transformed? What skills would workers need, and how will work itself get structured? Let’s try to answer these questions.

Just like ATMs did not eliminate bank jobs but changed them, Agentic AI will make certain roles less about execution and more about supervision, strategy, problem-solving, creativity, empathy, and human judgment.

What Makes Agentic AI So Different?

Traditional AI tools wait for instructions. They reply when asked something. But Agentic AI can independently carry out goals. For instance, in a corporate workflow, instead of just summarising data, an AI agent can analyse client emails, schedule meetings, update spreadsheets, send reminders, escalate issues, make forecasts, and prepare reports, without being told what to do at every step.

It is similar to hiring a junior employee whose work you review, but you don’t need to micromanage. This is where the disruption begins.

Why India Is More At Risk, And Also Equipped To Gain?

India is a global centre for knowledge services and digital back-office operations. But because many of these jobs involve repetitive, structured tasks, they are more vulnerable to automation. For years, international clients outsourced these processes to Indian teams. Soon, they may outsource them to Indian-built AI systems instead.

The flip-side? India could also become the global hub for AI-driven work, creating an entirely new category of roles: AI supervisors, workflow architects, digital operations designers, domain-AI specialists, and human-AI project managers. As AI does the heavy task work, humans will manage judgment, ethics, context, creativity, and leadership.

From Workers Doing Tasks To Workers Directing AI

In many sectors, AI will not replace jobs; it will become part of them. A customer service associate in 2025 may not manually answer 100 calls a day. Instead, they might oversee AI bots that handle basic calls while they intervene in cases that require empathy or negotiation.

A financial analyst may not manually compare documents or run tax validations, but they will interpret AI-generated insights and advise clients.

A software tester may not run manual tests, but will design testing strategies, review AI results, and fix deeper architectural issues. This is the new human-AI partnership.

So, How Should Indian Workers Prepare?

The most important skill is not to become an AI programmer, but to be someone who can work with AI, using it like a digital colleague.

Workers who succeed in this shift will be those who:

• Understand how AI works and where it can help

• Have strong domain knowledge—in finance, healthcare, law, logistics, or public policy

• Can interpret AI outputs and question its decisions

• Possess communication, creativity, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving skills

• Can design, manage, or supervise AI workflows rather than do all the work themselves

In short, the most valuable skill is not knowing how to code, but knowing how AI can support what you already do.

Can India Leverage This For Growth, Not Just Fear?

India has advantages that few countries do. A young population. A strong digital infrastructure. Large tech service companies. A rapidly growing start-up ecosystem. Government initiatives in AI, semiconductor manufacturing, digital skilling, and remote-work infrastructure.

Global firms are already moving AI operations supervision roles to India, not just data processing.

Yet, there are challenges. AI education is still limited to urban areas. Smaller cities lack access to quality training. And many Indian companies still see AI as a cost-saving tool rather than a workforce transformation tool.

If India can scale AI literacy, not just coding, it could build the world’s first truly AI-ready workforce.

When Does This Change Begin?

The shift has already begun in offices quietly experimenting with AI-driven workflows. By 2025, Agentic AI pilots will be visible in large IT, HR, finance, and logistics firms. By 2026-27, AI will be integrated into daily operations, and many job descriptions will explicitly include “AI supervision” or “AI collaboration.” By 2030, the concept of a purely task-based job may no longer exist.

According to a report published by Ernst & Young on November 16, nearly 47% of Indian enterprises now have multiple Generative AI (GenAI) use cases live, while 23% are in the pilot stage. This shows that Indian enterprises are showing “strong confidence by embedding AI into core business workflows to deliver measurable results”, the report mentioned.

Mahesh Makhija, Partner and Technology Consulting Leader, EY India, said in the report, “Our survey shows that corporate India has moved beyond experimentation. Nearly half the enterprises already have multiple use cases in production.  For enterprises, the focus must now move from building pilots to designing processes where humans and AI agents collaborate seamlessly. Enterprises that prioritize data readiness, model assurance, and Responsible AI will shape the competitive advantage of the decade.”

Will India Lead Or Lag?

Agentic AI is not here to replace India’s workers. It is here to upgrade them. The future will not belong to those who can do everything by themselves, but to those who can effectively work with highly capable AI.

The real race is no longer just between humans and machines, it is between AI-trained humans and AI-untrained humans.

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