India, in this globalised era, reflects the universal scenario and is in middle of transformation. Increased digitalisation and automation is expected to significantly affect both the quality and quantity of jobs. New types of jobs and employment are changing the nature and conditions of work by altering skills requirements and replacing traditional patterns of work and sources of income. They open opportunities, to enter new, fast-growing sectors and catch up with more advanced economies.

• On the economic front, according to World Bank’s “Global Economic Prospects – A Fragile Recovery” report, India has achieved the fastest growth rate among major economies in 2017.
• The overall jobs landscape in the country is evolving rapidly.

• Growth of e-commerce and technology-based start-ups are leading to the creation of new job ecosystem, which are becoming a large source of employment.
• Given the government’s renewable energy, urban transport, shipping, affordable housing, smart cites, swachh bharat, rural roads program, national waterways, airports and industrial corridors, etc., infrastructure has become one of the largest creators of jobs in the country. The overall push for entrepreneurship through schemes such as Stand-Up India, Start-Up India and MUDRA Yojana is also beginning to positively impact jobs and opportunities for livelihood.
• India is the third largest start up ecosystem in the world today.

Viewed in the light of new age industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) it is extremely important to understand how the future of jobs would look like and therefore how can we reskill and upskill existing and future workforce. There are glimpses of the future with examples such as advanced humanoid robot ‘Sophia’ that recently was given citizenship by Saudi Arabia, Hadrian X- an Australian based robot that completes tasks meant for three-four human bricklayers, Tally-World’s first fully autonomous self-auditing and analytics-based robot that ensures goods are adequately stoked, placed and priced and Tesla’s new $5 billow Giga- 100 per cent automated factory with limited human intervention.

India, too, has its own robot Lakshmi in Union Bank, Chennai, who greets and welcomes the customers making the front desk officers redundant. Future of jobs in 2022 in India will be determined by the country’s response to the inevitable impact created by the interplay of three primary forces – globalisation demographic changes and the adoption of Industry 4.0 exponential technologies by Indian industries.

Government’s “Make in India” initiative is a move in the right direction to increase manufacturing. As a labour-abundant country India can reap greater employment gains by specialising in labour-intensive sectors, such as apparel and leather, where it holds a comparative advantage. India could more proactively seek to negotiate bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the UK and Europe to support the exports of these sectors.

In conclusion it can be said that the need for a partnership between industry and government has never been more important than today, when disruptive forces are expected to have large-scale impact. Industry associations and leading companies are willing to support the government by providing inputs on how the Indian society, workforce and education systems should adopt to the changing global needs, enthusiastically participate in all engagement platforms and support the implementation efforts through resources, knowhow and well-designed PPP models.