‘No clue what’s...’: Financial advisor warns AI is killing India’s high-end labour edge at ‘unprecedented pace’

Finance expert and Wisdom Hatch founder Akshat Shrivastava believes that the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is threatening India’s long-standing advantage in high-end human labor.  

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Shrivastava pointed out how India built a competitive edge in outsourcing due to its skilled workforce in math, coding, and English. “India's biggest export in the last 20 years was human labour. (In fact: high-end human labour). We were competitive because: our workforce was decent at math, coding, English. We would charge $100 and give 100 units of output. In the US: if you were to get this work done, firms would pay: $400 and get 150 units of output. We had a competitive advantage. And, we milked that.”  

However, he warned that AI is eroding this advantage at an "unprecedented pace," exposing vulnerabilities in India’s economic structure. “Now AI is killing this advantage at an unprecedented pace.  

1) Our manufacturing is bad  
2) Our high-end human labour is declining now  
3) We are basically: a net importer with very high taxes  
And, no clue about what is going to hit us,” he wrote.  

Despite the bleak outlook, Shrivastava outlined possible solutions, urging India to compete in manufacturing, lower taxes, and support small businesses. “I am not being negative: I really hope, we 1) Compete on certain segments on manufacturing, 2) Lower our taxes, 3) Stop wasting money on freeloaders and put that capital to better use, 4) Give incentive for small businesses, which actually can generate jobs and 5) Promote tourism. All this does not require crazy innovation,” he added.  

His post resonated with many, sparking discussions on India’s economic direction. One user noted, “I think we have capable people in the government who are pointing this out. Unfortunately, our leaders are only focused on winning the next election. Hopefully, they can think long-term and start looking for sectors that India can dominate in and start investing in them.”  

Another commented, “India played the outsourcing game well, but AI doesn’t care about labor costs. Time to build, not just bill.”  

A third user lamented missed opportunities, saying, “We failed 30 years ago, dear friend, and this is just a continuation of that failure. China did economic reform with a focus on manufacturing. We did it without any focus. Once lost is forever lost.”