AI to create jobs not cut them, and boost India’s GDP by $2 trillion: NITI Aayog

Artificial intelligence will not destroy jobs but create them, while adding nearly USD 2 trillion to India’s economy by 2035, NITI Aayog chief executive B.V.R. Subrahmanyam said on Monday.

Speaking in New Delhi at the launch of the Roadmap for AI for Viksit Bharat and the NITI Frontier Tech Repository, Subrahmanyam sought to dispel anxieties about technology-driven unemployment. He argued that AI would serve as a catalyst for both economic expansion and employment growth, provided India invested in equipping its workforce with the right skills.

“AI is not a job destroyer but a job enhancer,” he remarked. Drawing a parallel with the computer revolution, he said similar fears in the past had proved misplaced. The central task, he stressed, was to prepare workers for the new opportunities that AI adoption would generate.

Growth engine

The projections come from the report AI for Viksit Bharat: The Opportunity for Accelerated Economic Growth, released alongside the roadmap. The analysis estimates that India’s GDP will reach around USD 6.6 trillion by 2035 if it follows its current trajectory. With widespread adoption of AI, the figure could rise to USD 8.3 trillion, with the technology contributing nearly USD 2 trillion of additional value.

The report identifies two major growth levers. Accelerating AI deployment across industries could provide 30 to 35 per cent of the uplift, while transforming research and development with generative AI could account for a further 20 to 30 per cent.

Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog and Chief Architect of Frontier Tech, said India’s ambition of sustained 8 per cent growth would depend on bold and pervasive AI integration. “Continuous innovation, supported by AI, is the foundation of our growth strategy,” she said.

Sectoral impact

The report points to banking and manufacturing as the first sectors likely to benefit. In financial services, AI could enable hyper-personalised customer experiences, advanced fraud detection and more inclusive lending. This shift alone could unlock USD 50-55 billion in value.

In manufacturing, productivity gains and intelligent product design powered by AI are projected to add USD 85-100 billion. These improvements, the report suggests, could strengthen India’s global competitiveness in high-value manufacturing.

Further growth is expected from new areas. AI-enabled drug discovery could speed up pharmaceutical innovation, while the automotive sector may see the emergence of software-assisted vehicles. By 2035, the report projects, India could have as many as 20 million such vehicles on its roads, generating USD 20-25 billion in export earnings and import substitution.

Jobs not losses

Subrahmanyam emphasised that employment was central to the AI story. While automation would inevitably change tasks, he argued that the net effect would be job creation. Specialists in data science, AI model training, and machine learning operations would be in demand, alongside roles in traditional industries reshaped by digital technologies.

“India’s young workforce is our greatest asset,” he said. “With the right skills, AI can become the driver of sustainable and inclusive growth.”

Strategic significance

The roadmap forms part of India’s broader ambition to become a developed economy by 2047. It positions AI as a critical tool to close the growth gap and secure a central role for India in global technology supply chains.

The strategy also highlights the need for indigenous AI capabilities. Policymakers stress that reliance on imported systems could undermine economic security, while building home-grown technologies would allow India to capture greater value. Public-private partnerships, AI research hubs and large-scale skilling programmes are all identified as priorities.

Challenges remain

Despite the optimism, the report acknowledges hurdles. Adoption rates vary across sectors and regions, and smaller firms often lack resources to invest in AI. Execution is another challenge: while many business leaders describe themselves as “change-ready”, few report being fully prepared for succession planning, mid-management development or large-scale upskilling.

Without targeted interventions, the gains projected may not materialise evenly, raising the risk of widening inequality between industries and regions.