India may be witnessing the twilight of its salaried middle class, according to renowned market analyst Saurabh Mukherjea. The founder of Marcellus Investment Managers predicts that the traditional model of salaried employment is slowly collapsing under the weight of automation and artificial intelligence, urging the nation to embrace a new entrepreneurial future.
Speaking on the podcast Beyond the Paycheck: India’s Entrepreneurial Rebirth, Mukherjea warned that this decade could be defined by “the gradual demise of salaried employment” as a reliable path for educated and hardworking individuals. “The job construct that built India’s middle class is no longer sustainable,” he said, highlighting the shift away from multi-decade careers at a single company — once a hallmark of economic stability.
Mukherjea pointed to the rapid adoption of AI across industries as a key disruptor. He noted that even tech giants like Google have revealed that a third of their coding is now AI-generated, signaling a sweeping transformation that is set to hit India’s white-collar sectors such as IT, finance, and media. As artificial intelligence takes over routine and mid-level tasks, traditional middle-income career paths are increasingly under threat.
Despite the stark outlook, Mukherjea sees hope in India’s growing digital infrastructure. He praised the government’s rollout of the JAM trinity — Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile — which has laid the groundwork for widespread financial inclusion and digital identity. He believes this framework can empower a new generation of entrepreneurs, especially those from lower-income backgrounds.
“If the same intellect and effort we applied to corporate jobs is redirected toward building businesses, entrepreneurship can become India’s new growth engine,” Mukherjea said. But to do so, he argues, Indian society must shift its values — moving away from paycheck-driven success toward purpose-driven innovation.
He concluded with a powerful call for a mindset change: “Families like yours and mine must stop preparing kids to be job-seekers. The jobs won’t be there. We should be solving for happiness and impact — not just monthly income.”
As the Indian economy evolves under the twin forces of technology and transformation, the future, according to Mukherjea, belongs not to the salaried employee, but to the self-starter.
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