India’s long-standing focus on creating millions of new jobs — a staple of political promises — may be due for a fundamental rethink as the global economy transforms. According to the Indian Express opinion, simply adding large numbers of low-paying jobs, particularly in sectors like agriculture where productivity is low, won’t be sufficient to achieve India’s development ambitions by 2047. Nearly 46 % of India’s workforce remains in agriculture, a sector that contributes a far smaller share of GDP, underscoring how low-productivity labour can hinder economic progress when jobs don’t generate commensurate value.

The article highlights that advances in technology and AI mean the nature of work is changing rapidly, with automation threatening many low-value roles while enabling exponential gains in labour productivity. In such a context, India’s competitive advantage can no longer rest on cheap labour alone. Instead, it should shift toward high-value, high-productivity activities such as design, engineering and innovation, which drive economic growth more effectively than sheer numbers of workers.

A productivity-focused framework would encourage universal basic income or livelihood support funded by highly productive sectors, heavy investment in skills and education, and labour reforms that reward firms and sectors capable of achieving world-class efficiency. The article concludes that quality of work and value creation per worker — not just job counts — should be India’s guiding metric as it seeks sustainable growth and rising wages in a rapidly changing global landscape.