India is at an inflection point when it comes to the future of work. The country has the talent, ambition and digital momentum to become one of the world’s most AI-enabled economies. But the bigger opportunity is not simply to adopt AI. It is to fundamentally redesign how work gets done.
For years, digital transformation has focused on putting technology around existing processes. AI gives organisations an opportunity to rethink those processes from the ground up: how people find information, make decisions, collaborate, develop skills and spend their time.
The signals from India’s workforce are already compelling. Recent workforce research finds that 89% of employees say AI improves their work experience, while 32% say AI is already embedded in core workflows. Yet 56% say they spend at least half their effort translating and coordinating across systems.
These numbers tell us something important. Employees are ready for AI, and organisations are beginning to integrate it. But there is still a significant gap between having AI available and redesigning work around it. Closing this gap will be one of the defining opportunities of the next decade.
Why India’s AI opportunity goes beyond automation
Recent research shows that 56% of Indian employees spend at least half their effort on manual handoffs between systems and teams, rather than creating value. When I speak with business and HR leaders across India, the conversation has moved beyond whether AI will transform work.
The focus is now on where AI can remove friction, create more time for meaningful work, build future-ready skills and strengthen trust. India’s next phase of AI adoption must go beyond adding more tools and instead focus on redesigning work itself.
That means connecting systems, eliminating unnecessary coordination and enabling people to focus on higher-value, human-led work. More than a third of Indian employees lose over seven hours a week simply moving information between systems, compared with a global average of 21%.
That is effectively a full working day spent on coordination rather than value creation. This is more than a productivity challenge; it is a workforce transformation opportunity. The government’s IndiaAI Mission recognises that opportunity by combining AI infrastructure with FutureSkills and industry collaboration.
The next phase of AI must therefore move beyond automating individual tasks. By embedding intelligence into workflows, organisations can eliminate friction, return time to employees and enable people to focus on judgement, creativity and innovation. That is the real promise of AI: not simply faster work, but better work.
Skills, not just jobs, will define the next workforce
The future of work will be shaped less by which jobs AI replaces and more by which skills it makes more valuable. Research on the evolving workplace finds that 43% of Indian employees use both AI tools mandated by their employers and additional tools they choose themselves.
This signals a workforce actively exploring how AI can augment its capabilities. It also makes skills development a strategic priority. For India, AI can help organisations identify adjacent skills, personalise learning and create pathways to higher-value roles.
This can turn workforce transformation into continuous capability building. Instead of treating skills as static credentials attached to particular roles, businesses will need to understand how capabilities evolve and where employees can move as technology changes the nature of work.
The CHRO as architect of an AI-powered enterprise
AI is redefining the role of HR from workforce management to workforce architecture. Leaders need real-time visibility into critical skills, emerging capabilities and where technology can augment people. AI enables continuous workforce planning, helping organisations respond faster to changing business priorities. For them, this agility can become a powerful competitive advantage.
Trust will be the foundation of successful AI adoption. Around 95% of Indian employees say AI increases their confidence in decisions when they trust the underlying system and data. This makes the quality, security and integrity of enterprise data as important as AI capability itself. As AI moves deeper into workflows, organisations must combine transparency, strong governance and human oversight.
Employees need to understand not only what AI can do, but also how decisions are made, what data is being used and where human judgement remains essential. The future will not be humans versus machines, but humans and AI working together, combining AI’s ability to analyse and automate with human judgement, creativity, empathy and accountability.
India’s opportunity is bigger than AI adoption
India’s opportunity is not simply to adopt AI, but to redefine how work gets done. Research shows that only 32% of Indian employees say AI is deeply embedded in their organisation’s core workflows, highlighting the significant opportunity ahead.
India’s broader technology ecosystem is already moving towards this next phase. The IndiaAI Mission is bringing together government, industry and academia to strengthen AI infrastructure, skills and innovation.
For enterprises, the next step is to move beyond standalone AI tools and redesign workflows around human and machine strengths. That means connecting systems, reducing unnecessary handoffs, building skills continuously and putting trust at the centre of deployment.
India has the opportunity to lead this shift. Its advantage will not come simply from adopting AI faster, but from using it to create organisations where technology removes friction and people have more time to do the work that matters.
The writer is president – India, Workday, a cloud-based software company.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of Financial Express.