Angel One Group CEO Ambarish Kenghe said artificial intelligence is likely to generate new categories of employment rather than merely displace existing workers, underscoring a more nuanced view of the technology's impact on India's labour market. Speaking on the broader implications of AI for business and work, Kenghe said demand for knowledge work is expected to rise, and that this shift will require individuals to continuously transform their skills, roles and professional identities.
Knowledge Work Expands
Kenghe's comments come at a time when companies across sectors are reassessing how AI will alter productivity, hiring and organisational design. In the startup and venture capital ecosystem, the dominant conversation has often focused on automation, cost reduction and the risk of job losses. Kenghe's framing, however, points to a different outcome: AI as a catalyst for new forms of work that depend on judgment, interpretation, oversight and domain expertise.
His remarks are significant because they reflect a growing consensus among technology leaders that AI is unlikely to operate as a simple replacement engine. Instead, it is expected to compress routine tasks while increasing the value of workers who can supervise systems, validate outputs, translate data into decisions and build products around AI-enabled workflows. In that sense, the technology may reduce demand for repetitive execution while increasing demand for higher-order knowledge functions.
For India, where the services economy has long relied on scale, process efficiency and skilled labour, the shift could be especially consequential. The country's startup sector has already begun integrating generative AI into customer support, financial services, software development and analytics. That adoption is creating pressure on firms to redesign roles rather than merely automate them away.
Workers Must Reinvent
Kenghe said the pace of change means every individual will need to transform themselves. That warning carries particular weight in a market where digital skills are becoming a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator. As AI tools become more capable, workers in technology, finance, operations, marketing and customer-facing roles may need to move up the value chain, focusing less on execution and more on strategy, problem-solving and human judgment.
The implication for employers is equally clear. Companies that treat AI as a pure efficiency lever may miss the broader restructuring underway in the labour market. Firms will need to invest in reskilling, internal mobility and role redesign if they want to retain talent and remain competitive. For startups, which often operate with lean teams and high growth expectations, the challenge will be to use AI to amplify human capability without hollowing out the organisational knowledge needed to scale responsibly.
The comments also align with a broader debate in India's venture-backed economy about how AI will affect the next generation of startups. Investors are increasingly backing companies that use AI not only to automate existing workflows but to create entirely new products, services and business models. That trend suggests the employment effects of AI may be more complex than a simple headcount reduction narrative.
India's AI Transition
India's labour market is entering a period of adjustment in which the winners are likely to be those who adapt fastest. The country has a large base of young professionals, a deep technology services sector and a fast-growing startup landscape, all of which make it highly exposed to AI-driven change. At the same time, those same strengths could position India to benefit if the workforce can move quickly into emerging roles.
Kenghe's comments are a reminder that the AI transition is not only a technology story but also a human capital story. The central question is no longer whether AI will change jobs, but how quickly workers, companies and institutions can respond. If knowledge work expands as he predicts, the challenge for India will be to ensure that the gains from AI are matched by broad-based skill development and organisational reinvention.
For the startup sector, the message is clear: AI is not just a tool for efficiency. It is a structural force that will reshape what companies build, how they hire and what kinds of expertise become valuable in the years ahead.