The AI Disruption & The Silent Taxpayer: Why India Needs an Unemployment Safety Net for Tech & Salaried Professionals
The AI Disruption & The Silent Taxpayer: Why India Needs an Unemployment Safety Net for Tech & Salaried Professionals Walk into any tech corridor in Whitefield, Hinjawadi, OMR, or Cyber City today, and behind the gleaming glass facades lies an unspoken dread: the sudden, unceremonious pink slip . For over two decades, India's Information Technology (IT) and software services sector was celebrated as the ultimate middle-class wealth generator. Today, that stability faces an existential inflection point. Generative AI, automated coding agents, and corporate cost-rationalisation are sweeping through legacy service models, leaving mid-to-senior software engineers, QA leads, project managers, and solution architects vulnerable to overnight layoffs. Yet, when a software professional earning ₹18L–₹35L gets laid off, India's statutory safety net is entirely absent. Blue-collar workers earning under ₹21,000/month have access to ESIC's Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana , whi...