AI jobs rise 51% in India, but 75% of job skills could change by 2030: LinkedIn India head

Artificial intelligence is not simply changing the jobs people do but also the skills required to perform them, according to Kumaresh Pattabiraman, India Country Manager and Product Head at LinkedIn.

Speaking at the Business Today India@100 event, Pattabiraman said the rapid diffusion of AI is already reshaping India's labour market, with new roles emerging while existing jobs evolve.

“Since 2023 globally there have been 2 million new jobs that are AI related that have been added and of those a good 311,000 were added in India,” he said. AI engineering roles in India, he added, have risen 51% in the last year.

Pattabiraman said AI was different from earlier technology waves such as the internet, mobile and personal computers because of the speed at which it is spreading. Access to AI is also reaching professionals in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities faster than previous technologies did, he said.

According to Pattabiraman, the impact of AI on jobs will differ depending on the tasks involved. Some tasks will be automated, some augmented by AI, while others will remain uniquely human. “The premium on those skills will go up even more,” he said.

The shift is also changing how companies hire. With AI agents helping candidates apply for jobs, recruiters can receive hundreds or even thousands of applications within hours. Pattabiraman said candidates can consequently begin to look similar on paper, making it harder for recruiters to distinguish who is genuinely qualified.

This is driving a move towards skills-first hiring. According to data shared by Pattabiraman, 46% of recruiters are now using skills to make hiring decisions. He said candidates increasingly need to demonstrate their capabilities through their actual work rather than simply list qualifications or claim expertise. “It's not just don't take my word or an agent's word for my skills. Show it to me,” he said.

Pattabiraman also highlighted the emergence of AI opportunities beyond India's traditional technology hubs. Vijayawada, for instance, has seen a 46% increase in AI engineering roles in the last year, he said. LinkedIn's data also shows that professionals in India are learning at twice the rate of the global average and spending 50% more time on LinkedIn Learning than the global average. At the same time, the nature of existing jobs is changing.

Pattabiraman cited social media managers as an example of a role whose title may remain unchanged even as the skills required to perform it evolve significantly because of AI tools.

LinkedIn expects 75% of job skills in India to change by 2030, he said. For young professionals, Pattabiraman's advice is to focus less on a specific job title and instead develop a combination of AI capabilities and uniquely human skills such as curiosity, courage, communication and compassion. “The ability to pick up new ways of working fast is what matters at this time,” he said.

Watch the full conversation here: