🤖 AI’s Wake-Up Call for India

PLUS: Bank of Baroda Bets on Home Loans

Author

Ruchirr Sharma
November 04, 2025

 

Good morning. It’s a great day - let’s go after it đź’Ş 

Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Amazon’s latest round of 14,000 global layoffs is more than a corporate restructuring story — it’s a warning shot for India. The jobs being cut aren’t factory or warehouse roles but white-collar positions in tech, finance, marketing, and HR. In other words, AI is no longer just automating code; it’s coming for the cubicle.

For India, which has the world’s largest youth population and a thriving outsourcing industry, this shift hits close to home. Sectors in Bengaluru and Hyderabad are already feeling the pressure as AI tools replace tasks once handled by fresh graduates. Academic research backs this up: automation is now moving from blue-collar to cognitive work, threatening entry-level jobs that form the foundation of upward mobility.

The implications are stark. With 18.5% youth unemployment in cities and women’s workforce participation below 22%, the disappearance of entry-level roles could trap millions before their careers even begin. If AI erases grunt work, who will train new workers? Who will mentor the next generation?

There’s still a window to act. Experts call for heavy R&D investment, AI-focused education, and tax breaks for innovation. India must move from using AI to building AI, or risk becoming a consumer of technologies that destroy its own job base.

Three hundred years ago, India missed the Industrial Revolution. The question now is whether it will miss the AI revolution too. Amazon’s layoffs may just be the canary in the coal mine — and the warning couldn’t be louder.

BANKING

Bank of Baroda (BoB) is doubling down on retail lending even as global uncertainty looms. The state-run lender expects credit costs to rise by over 0.2% due to US tariffs and geopolitical tensions, keeping its overall guidance steady at 0.75% despite recent improvements in asset quality.

CEO Debadatta Chand said the bank will aggressively grow its home loan book until its mortgage market share matches its overall loan market share. The move comes as private banks accuse state-run peers of “irrational pricing”, with BoB offering 7.45% rates to top-rated borrowers. Chand countered that the home loan portfolio’s yield remains higher than corporate loans, making the strategy sustainable.

Around 17% of BoB’s loan book is international, and the bank is closely tracking stress in sectors hit by tariffs. Chand said relief packages for affected industries could soften the blow, and the bank would deal “sensitively” with such borrowers.

BoB is also bullish on MSME lending, pointing to benefits from credit guarantee schemes. With Rs 40,000 crore in sanctioned loans yet to be disbursed, the bank expects growth in the second half without squeezing margins.

As deposits get repriced at lower levels by March, margins may even improve. Meanwhile, BoB’s foreign loan book continues to expand through global debt syndication, though Chand hinted that further global expansion will wait for tariff clarity.

Investors liked the mix of caution and ambition — BoB’s stock closed up 4.6% at Rs 291.1 on Monday.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

🧉 PepsiCo Eyes India’s Booming Ready-to-Drink Alcohol Market - Soft-drink leader PepsiCo is exploring entry into India’s rapidly growing ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverage market, partnering with bottler Varun Beverages Ltd in discussions over low-alcohol cocktails. The push aligns with global trends toward convenience, premiumisation and social-drinking among millennials and Gen Z, who prefer chilled, ready-served formats over traditional spirits. India’s RTD segment is estimated to grow at ~6% CAGR through 2035, led by urban centres with higher disposable incomes. However, the business faces regulatory complexity as alcohol distribution and taxation vary widely across states, potentially slowing scale-up.

HEADLINES

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

What’s happening in India (and around the world 🌍️)

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