Future of Work: The Exciting New Story of Indian Startups

Blurb: How will work evolve for businesses? Who will do it? How to manage its demand and supply? These questions keep the management community pondering.

Two business professionals shaking hands

Blog Summary

TLDR

Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) on the Future of Work and Why India's Gig Economy Is the Next Structural Opportunity

What will the world of work look like in the future? Who will do it? How will its demand and supply be regulated? It is not an abstract question but the challenge of the coming phase of India's growth. And the answers are forming.

There are 160 million homemakers in India, of whom 10-12 are job-skilled and employable. As of June 2022, 36% of India's working-age population had a meaningful job. India's gig workforce, currently at 7.7 million, is projected to reach 23.5 million by 2029–30, growing at a 17

FAQs

1. What does “future of work” mean in the context of Indian startups?

The future of work isn't a trend, it's a structural shift. India is projected to have 23.5 million gig workers by 2029-30, while nearly 9 in 10 Indian employees now use AI at work, with over a third doing so daily. For Indian startups, this convergence of gig economy scale and AI adoption is creating entirely new business models, ones that didn't exist five years ago. Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) identified this shift early, placing patient capital behind companies reimagining how work gets done.

2. Why is the future of work especially relevant for Indian startups?

India's structural advantage is unique - a young, tech-savvy workforce, nearly one million young Indians entering the workforce every month, and rising smartphone penetration creating the infrastructure for distributed, flexible work at scale. As Pankaj Makkar puts it: "As the world becomes multi-polar and disruptive innovations in AI reshape jobs and industries, the next generation must become multicultural, adaptive, and focused on new-age skills that prepare truly global professionals." For BII, that's the kind of structural shift that patient capital was built to back.

3. What key challenges do startups face in this transition?

The hardest challenge isn't technology, it's trust at scale. India's gig workforce grew at a CAGR of 16.78% between 2011 and 2020, yet most of this talent remains outside formal quality systems. Nearly half of all gig work sits in medium-skilled roles precisely where AI-powered training, real-time feedback, and performance monitoring can make the biggest difference. BII backed SquadStack is navigating this directly combining conversational AI with a decentralised talent network to deliver enterprise-grade outcomes at scale.

4. How will technology shape the future of work?

As Pankaj Makkar puts it : "As the world becomes multi-polar and disruptive innovations in AI reshape jobs and industries, the next generation must become multicultural, adaptive, and focused on new-age skills." The data backs this up - India's job market is expecting a net gain of 33.89 million new workers by 2028, with an estimated 2.73 million new tech jobs created by AI adoption alone. For BII, this isn't disruption,it's the infrastructure of opportunity. SquadStack's AI-powered platform is already operationalising this future for India's enterprise sales industry today.

5. How does BII view its role in shaping the future of work?

Reflecting on BII's investment in SquadStack, Rohit Sood, Partner at BII, noted: "We have a strong bullish thesis on the future of work - SquadStack's technology provides ownership and flexibility to the large, diverse and distributed sales talent in the country." BII's patient capital approach is built for exactly this category - long-horizon bets where technology and human capital intersect. The future of work in India is still being written, and BII is excited to be part of that story.