Hey readers,
There's a peculiar trait among men who cook at home. Yes, I know it is a minority group. Initially, many of us get obsessed with mastering one dish. Then maybe a few more. But usually, it stays occasional - unlike our mothers, for whom cooking is part and parcel of their daily routine.
After marriage, though - at least in my case, once I decided to break the gender roles - the equation changed completely. I had to think about groceries, protein intake, guests, missing ingredients, power cuts, cooking while travelling, and so on. Suddenly, it's less about one recipe and more about adapting. What matters then is not just mastering a process, but building capabilities that travel across situations.
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Today, we have a pack of articles that almost talk about the same thing.
Last week, I wrote about how India's informal economy generates a lot less value than it could, thanks to labour laws. This week, I went state-by-state with the same data. Some observations are stark. Uttar Pradesh has scale. It has the highest number of businesses in India. But it also remains stuck in the low-productivity, low-wage quadrant.
Uttarakhand sits at the other extreme: highly productive, but with one of India's largest formal-informal wage gaps. And then there's Maharashtra - one of the most productive states, yet workers receive a small share of the value they create. And that's why .
Then, let's talk about AI taking our jobs. For two centuries, economic progress meant becoming specialised in finer aspects of an industry, a process or even a qualification. AI could reverse that logic. We might have to do everything because this time technology might eat the jobs of white-collar workers, especially the process specialists whose work is skilled but repetitive and screen-based.
So, we need to think about how we can become more valuable. In doing that, we might have to know and do a lot more work than we did earlier. I have included a proper framework here: AI Can Reduce Specialists' Roles.
AI could pose another risk at the macro level. India relies on software and business consultancy for services exports. Unfortunately, progress in exports of R&D, tourism, financial services and other industries has been sluggish with little signs of success in the near term. That theme became: India Should Worry About Its Services Exports.
There is a common thread across all three: scale alone does not guarantee resilience, success, or adaptability in the future.
A state cannot simply boast about having more firms. It needs more productive firms to remove poverty. Similarly, having degrees and years of experience in highly specialised tasks may not matter as much in the AI age if those skills cannot adapt to changing realities.
And India's position as a software-services hub may not remain enough if parts of that work can disappear with a few clicks on ChatGPT or Claude. India needs a diversified and value-added services export model.
In other words, growth without productivity, adaptability, and deeper capabilities will not make India's growth broad, deep, or durable.
That's the week.
If you made it this far, I'd love to hear from you.
Which of these stories stayed with you? What stories can you share around these topics?
And more importantly, what should I dig into next?
An everyday object, a policy, a price that suddenly changed, a trend that's growing around... send it my way. Just hit reply. I read everything.
See you next Saturday.
Cheers, Swapnil
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NDTV Profit or its affiliates. Readers are advised to conduct their own research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment or business decisions. NDTV Profit does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented in this article.
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