AI Chatbots Threaten Lakhs Of Jobs As India's Call-Centre Industry Faces Technological Disruption

India's call-centre industry, part of the India's multi-billion dollar IT sector, is facing unprecedented disruption as artificial intelligence chatbots rapidly replace human workers.

At a Bengaluru startup, developers at LimeChat have created generative AI agents that enable clients to slash by 80 per cent the number of workers needed to handle 10,000 monthly queries.

The technology represents a fundamental shift for an industry that has long been a cornerstone of India's economy.

AI-powered systems are now handling tasks once performed by headset-wearing graduates in technical support, customer care and data management.

Virtual agents manage basic functions like password resets and balance updates, whilst more sophisticated bots handle complex customer interactions in increasingly human-like ways.

K Krithivasan, chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, which employs over 600,000 people, predicted to the Financial Times that call centres receiving incoming calls would become rare within a year.

A recent NITI Aayog report estimated AI could cause job losses for about two million people in India's technology sector, mainly in routine roles.

Rather than slowing adoption, India is accelerating its embrace of AI-driven disruption, wagering that new opportunities will absorb displaced workers.

The global conversational AI market is growing 24 per cent annually and should reach over 40 billion by 2030.

While AI threatens traditional roles, new positions are emerging for data annotators, prompt engineers and AI trainers.

However, industry observers estimate that for every 10 jobs lost in the sector, AI might create only one or two new opportunities, leaving millions to navigate an uncertain employment landscape.