India's large unskilled labour market could be squeezed as robots are used to keep up with the country's growing e-commerce sector. Akash Gupta, CTO of start-up GreyOrange said the firm's two robots, Butler and Sorter, could replace between 60% and 80% of staff, while industry analysts predict traditional warehouse jobs for humans won't exist in two or three years' time. The rise of automation is also expected to create a new class of "gig economy" workers, who will work on short-term contracts that can last from one day to several weeks.
India's large unskilled labour market could be squeezed as robots are used to keep up with the country's growing e-commerce sector. Akash Gupta, CTO of start-up GreyOrange said the firm's two robots, Butler and Sorter, could replace between 60% and 80% of staff, while industry analysts predict traditional warehouse jobs for humans won't exist in two or three years' time. According to advisory firm Forrester Research India, in four years the country's e-commerce sector is set to be worth $64bn, with major players such as Flipkart and Amazon battling to attract customers.