A Bengaluru-based startup founder has offered a blunt view of why many young Indians are feeling increasingly frustrated, pointing to a combination of job shortages, rising living costs, artificial intelligence and the weakening link between education and economic security. Rohan Mayya, co-founder of Aeos Games and a Y Combinator alumnus, shared his observations in a post on X. He argued that the traditional path of earning a degree, getting a stable job, saving money and eventually buying a home is becoming harder to follow. Mayya’s comments are his personal assessment of India’s economic situation, rather than a comprehensive explanation of youth unemployment. However, several of the concerns he raised, particularly around graduate employment and the changing technology job market, are part of wider discussions about India’s workforce.
From degrees to jobs, the old promise is changing
Mayya began his post by highlighting the large number of young people entering India’s workforce every year. He wrote that roughly 10 million people graduate across degree programmes annually, including around 1.5 million engineering graduates. The engineering figure is broadly consistent with recent estimates from industry and media reports. India produces about 1.5 million engineering graduates each year, although employability and actual hiring vary considerably. Mayya argued that the problem is not simply the number of graduates but whether the economy can create enough suitable opportunities for them.“Many can’t find meaningful work,” he wrote, using “meaningful” to describe work that does not resemble the kind of pointless employment discussed in David Graeber’s book Bullshit Jobs. He also pointed to the disruption caused by Covid-19 and the subsequent rise of artificial intelligence. The technology sector, once viewed as one of the most reliable destinations for skilled graduates, has seen changes in hiring patterns as companies invest in automation and AI.That does not mean AI has eliminated technology jobs. In fact, some forecasts suggest AI could create substantial new opportunities in India. Goldman Sachs, for instance, has projected that India’s AI sector could generate more than 2.3 million job openings by 2027, while also highlighting a shortage of appropriately skilled workers. The challenge, therefore, may be less about technology simply destroying all jobs and more about how quickly skills, hiring practices and available opportunities are changing.
Why Mayya says technology became the main option
Mayya also questioned whether young Indians have enough alternatives when traditional technology careers become harder to access. “We are not inherently a manufacturing country the way China is, and ordinary people don’t know how to enter manufacturing either,” he wrote. He also raised concerns about India’s relatively low investment in research and development. His estimate of around 0.7% of GDP is broadly in line with recent government figures, which place India’s gross expenditure on R&D at around 0.6% to 0.7% of GDP. According to Mayya, limited R&D opportunities can make research-orientated careers less attractive domestically, while manufacturing and other physical businesses can involve significant barriers.“Corruption and bureaucracy make it challenging to do things in the physical world; software was the only haven,” he wrote. This helps explain his broader argument. For years, software and IT offered Indian graduates a relatively accessible route into well-paid professional employment. But as hiring slows in some areas and AI changes the skills companies need, that route no longer feels as predictable to many young workers. Mayya also pointed to inflation and housing costs. He argued that even when people earn and save, rising living expenses can reduce the value of those earnings.“Inflation eating away at what you have,” he wrote, while also arguing that housing prices have become increasingly difficult for young professionals to afford. His claim that an average apartment costs $300,000 should be treated as his observation rather than a national average, because property prices differ enormously across Indian cities and neighbourhoods.
The bigger concern is economic security
At the heart of Mayya’s argument is the idea that the relationship between education and financial security has changed. “You’re not guaranteed a job after college now, like you were 10 years ago,” he wrote. The broader employment picture supports some of his concern, although the situation is more complicated than saying degrees have become worthless. Recent reports have highlighted a gap between the number of graduates India produces and the skills employers require. Mayya went further, writing that “degrees are mostly worthless” and describing India’s economy as becoming increasingly “K shaped”, with a small group benefiting disproportionately from technological change and wealth creation.His conclusion, however, was not entirely pessimistic. “My only hope is that in the long term, tech is the one true deflationary factor, which hopefully fixes a lot of this,” he wrote. Mayya’s post has resonated because it captures a concern familiar to many young professionals: getting educated and acquiring skills no longer automatically guarantees the stable career and financial progress previous generations expected. At the same time, India’s growing technology, startup and AI sectors suggest the employment story is still evolving. The bigger question may be whether new industries and skills can expand quickly enough to give India’s large young workforce meaningful opportunities.
