Web3 Is Coming For Jobs: How Automation, Blockchain Can Upend India’s Workforce, What Can Be Done | Explainers News

Young job seekers should invest in foundational digital literacy, hybrid skills, apprenticeship, and project-based learning for real work experience. (Getty Images)

A new technological layer called Web3 is arriving at a peculiar moment in the country. A summit that took place in Mumbai on October 30 highlighted how technologies can improve transparency, streamline operations, and unlock new avenues for investment. The Indian economy is still absorbing the effects of digital payments, platform work, and pandemic-era acceleration of remote services. At the same time, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, decentralised finance, and tokenised platforms are remaking jobs, careers, and how work is organised.

The question is not only which jobs will disappear, but who replaces them, how firms and states manage the transition, and whether India’s predominantly informal workforce will be dragged into the new order. Let us understand.

What Is The Scale Of The Challenge In India?

India has roughly 570 million workers, of whom an estimated 80% remain in the informal economy, per a report by Quess Corp on ‘India’s Workforce Trends & Quess Corp Role in Formalisation’. The gig and platform workforce is sizeable and growing; government and policy briefs put early-2020s gig worker counts in the low millions with projections to rise significantly over the decade.

Meanwhile, efforts to formalise work have accelerated: social-security coverage and registrations on portals like e-Shram have grown sharply in recent years. These shifts matter because large swathes of India’s labour force have limited buffers against displacement.

At the same time, new digital sectors are creating jobs. Web3-related hiring — for blockchain developers, smart-contract auditors, NFT and metaverse roles — has rebounded after a dip, with several tens of thousands of roles reported globally and thousands of openings in Asia in 2024-25. But these jobs require specialist skills and global exposure, and they are unlikely to absorb the millions at risk from automation.

Which Jobs Are At Stake?

The combination of automation and digitisation threatens routine, repetitive tasks across sectors first. Manufacturing roles with predictable workflows face robotisation; clerical, data-entry, and basic book-keeping work are vulnerable to process automation and AI; transport may see partial automation in logistics and warehouses.

In services, low-complexity customer support and some back-office banking tasks can be automated. Agricultural mechanisation will reshape labour in some regions, while AI-driven diagnostics and decision systems will alter roles in healthcare and education.

A second set of jobs is at risk because Web3 and blockchain change how tasks are verified and paid. Middle-layer jobs that mediate transactions — for example, certain kinds of brokering, low-value compliance checks, and manual record-keeping — can be replaced by smart contracts and distributed ledgers that automate verification and settlement.

That said, automation is not a job destroyer. Historical studies show technology displaces tasks more than entire occupations; many roles are re-engineered, not eliminated. The creation of new jobs in cloud operations, data engineering, blockchain security, token economics, community management for decentralised projects, and platform moderation can offset losses. But only if workers can acquire the new skills fast enough. Global modelling suggests large net displacements are plausible over the next decade if reskilling lags.

Who Will Be Hit The Hardest?

Two groups are most exposed. First, the low-skilled and semi-skilled workforce in formal manufacturing and clerical services; second, informal workers who perform routine urban services (shop assistants, small-scale logistics, workers in small factories) and low-value gig tasks. These workers often lack formal social protection, steady upskilling channels, or access to quality digital training.

Women and rural migrants — large components of the informal economy — face disproportionate risk because their job transitions require local opportunities, time flexibility, and often social support. Young people without strong digital skills or vocational pathways are vulnerable to underemployment — employed but stuck in low-productivity roles — as the economy polarises into digitally intensive and low-productivity segments.

How Are States Preparing? Are Skill Programmes Being Aligned?

At the national level, India runs major skill programmes: the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and a host of state initiatives that have trained millions in short-term courses. Between FY 2022–23 and FY 2024–25, the ministry’s records show large enrolment numbers (20,34,686 as of October) under PMKVY across states, indicating capacity and intent to scale skilling efforts.

But scale alone is not enough. Many of the courses target traditional trades or short-duration certifications; bridging the gap to high-value digital skills — cloud engineering, AI tools, blockchain security, smart-contract auditing — requires deeper, longer, and higher-quality courses, plus employer partnerships.

States are experimenting. Some have tied skilling to local industry clusters — electronics in Tamil Nadu, textiles in Gujarat, IT and start-up skilling in Karnataka. A few states are piloting digital apprenticeship models and public-private skilling centres that attempt to align curriculum with employer needs. But across the board, alignment is not in sync.

Many short courses result in low wage premiums because they train for jobs that are scarce locally or do not include on-the-job training. Scaling Web3-relevant training, which often demands deep software fundamentals, cryptography, and security know-how, will require multi-year investments and partnerships with universities and private tech firms.

How Blockchain, Real-Time Data & Digital Governance Affect Informal Sector

Blockchain and digitisation can be double-edged swords for the informal economy. On the positive side, digital identity, tokenised payments, and ledger records could bring informal workers into formal value chains. Imagine small contractors proving work history via immutable records, receiving micro-payments automatically upon task completion through smart contracts, or fractionalising assets so local entrepreneurs can raise capital. These are real possibilities: digital registers and real-time data can reduce delays in payments, improve access to credit, and make welfare delivery more efficient.

But there is a downside. Blockchain systems are not magic: they require internet access, device ownership, digital literacy, and interoperable standards. If only a fraction of informal actors can use these tools, existing power asymmetries will deepen. Middlemen, who currently mediate market access, may be replaced. But in their absence, small sellers could be squeezed by large on-platform buyers unless governance protections exist. Worse, poorly designed digital governance can displace livelihoods overnight: automated subsidy switches, real-time eligibility checks, and algorithmic profiling can exclude those who don’t fit neat digital records.

Ideally, blockchain should be deployed as a tool for inclusion — portable credentials, transparent marketplaces, and tamper-proof wage ledgers — accompanied by public investment in connectivity and training. Without that, real-time data will formalise winners and marginalise the rest.

The Changing Idea Of ‘Employment Security’

Employment security traditionally meant job tenure, steady income, benefits, and a predictable career ladder. In the Web3/automation era, that definition fractures. Secure employment will increasingly mean a bundle of resilience measures: digital skills portability, access to universal social protection (unlinked to a single employer), rapid upskilling pathways, and guaranteed minimum income streams via portable benefits.

For many young workers, security will be less about long tenure and more about continuous employability: the ability to move quickly between short-term contracts, platform gigs, and remote project work while maintaining income stability through social safety nets. That requires policy choices: decoupling social protection from formal payrolls, universalising basic health and unemployment coverage, and building public systems for lifelong learning.

India has made progress: recent expansions in social protection coverage and the e-Shram registration platform have widened the safety net and helped bring more informal workers into visibility. But operationalising “portable” benefits at scale is the hardest part, requiring interoperable databases, predictable funding, and political consensus.

Jobs That Will Grow, Not Just Those That Will Shrink

It is easy to focus on jobs at risk; the other side is job creation. Web3, automation, and digitisation will expand roles in software engineering, cybersecurity, blockchain development, data analytics, and digital product design. They will also increase demand for “adjacent” skills: community management for decentralised projects, compliance roles for token economies, digital legal expertise on smart contracts, and content moderation for immersive platforms.

Manufacturing will still need technicians who can maintain automated lines, and healthcare will need tech-savvy practitioners who can interpret AI outputs. Importantly, many new roles will have hybrid skill sets — part domain knowledge, part digital fluency — which changes how colleges and vocational training should design curricula.

Web3 offers novel income models, too. Creators and artisans could monetise via NFTs and tokenised royalties, community-run DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations) could fund local projects, and microtask platforms could pay more transparently using smart contracts — if regulation protects workers and prevents rent extraction by intermediaries.

Are There Policy Gaps In India’s Labour Reforms?

There are three main challenges:

First, labour law reforms have modernised industrial relations and consolidated statutes. But still struggle to address platform work and micro-contracting. Many protections (minimum wages, dispute resolution) are difficult to enforce in fragmented platforms. The legal imagination must expand to recognise multi-party work relationships, algorithmic management, and cross-border gig contracts.

Second, social security remains partially decoupled from work. Recent improvements in coverage are promising, but universal portability — the ability to accrue pension, healthcare, and unemployment benefits while moving across platforms and jobs — is not yet mature. Designing funding models for portable benefits, possibly blending employer contributions, government top-ups, and social insurance pools, is urgent.

Third, upskilling at scale. Short, piecemeal courses are insufficient. India needs deep, modular programmes that combine digital fundamentals (coding, cybersecurity basics), sectoral knowledge, and soft skills, delivered through accredited public-private partnerships and linked to apprenticeships. Financing is a blocker: vocational pathways must be affordable, with incentives for firms to hire trainees.

Finally, governance of new tech is nascent. Web3 raises governance questions from token-based incentives to decentralised ownership that existing labour and commercial laws do not cover. Policy must balance innovation with protection, ensuring platforms cannot outsource risk while capturing value.

What Should Young People Entering The Workforce Do?

For young job seekers, invest in foundational digital literacy — not just narrow tools but concepts: Data flows, privacy, basic coding, and cybersecurity hygiene. Second, hybrid skills are key: combine a domain (health, logistics, agriculture) with a digital layer (data analytics, IoT management, blockchain basics). Third, prefer apprenticeship and project-based learning that lead to real work experience. Fourth, seek credentials that are portable and recognised across firms.

Beyond skills, cultivating adaptability and a mindset for life-long learning is crucial. In a world where platforms appear and vanish quickly, reputation — demonstrable work output, verified portfolios, and network credibility — will matter more than formal degrees in some sectors.

How States And The Centre Should Act Now

Policy action should be coordinated across levels. States must map local vulnerability and opportunity — which districts face high automation risk, which clusters can be upgraded into electronics, EV, or data centres, and where gig work dominates. States should link PMKVY and similar schemes to local industrial demand, create apprenticeship ladders with firms, and invest in community digital centres.

The Central government should fast-track portable social protection, build national APIs for secure credentialing, and underwrite risk-sharing for firms that hire and train. Regulations must clarify platform liabilities, algorithmic transparency, and worker grievance redressal. For blockchain and Web3, a clear tax and legal framework will reduce informality and speculative rent-seeking.

Risk Vs Opportunity: What To Conclude?

Web3 and automation produce both disruption and creation. Millions of jobs, including those of highly-skilled professionals, could slowly get automated. The better scenario depends on choices: large-scale, high-quality reskilling; social protection that travels with workers; regulation that prevents platforms from externalising risk; and targeted investment to upgrade clusters.

India has a partial head start — vast demographic energy, growing formal registrations, and ambitious skilling programmes. But the clock is ticking. If training is misaligned, social protection remains tethered to conventional payrolls, and informal actors are left outside digital markets, the country will face a widening chasm between high-paying digital work and precarious, low-paid informal labour.

Thus, Web3 and automation will not “take all jobs” overnight. But they will change the terms of security, the shape of career ladders, and the bargaining power of workers. The policy task is therefore monumental: stitch together skills, social protection, and sensible regulation so that the new technologies expand opportunity rather than entrench inequality.