Jobs
India’s care economy could create 60 million jobs by 2030
NATIONAL: India is sitting on one of its largest untapped growth engines: care work. Long treated as a private household responsibility, the care economy already employs an estimated 36 million people, yet remains undervalued, informal and largely invisible in economic planning.
A new report argues that care must be reimagined as a core economic sector, capable of anchoring India’s next phase of growth. With targeted investment in skilling, certification, formalisation and demand creation, the sector could generate over 60 million jobs by 2030 and create market value of $300 billion.
The study redefines the care economy for India by mapping 13 distinct care personas, spanning childcare, eldercare, disability support, rehabilitation, mental health, wellness, beauty, domestic services and care enterprise management. This broader definition captures the fragmented but vast reality of paid care in India, much of which remains statistically invisible and politically neglected.
Contrary to entrenched assumptions, the report finds that care jobs are not inherently low-value or precarious. Where roles are formalised and linked to organised service delivery, care work can offer stable, predictable and often comparatively well-paid employment, particularly for women and young workers. The constraint, it argues, is not demand but design.
Care demand is geographically dispersed, cutting across metros, tier-2 and tier-3 cities, peri-urban regions and rural India. This makes it one of the few sectors where growth is naturally decentralised, capable of creating quality jobs where people already live and reducing distress migration.
Despite rising demand driven by ageing, chronic disease and changing family structures, the sector continues to grow by default rather than by design. Workers bear the risks of informality and income volatility, enterprises struggle to scale without regulatory clarity, and households face uneven quality and high costs.
The report calls for explicit fiscal and institutional intent in the Union Budget, including dedicated allocations for care services, skilling and worker protection. It proposes a National Care Services Mission, aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat, to treat care as productive economic infrastructure rather than welfare expenditure.
A proposed Nurture framework outlines how mission-led governance, skill pathways, regulation, technology, social protection and enterprise growth could convert an invisible workforce into a structured industry. The report concludes that the question for policymakers is no longer whether care should be prioritised, but whether India is ready to build it deliberately.
Jobs
Oracle layoffs jolt workforce; 30,000 jobs at risk globally, 12,000 in India
Early-morning emails, no warning, as AI-led reset sweeps through teams
Austin: Oracle has triggered a sweeping wave of layoffs, blindsiding employees with pre-dawn emails and fuelling fears of a deep workforce reset as the company pivots towards artificial intelligence.
Staff across teams reported receiving termination notices as early as 5 to 6 am, with roles scrapped effective immediately. There was little warning and, in many cases, no prior conversations with managers or HR, amplifying the shock.
The cuts are believed to span Oracle’s computing business across regions, including India and Mexico. While the company has not confirmed the scale, posts on Blind, Reddit and X point to widespread disruption.
India appears among the hardest hit. Nearly 12,000 employees may have been laid off from a base of around 30,000, according to ANI. Globally, job losses are being pegged at close to 30,000, about 18 per cent of Oracle’s workforce, though this remains unverified by the company.
Accounts from inside teams suggest steep reductions. One X user wrote: “Just got a call from a friend who is a senior manager (at Oracle). 6 out of 20 members have been asked to leave. In many teams, almost 50% of team members are gone. Total layoffs are almost 20%.”
In several cases, emails sent directly from “Oracle Leadership” were followed by immediate revocation of system access, effectively locking employees out within minutes.
An internal note cited “organisational changes”, adding that “because of these changes, a decision has been taken to streamline the operations, and as a result, unfortunately, the position you currently hold will become redundant.”
The severance package reportedly includes 15 days’ salary for each year of service, one month’s notice pay, leave encashment, gratuity based on eligibility and a two-month salary top-up. However, this is said to apply to those who opt to resign voluntarily.
Sources suggest another round of cuts could follow within a month, though there is no official confirmation.
The layoffs come as Oracle ramps up spending on AI infrastructure and data centres, mirroring a broader industry shift. Amazon and others have trimmed headcount this year to fund similar bets.
The signal is stark. In the AI race, jobs are the first casualty, and the axe may not have finished swinging.
