Ruchir Sharma, chairman of Rockefeller International.
Updated on: 07 Jul 2026, 1:59 am
NEW DELHI: India is yet to meaningfully benefit from the global ‘China+1’ supply chain shift and remains a difficult place for foreign investors to do business chairman of Rockefeller International. Speaking to this newspaper in a wide-ranging interview, he said the world risks overestimating the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI)
“We are in an AI bubble,” said Sharma, adding that and one of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it will ‘kill jobs’. “Technology doesn’t kill jobs. It kills professions,” the prominent global investor and author said. “Every technological revolution destroys certain professions but creates entirely new ones. We tend to focus on what’s being destroyed rather than what’s being created.”
He pointed to historical technological shifts and the Jevons Paradox, technological progress increases efficiency, and so overall consumption goes up rather than decreases, as reasons to believe AI will create new forms of work even as it automates existing roles
“I don’t believe the world is going to be defined by an ‘AI or bye-bye’ mindset.” He then clarified: “I am a huge believer in AI as a technology. It is going to be transformative. But the current view is far too unifocal.”
On India’s AI ambitions, Sharma said partnerships with countries from France to Japan are important but can’t quickly bridge India’s infrastructure gap. “The winners are the countries producing AI infrastructure (from semiconductors to data centres)”, he said. While India’s strength has been “software, not hardware,” AI leaders invest 3-4% of GDP in technology and R&D, compared with about 1% in India
On manufacturing, Sharma offered a blunt assessment of India’s performance in attracting global supply chains. “The big beneficiaries of China+1 (a supply chain strategy where companies keep part of their manufacturing operations in China but move some production to another country) have been Vietnam and South Korea. We have not seen anything really on that front in any meaningful way.”
He said India’s biggest obstacle is the domestic business climate. “At the end of the day, India is a very tough place to do business,” Sharma said, citing coordination challenges across different levels of government. He also warned against complacency
“There is this underlying attitude that ‘where else will the money go?’ It has to come to India because the market is so large. I think that prevents the most efficient policymaking.”
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Artificial Intelligence AI
Ruchir Sharma
Rockefeller International
