India's two youths: From unemployed graduates to credit score chasers
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500+ questions on Economy with explanations
📌 Summary:
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India's youth presents a paradox: one segment aggressively monitors credit scores and drives consumption; another faces unemployment and wage stagnation
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Credit-score youth: 183 million Indians self-monitor credit scores (TransUnion CIBIL); Gen Z and millennials = 77% of this base; under-35s = majority of first-time borrowers; gold, two-wheeler, and consumption loans all see uptick within 3 months of score monitoring
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Unemployed youth: Workers' protests erupting across manufacturing hubs; graduates unable to find suitable employment
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Wage & Skills Gap: Average annual worker salary in 2023-24 = ₹2.2 lakh vs ₹14.1 lakh for supervisory/managerial staff — a near 6x disparity; AI is widening this gap further
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AI Impact: Traditional IT services salary growth flat; AI, data science, and cloud roles command a premium of ₹5-10 lakh over comparable non-AI roles; financial services sector moving away from back-office roles toward analytics and risk functions
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Structural Issue: Job creation in manufacturing and services not keeping pace with educational output; inequality between high-skill and low-skill workers deepening
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International Comparison: China's youth unemployment hit 16.9% (March 2026); China population shrank by 3 million in 2025; India's population still growing — making employment creation even more urgent
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Demographic Urgency: India has only 10-15 years to leverage its youth bulge before demographic shift toward ageing population begins (PRICE think-tank warning)
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