Labour markets worldwide are in profound transition — AI is redrawing roles across industries, demographic shifts are reshaping talent supply, and the skills that command a premium are changing faster than most workforce plans.

In this session, senior economists take the stage to decode what large-scale hiring data actually reveals about where the world of work is headed. Drawing on research from Indeed's Hiring Lab — spanning millions of job postings across 60+ labour markets — alongside deep academic insight, they'll unpack which roles and skills are ascending, how AI is reshaping the demand curve, where global and Indian trends converge or diverge, and what it all means for how talent leaders should plan for the decade ahead.

Two of Mumbai's defining industries — BFSI and pharma — are being reshaped by the same global forces, but they're feeling them in very different ways. In banking, insurance and fintech, AI is rewriting roles faster than hiring plans can keep up, risk and compliance talent is scarce, and new-economy players compete hard for the same data and technology skills. In pharma, the pressure is compounded by a shifting trade landscape: US tariffs on pharmaceutical imports are pushing Indian drugmakers to rethink where they manufacture and hire, even as AI reshapes drug discovery and global capability centres pull niche R&D and regulatory talent into India.

In this session, senior economists decode what large-scale hiring data actually reveals about where these two sectors are headed. Drawing on Indeed's Hiring Lab research — millions of job postings across 60+ labour markets — alongside deep academic insight, they'll unpack which roles and skills are ascending in BFSI and pharma, how trade and tariff pressure is reshaping pharma's talent map.