Etailers intensify festive hiring; Indian GenAI’s talent crisis

Ecommerce companies are hiring more than they did in the past two years as the busy festive season shapes up. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.

Also in the letter:
■ ChatGPT, the flawed therapist
■ Nvidia’s strong Q2 showing
■ Xiaomi in legal soup

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India’s ecommerce giants are kicking off the festive season with a record hiring surge, anticipating their busiest quarter in three years. What’s different this time is who’s getting hired – a growing number of women and people with disabilities are joining the seasonal workforce in larger numbers than ever before.

By the numbers:

• Flipkart is hiring 220,000 temporary workers this season for the Big Billion Days sale, nearly double the number it hired last year.
• Amazon India is onboarding 150,000 gig and seasonal staff, up from 110,000 in 2023. This includes thousands of women and approximately 2,000 individuals with disabilities.
• Staffing firm CIEL HR expects gig hiring by ecommerce to jump 35–40%, potentially opening up to half a million jobs this season.

State of play: The demand surge is centred around delivery agents, warehouse staff, logistics coordinators, retail associates, and tech professionals. Etailers are doubling down on last-mile operations and back-end fulfilment, betting big on faster deliveries and better customer experience.

Also Read: Analysts see online platforms hiring 15% more this festival season; but onboarding faces delay



The numbers back the hiring spree.

Tell me more:

• According to market research firm Datum Intelligence, ecommerce sales during the festive period could touch Rs 1.2 lakh crore this year.
• It represents a sharp 27% jump from Rs 94,800 crore in 2023.
• Quick commerce alone is expected to contribute Rs 14,010 crore in net order value, indicating how deeply it has become embedded in festive shopping behaviour.

Getting ready: The festive calendar, running through Diwali, typically accounts for a significant share of the year’s revenue for consumer brands and online retailers. Analysts project a 15–20% rise in order volumes this year, with early sales around Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan already indicating strong momentum.

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The Generative AI wave is swelling in India, but there’s a severe shortage of people to ride it.

A new report by staffing firm TeamLease Digital has flagged a deepening talent crunch in the country’s generative AI space. For every ten open roles, there’s only one qualified engineer. And if upskilling doesn’t accelerate, the report warns, the talent gap could stretch to 53% by 2026, stalling enterprise ambitions.

Tell me more:

• Cloud computing is heading for a similar crunch, with demand expected to outstrip supply by 55–60% over the next two years.
• Global capability centres (GCCs) are leading the charge on tech hiring. They are projected to generate over 1.2 million of the 4.7 million new tech jobs expected by 2027. In 2025 alone, GCCs could drive 22–25% of all new white-collar tech roles.
• The IT products and services sector is expected to grow hiring by 11% in FY26, adding over 150,000 fresher roles.
• Women now make up 40% of the workforce in the top 20 GCCs —1.5 times the industry average.

Silver lining: The talent squeeze is pushing salaries north. "Generative AI Engineering and MLOps professionals are commanding premium salaries of Rs 58–60 LPA (lakh per annum) for senior talent," said Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital.

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A devastating story has reignited scrutiny around how AI handles mental health. Sixteen-year-old Adam Raine died by suicide after extensive conversations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT–chats that, according to his family, failed to offer help and instead encouraged him.

Driving the news: In a lawsuit, Raine’s family alleged that ChatGPT replied to nearly 200 messages about suicide with over 1,200 references of its own. It reportedly offered detailed suggestions, including how to write a suicide note, but never urged Adam to seek human help or mental health support.

OpenAI’s response: The company expressed condolences and has since added new safeguards, including parental controls for teen users. It also introduced measures to direct users more reliably to crisis resources. However, a spokesperson admitted that these tools perform well only in short sessions and often break down in prolonged interactions.

Growing concerns: With AI chatbots becoming digital confidantes, especially among teens, mental health experts are raising red flags. They warn that the illusion of empathy can deepen isolation. Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged the risks, calling the growing dependence of young users on AI chatbots “bad” and “dangerous.”

Also Read: Study says AI chatbots inconsistent in handling suicide-related queries

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The AI boom may be facing sceptics, but Nvidia isn’t one of them. In a bullish second-quarter showing, the chipmaker exceeded expectations with record revenue and profit, although its outlook failed to impress certain parts of Wall Street.

Financials:

• Sales surged 56% year-on-year (YoY) to $46.74 billion.
• Net profit climbed over 59% YoY to $26.42 billion.
• Q3 revenue guidance of $54 billion landed slightly below LSEG’s average analyst estimate of $53.14 billion, and underwhelmed some who expected closer to $60 billion.

Reactions: Analysts stayed upbeat, lifting price targets and doubling down on long-term potential. Investors were more cautious. The stock closed marginally lower on Wednesday, reflecting mixed sentiment.

Quote, unquote: "A new industrial revolution has started. The AI race is on," CEO Jensen Huang said during a call with analysts. "We see $3 trillion to $4 trillion in AI infrastructure spend by the end of the decade."

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Apple and Samsung — the two largest premium smartphone brands in India — have served separate cease-and-desist notices to rival Xiaomi over certain advertisements. They allege that the Chinese company maligned their devices to promote its own offerings.

Driving the news:

• In full-page print advertisements in March and April, Xiaomi compared the price and specifications of Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max with its 15 Ultra model, questioning whether the iPhone truly is the best.
• Xiaomi also targeted some Samsung models on social media.
• The US and Korean tech majors alleged that Xiaomi portrayed their devices in a negative light, damaging brand value.

For the name: Experts classify Xiaomi's ads under ambush marketing, where companies tend to position themselves against rivals. The person placing the advert, obviously, presents the competition as inferior. While this approach was somewhat tolerated in the past, companies have become more protective of their brand value, even taking legal action to safeguard it.