The long-standing assumption that corporate employees can expect stable employment until age 60 is rapidly becoming outdated. According to investment banker and corporate advisor Sarthak Ahuja, there is a troubling shift taking place in India’s job market where professionals in their early-to-mid 40s are increasingly being pushed out, not formally, but structurally.
“There’s a very disturbing trend coming up in Indian corporates where the retirement age is moving from 60 to 45, and not in a good way,” Ahuja warned. Unlike professions such as law, medicine, or academia, where experience is considered an asset and is often rewarded with prestige and higher compensation, roles in sales, marketing, operations, product management, and tech are witnessing the opposite trend. Companies are increasingly viewing professionals in their 40s as expensive and less adaptable compared to younger, lower-cost hires.
Ahuja observed that while these experienced employees may not be explicitly laid off, they are being sidelined. “They’re not upskilled, they’re not as agile as younger talent, which also comes at a fraction of their cost,” he said. Organizations are quietly setting up new departments filled with younger employees, reallocating resources and attention toward them instead.
Mid-Career Exit Plans: Not Ambition, But Necessity
The change has triggered a silent wave of career rethinking. Many professionals in their 40s are no longer planning for promotions they’re planning for exits. Ahuja says that more and more chartered accountants are registering LLPs (Limited Liability Partnerships) for clients in mid-career stages. These LLPs aren’t necessarily passion projects or bold entrepreneurial ventures. Instead, they are backup plans consulting firms that may serve as a future livelihood when corporate roles begin to disappear.
“This surge in entrepreneurship isn’t out of ambition it’s out of fear,” Ahuja explained. “People are setting up these firms not because they’re inspired to build something new, but because they’re sensing that their current jobs may not last another five years.”
What’s especially notable is that many of these professionals are not financially or emotionally prepared for early retirement. Most entered the workforce in the 1990s or early 2000s, expecting career stability, promotions every few years, and retirement at 58 or 60. Now, the goalposts are shifting, and the fallback options are limited if they don’t act early.
Adding to this trend is a growing market for upskilling and career reinvention services targeted at 40-somethings. These services either help mid-level professionals learn new skills to stay relevant or pivot into entirely new domains where their current experience may hold limited value. From coding boot camps to leadership coaching, and from digital marketing to data analytics certifications, these learning pathways are being increasingly explored not by fresh graduates, but by seasoned professionals trying to extend their careers.
This structural change in corporate India may soon have widespread implications. As large numbers of mid-career professionals are pushed toward early self-employment, India could witness a boom in small-scale consulting, freelancing, and independent entrepreneurship. But without adequate social safety nets, retirement planning, or job security for those over 45, the shift could also result in a new category of economic precarity.
While the government and industry still promote skilling for youth, Ahuja suggests the future lies in reskilling the experienced. “There will be a big rise in second careers and we need to support that with ecosystems that aren’t just built for 25-year-olds,” he concluded. For now, the message is clear: in India’s corporate ecosystem, the new retirement age may no longer be 60. For many, it’s already becoming 45.
