New Delhi: In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Guardian, Pratik Vaidya, Founder and Managing Director of Karma Global, shares insights on how artificial intelligence is reshaping compliance management in India’s dynamic labour law ecosystem. With over two decades of experience and a strong global presence spanning Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., Vaidya discusses the challenges of implementing AI-driven solutions, the role of ethics and data privacy, and how Karma Global is leveraging technology to help organizations transition smoothly under the new labour codes.
Q1. What are the biggest challenges in implementing AI-based compliance solutions in a country with diverse and frequently changing labour laws like India?
 A: In fact, you are right, we have one federal or central government and then we have around 28 states and union territories. So, labour laws, especially employment law compliance, are very complex. You won’t believe, if you have a pan-India base of establishments or branches, you may have to maintain some 650-plus registers. It is chaotic
At the same time, every state has its own rules, and the centre has its own rules. So, how it is differentiated is that there are national acts and national rules. Then there are some acts which are national acts and state rules, and then there are state acts and state rules. So, this whole combination, or you can say it is a khichdi of all those things.
 In this perspective, laws are archaic in nature. The majority of the laws were framed during the British time, in the 1960s and 70s. The government wanted to codify 29 major acts and they came up with four labour codes. The Wage Code was implemented in 2019 and the other three codes came in August 2020. But the actual implementation is not there at all. So, simplification is still a long, long way to go and the government should ensure that at least labour codes are implemented.
 Not only the organised sector, which is 7–8% of the workforce of 40 crore, but also the unorganised sector, which is 92%. These new labour codes, new compliances especially for labour laws, were also to address issues with the unorganised sector like gig workers, platform workers, and all those things. The government has not implemented all that and we need to ensure that these labour reforms are really implemented.
 When it comes to compliance technology, none of the platforms really do this. There are a lot of HR and HRMS platforms, payroll platforms. You see thousands of them, funded well and everything. Today also in this conference, I would say all are people management and HR platforms. But you will not believe, compliance platforms—especially which are 10–12 in India—there is a huge gap. So, demand and supply there is like a huge gap. And Karma has, of course, one of the premier compliance platforms called wechecked and now we are coming with the AI version as well.
Q2. How do you address concerns around data privacy and ethical use of AI in compliance management?
 A: AI is an enabler for businesses to ensure there are ethical practices because you don’t have a face, right? And you don’t have manual intervention. So that way, some algorithms are aligned and all where ethics can be managed.
 Data privacy can be ensured because it’s all in a secured environment. Unlike always, the users are prone to leak out or something of those lines whenever the data is, even if you have all the policies in place, but humans can always make mistakes and slip up. AI will not be able to do that.
 We already have now the Data Protection Act as well. But AI is smart. It’s machine learning. So, what we give as input, it learns and it gives the answer or whatever, absolutely right according to that.
 Errors can happen, so how do you ensure such things? I’ll give an example. Now, you have a calculation, a simple math calculation of three-digit numbers and there are 10 numbers. You’ll be able to do by your own hand, right? The same sheet is having a four-digit and 30 rows. So, you will use a calculator because it has to happen faster, error-free and faster, right? Because otherwise you’ll make errors while counting and all. If it’s a human thing, it’ll make errors, right?
 You use a calculator. Now, imagine a picture that you have a spreadsheet of around 200 numbers, 300 numbers. You’ll use a computer. So, technology right from calculator to computer is always enabling a human person or human resource to make things faster. Same way AI is there. Of course, the input has to be given, but then it takes care of the errors. It takes care of the learning and errors. You may also make mistakes while feeding in computer data and you have to check, of course, right? But definitely it is much better than really doing it manually.
 That’s where it is. AI definitely self-learns. It of course mimics the way you act and the way you work, but it improvises also. You may be able to make mistakes, but it’ll not make certain mistakes. Because humans—there are emotions, there are people, there are fears, there is fatigue.
 You can’t work 24 by 7. AI can work 24 by 7 without dropping the productivity down, without any mistakes. Though input must be given by a human, no doubt about it, but that’s where it is.
Q3. With India’s new labour codes coming into effect, how can AI help organizations transition smoothly?
 A: The new labour codes aim to bring simplification and uniformity, but the real challenge is implementation. AI can play a critical role in automating compliance checks across multiple states and rules, validating documents and registers to ensure consistency, providing real-time alerts on regulatory changes and upcoming compliance deadlines, and reducing manual dependency so organisations can adapt quickly without errors.
 Think of it like this: for a small calculation, you may use mental math. For something bigger, a calculator. For massive data, you rely on a computer. Similarly, AI is the next step—it makes compliance faster, accurate, and scalable.
Q4. What role is Karma Global playing in integrating AI and automation into labour law compliance frameworks?
A: When we talk about compliance, right? Compliance means what? There is adherence to some rules and regulations which are framed in a manner and you need to comply—very critical.
The payroll part is all managed by the HRMS and all. The compliance and governance part is where we play a role as Karma to ensure there are no slip-ups and things around it. I’ll tell you an example. In our tool, when there are some vendors, they upload the documents of, say, a wage register. So, they upload 3 to 4 documents—some of the attendance, wage register or salary register—and there is a PF calculation, whatever deposit they made. Our tool can actually tell you whether 20 employees which are there in attendance are there in the wage register also and the same 20 are properly deducted and they are paid with challan also. So, this way, AI in compliance would help organisations, one, to have accuracy and transparency, and at the same time makes our work very fast.
 We manage compliance for 7,000+ locations and 1,000+ clients using our technology platforms. Our current platform wechecked manages large-scale compliance operations, and we are now launching CompliMGMT.AI, an AI-driven compliance solution designed to detect discrepancies in compliance documents, ensure accuracy between multiple registers and filings, and provide analytics and predictive insights for better governance.
 We combine technology with domain expertise, backed by a team of 250 employees and 600 associates, to deliver robust compliance and governance solutions.
