Evidence on trends in surplus generation and utilization suggest that India’s recent transition to a high-growth trajectory has been accompanied by and partly based on tendencies towards profit inflation and increased inequality. In addition, sectorally, the pattern of growth involves indifferent or dismal performance in the agricultural sector, and poor employment growth despite high output growth in the manufacturing and services sectors. Based on a discussion of the stimuli driving growth and the consequent factors underlying the dissociation between output and employment growth in the non-agricultural sectors, this paper offers an explanation as to why the net implications for employment and conditions of work of the growth trajectory have been adverse.