85% of Indian finance leaders under pressure to prove AI ROI as governance lags: Survey
New Delhi, July 22
About 85 per cent of Indian finance leaders face moderate or significant pressure to demonstrate returns on investments in artificial intelligence, even as governance and accountability frameworks struggle to keep pace with the rapid deployment of AI agents, according to a survey by Avalara.
The report surveyed chief financial officers (CFOs) and senior finance leaders in India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
According to the survey, 71 per cent of Indian respondents said the focus is primarily on deploying AI agents quickly, while only 8 per cent said their organisations prioritise governance over speed. The report also found that 27 per cent of Indian finance leaders said accountability for significant AI agent errors is either unclear or rests with no one, the highest share among the markets surveyed.
"While Indian enterprises are moving fast to automate, their internal rulebooks are being left behind," said Dulles Krishnan, Vice President and General Manager, India Operations at Avalara.
"Running new AI tools on outdated compliance policies is a massive blind spot. CFOs in this market need to ensure their risk frameworks are actually updated to monitor automated decisions before an auditor comes knocking," he added.
The survey further found that 10 per cent of finance leaders were not confident they could provide regulators or auditors with a clear explanation of an AI agent's actions. In addition, 24 per cent said their organisations had not updated internal controls within the past year to reflect AI agents taking or recommending actions.
Only 28 per cent reported that AI controls had been reviewed by IT or cybersecurity teams, while 34 per cent said they had been reviewed by risk or compliance teams.
Looking ahead, the report said finance leaders see stronger governance as key to expanding AI adoption. Respondents identified access to verified tax and financial data, human review for high-risk actions, comprehensive audit trails and stronger vendor accountability as the measures that would increase confidence in deploying AI agents more widely.
It added that as AI becomes more embedded in finance and compliance functions, organisations will need to strengthen governance, documentation and transparency to keep pace with deployment.
— ANI
Reader Comments
I work in finance compliance, and this is spot on. Our leadership is obsessed with deploying AI agents to cut costs, but when we ask about risk frameworks, they say "we'll figure it out later." It's like building a skyscraper without checking the foundation. Regulators will catch up, and then it'll be too late.
The pressure to show AI ROI is real, but governance isn't just a checkbox. It's about building trust. If 10% of leaders can't even explain what their AI agents are doing, that's a red flag. We need a balanced approach: speed without governance is a recipe for disaster, especially in a regulated sector like finance.
I'm not surprised that only 28% had AI controls reviewed by IT or cybersecurity. Many Indian firms still operate on legacy systems. The survey mentions access to verified tax data and human review for high-risk actions—those are common sense steps. Why aren't more companies doing this? 🧐
CFOs need to stop treating AI as a magic wand. It's a tool, not a solution to everything. The report points out that 24% haven't updated internal controls in the last year. That's negligence. If an AI agent makes a wrong tax calculation and there's no audit trail, the company will face penalties. I've seen it happen.
This is a wake-up call for Indian finance leaders. The survey shows a clear gap between AI adoption and governance. It's the same as when digital payments grew faster than security measures. We need
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