India's AI shift from pilots to performance as 47 pc enterprises have multiple AI use cases: Report
New Delhi, Nov 16
India’s enterprise AI landscape has reached an inflexion point as nearly half of Indian enterprises (47 per cent) now have multiple Generative AI (GenAI) use cases live while 23 per cent are in pilot stage - marking a decisive shift from pilots to performance, a report said on Sunday.
Indian enterprises are demonstrating strong confidence by embedding AI into core business workflows to deliver measurable results.
Notably, 76 per cent of business leaders believe that GenAI will have a significant business impact, and 63 per cent feel ready to leverage it effectively, a joint report from EY and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) stated.
"Our survey shows that corporate India has moved beyond experimentation. Nearly half the enterprises already have multiple use cases in production," said Mahesh Makhija, Partner and Technology Consulting Leader, EY India.
"For enterprises, the focus must now move from building pilots to designing processes where humans and AI agents collaborate seamlessly," he added.
According to the report, despite optimism, AI and ML investments remain modest in scale. More than 95 per cent of organisations allocate less than 20 per cent of their IT budgets to AI. Only 4 per cent have crossed the 20 per cent threshold, highlighting that while belief is high, funding for scaled AI transformation is still conservative.
There is a clear imbalance between conviction and commitment, which is becoming a defining factor in how quickly enterprises extract measurable returns from AI, the report noted.
As organisations operationalise AI, the question of return on investment has taken centre stage.
The report highlighted that enterprises are moving away from measuring AI success purely through cost reduction and productivity metrics, towards a five-dimensional ROI model encompassing time saved, efficiency gains, business upside, strategic differentiation, and resilience.
Meanwhile, as per the report, speed has become the new metric of competitive advantage in AI adoption.
As much as 91 per cent of business leaders identified rapid deployment as the single biggest factor influencing their “buy versus build†decisions, underscoring a growing impatience to translate innovation into impact.
Over the next 12 months, organisations are expected to focus their GenAI investments on operations (63 per cent), customer service (54 per cent), and marketing (33 per cent), reflecting a clear shift from experimentation to embedding AI in core business functions that directly drive efficiency, experience, and growth.
“The coming decade will be defined not only by the speed of AI adoption, but by the quality of its integration into India’s economic and social fabric. This transformation has the potential to add value to India’s growth story," said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.
— IANS
Reader Comments
The budget allocation part is concerning though. Only 4% companies spending more than 20% of IT budget on AI? We need to put our money where our mouth is if we want to compete globally.
Working in customer service, I'm excited to see 54% investment going there. AI can really help us serve customers better and faster. Hope this translates to better customer experiences across industries!
The human-AI collaboration focus is crucial. Technology should enhance human capabilities, not replace them. Good to see Indian companies thinking about this thoughtfully. ðŸ‘
As an expat working in India, I'm impressed by how quickly Indian enterprises are adopting AI. The focus on operations and customer service makes perfect business sense. This could be India's competitive advantage.
Hope this AI revolution creates more job opportunities for Indian youth rather than reducing employment. The government should ensure proper skilling programs are in place. 🤔
The five-dimensional ROI model is interesting - moving beyond just cost savings to strategic differentiation. This shows mature thinking about AI's true business value. Well done, Indian enterprises!
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