Nearly half of Indian enterprises have moved beyond artificial intelligence (AI) pilots to active deployment, with 47 per cent reporting multiple generative AI (GenAI) use cases in production.
However, despite strong belief in AI’s commitment, investment levels remain conservative, with more than 95 per cent of firms maintaining AI and ML budgets below 20 percent of overall IT spending, a EY-CII report said.
The report titled, The AIdea of India: Outlook 2026, is based on a survey of 200 Indian organisations, spanning over 20 industries, including government bodies, public sector undertakings, startups, global capability centres and Indian arms of MNCs.
Responses were collected from C-suite executives and senior leaders. Over 91 per cent of decision-makers have identified rapid deployment as the single most important factor in their buy-versus-build strategies for AI. “In the next 12 months, investments are expected to concentrate on operations to 63 per cent, customer service 54 per cent, and marketing 33 per cent, reflecting a push towards embedding AI within functions that directly affect performance,” the report said.
Despite growing optimism, spending on AI and ML remains relatively limited. “Over 95 per cent of organisations dedicate less than 20 per cent of their IT budgets to AI, while just 4 per cent exceed that mark, indicating that although confidence in AI’s potential is strong, most companies continue to invest cautiously in large-scale AI transformation,” the report said.
“There is a clear imbalance between conviction and commitment, which is becoming a defining factor in how quickly enterprises extract measurable returns from AI. As organisations operationalise AI, the question of return on investment has taken centre stage. However, enterprises are moving away from measuring AI success purely through cost reduction and productivity metrics, toward a five-dimensional ROI model encompassing time saved, efficiency gains, business upside, strategic differentiation, and resilience,” it added.
In terms of workforce impact, the report also revealed that a new workforce pyramid, where 64 per cent of enterprises report selective transformation of roles in standardised tasks.
“However, this shift is coupled with persistent shortages of skilled AI talent, with 59 per cent acknowledging this gap. While mid-office and innovation roles are expanding, enterprises are restructuring their operating models around AI, creating AI-first architectures, where humans collaborate closely with machines to optimise decision-making, speed, and precision,” it said. PTI
