Indian enterprises are moving ahead of their global peers in adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) at scale, with a majority of organisations planning to increase their AI investments in the coming year, according to a report by Deloitte.
However, this rapid pace of deployment is accompanied by a notable capability gap, as India continues to report lower levels of specialised AI expertise compared to the global average.
The ‘State of AI in the Enterprise’ report for 2026 highlights that Indian firms are progressing beyond pilot projects and are leading globally in large-scale AI adoption across key business functions.
“At-scale deployment is most prominent in Product Development (62 per cent), Strategy and Operations (56 per cent), Marketing & Sales (55 per cent), and Supply Chain (48 per cent), indicating that AI is increasingly being embedded in functions that drive growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage.
“About 40 per cent of Indian respondents report significant or full-scale AI usage, compared to a global average of around 28 per cent, suggesting that Indian organisations are not just experimenting with AI but actively operationalising it to achieve near-term productivity and business outcomes,” Deloitte said.
The “State of AI Insights from India” forms part of Deloitte’s global survey on enterprise AI adoption, with the India edition drawing responses from more than 200 business and technology leaders.
According to the findings, as many as 94 per cent of Indian organisations expect their AI budgets to rise over the next year. Despite this aggressive rollout, the report underscores a substantial capability gap. Deloitte noted that only 0 to 4 per cent of Indian companies possess advanced AI expertise, compared to the global range of 2 to 8 per cent.
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Regulatory and compliance requirements have emerged as the biggest hurdle to AI integration, cited by 39 per cent of respondents, followed by resistance to organisational change at 34 per cent.
In contrast, relatively fewer organisations pointed to cost (12 per cent) and infrastructure (5 per cent) as major constraints, suggesting that governance readiness and operating model transformation are the more immediate challenges to scaling AI. Even with these barriers, Indian companies remain optimistic about the near-term benefits of AI. Nearly all respondents expect productivity gains, with 97 per cent anticipating improvements.
“Indian enterprises are entering a defining phase in their AI journey, where ambition is translating into enterprise-wide execution. The momentum reflects a clear shift from experimentation to embedding AI into the core of how organisations create value and compete.
“The next phase will depend less on access to technology and more on the ability to build institutional capabilities, strengthen governance frameworks, and align people with new ways of working. Organisations that invest in trust and skills today will be better positioned to convert early gains into sustained advantage,” said S Anjani Kumar, Partner at Deloitte India.
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