Indian Firms Push AI Adoption Despite Sub-30% Readiness as 80% Seek Agents in 2026
Updated
Updated · The Economic Times · Jul 4
Indian Firms Push AI Adoption Despite Sub-30% Readiness as 80% Seek Agents in 2026
3 articles · Updated · The Economic Times · Jul 4
Summary
Less than 30% of organisations are ready on security, infrastructure and data even though more than 80% want AI agents in their workforce this year, executives said at an ET roundtable in Mumbai.
Corporate leaders said the main hurdle is not picking frontier models but scaling pilots into business workflows while proving ROI, securing data, training employees and managing technical debt.
Three risks dominated the discussion: incorrect AI outputs, leakage of sensitive customer data and unpredictable autonomous behaviour, prompting calls for systems to be built secure by design from the planning stage.
Bring-your-own-AI tools, synthetic training data and the need for "guardian agents" to monitor other agents are adding governance pressure as companies plan for how to shut rogue systems without disrupting operations.
Executives urged India to avoid rushing into hard AI rules, favoring principles-based regulation and stronger industry self-governance while accountability for AI failures remains unresolved.
Why are employees using AI without transforming their work, and how can companies bridge this gap?
As 'shadow AI' creates invisible threats, are 'guardian' AIs our only real defense?
When an autonomous AI causes a catastrophe, who is ultimately held responsible for the damages?
India’s AI Agent Revolution: High Consumer Readiness, But Only 23% of Enterprises Achieve Scaled Deployment in 2026
Overview
India stands at a pivotal moment in the evolution of agentic AI, marked by strong optimism and aggressive efforts to adopt AI technologies. However, a clear gap remains between these high expectations and the reality of large-scale, effective implementation across enterprises. This paradox shapes the current AI landscape in India, where rapid global market growth and major platform investments contrast with the challenges Indian organizations face in scaling AI agents. As a result, while the potential for AI-driven transformation is high, realizing widespread, impactful adoption remains a significant hurdle for the country.