Indian organisations recorded the highest global confidence in securing business data while using AI at 93 per cent, with 87 per cent actively exploring new markets, making the country the most expansion‑focused among all surveyed.
Indian organisations had moved beyond AI experimentation, leading Asia-Pacific in investment while building one of the region’s most AI-ready workforces, according to a new report by the digital design platform Autodesk.
The report said that, compared with regional and global peers, Indian businesses had led in AI investment, enterprise adoption, leadership commitment, and market ambition, signalling a shift from experimenting with AI to integrating it into core operations. The report said this was resulting in the country rapidly becoming one of the world’s most AI-ready economies.
Overall, the Autodesk AI Pulse Report 2026, unveiled on Thursday, showed that 91 per cent of Indian organisations had increased AI investment over the past year, exceeding both the APAC average of 85 per cent and the global average of 81 per cent. Adoption had broadened across organisations, with 63 per cent using AI assistants and chatbots, the highest rate in APAC, while no surveyed organisation reported operating without AI tools.
Indian businesses also demonstrated strong confidence in AI adoption. Among respondents, 93 per cent believed their organisation could keep business data secure while using AI, the highest level recorded globally, while 87 per cent were actively exploring new markets, making India the most expansion-focused country among all markets surveyed.
Measurable AI Outcomes
As adoption matured, organisations reported tangible business benefits. Nearly 88 per cent of Indian respondents said AI had improved productivity, while 84 per cent reported stronger innovation outcomes and 75 per cent believed AI was enabling better decision-making.
Investment priorities had also evolved. Generative AI remained the highest investment priority (74 per cent), followed by process automation (58 per cent) and decision-support AI (54 per cent), while 51 per cent of businesses now prioritised investment in AI agents. Looking ahead, 69 per cent expected to adopt agentic AI within the next year, highlighting growing confidence in more autonomous capabilities.
These findings indicated that Indian organisations were increasingly viewing AI as a strategic business capability rather than a standalone technology initiative.
Haresh Khoobchandani, Vice President, APAC & Japan, Autodesk, said this adoption signalled the country’s growing leadership as a global innovation and engineering powerhouse. “For industries that design and make the world around us, from infrastructure and manufacturing to architecture and construction, AI is becoming a strategic enabler of design innovation, productivity and resilience. As India progresses towards the vision of Viksit Bharat (Developed India), the ability to combine world-class talent with trusted, industry-specific AI will strengthen its position as a global technology innovation leader.”
Outpacing Regional Peers
In another observation, the report added that even as talent development remained a global AI challenge, India was closing the capability gap faster than many of its peers.
According to the report, 70 per cent of Indian respondents believed their organisation provided sufficient AI training, significantly higher than the APAC average of 57 per cent and the global average of 59 per cent, making India one of the highest-ranked markets globally on workforce preparedness.
Leadership commitment was equally strong, with 88 per cent saying senior leaders actively encouraged AI adoption, compared with 81 per cent across APAC.
Businesses recognised that scaling AI responsibly would require continued investment in people and governance. Organisations continued to cite regulatory uncertainty (50 per cent), AI skills shortages (49 per cent), data quality (45 per cent) and system integration (47 per cent) among their biggest implementation challenges.