From pilots to performance: India’s GenAI gears shift, but budgets tap the brakes

Adoption surge with disciplined spending

A joint EY–CII study finds nearly half of Indian enterprises have multiple GenAI use cases live, marking a decisive move from experimentation to scaled delivery. Leaders emphasize speed-to-deployment in buy-versus-build decisions, with 91% citing it as the top determinant, and 76% expecting significant business impact as agentic AI models automate core processes. Despite momentum, budgets remain tight: more than 95% of firms allocate under 20% of IT spend to AI/ML. This “throttle and steer” approach reflects a focus on measurable outcomes, risk controls, and integration depth over indiscriminate scaling, particularly in operations, customer experience, and marketing functions prioritized for near-term GenAI deployment

 

Key highlights and takeaways

Adoption milestone: Nearly 47% of enterprises have multiple GenAI use cases live; 23% are in pilot, signaling scale-up beyond proofs-of-concept.

 

Budget discipline: Over 95% of firms keep AI/ML budgets below 20% of overall IT spend, balancing innovation with fiscal prudence.

 

Speed over build: 91% of leaders say rapid deployment drives buy-vs-build choices, favoring platforms that integrate quickly with legacy estates.

 

Impact confidence: 76% of business leaders expect significant GenAI impact; 63% feel ready to leverage it effectively.

 

Function focus: Near-term priorities include operations (63%), customer service (54%), and marketing (33%), reflecting clear process automation targets.

 

Agentic AI shift: Enterprises are rewiring workflows with agentic frameworks to orchestrate tasks, enforce guardrails, and scale automation safely.

 

Implications: value-first AI, not vanity AI

Indian firms are operationalizing GenAI where the unit economics work—contact centers, back-office ops, and targeted marketing—while deferring moonshots until governance, data readiness, and integration costs align. Expect procurement standardization, AI assurance, and hybrid buy–build models to dominate 2026 roadmaps as enterprises chase faster time-to-value with tighter risk controls.

 

Sources: NDTV Profit; ET CIOET CIO; Free Press Journal