The report said 23 per cent remains in the pilot stage, signalling a clear shift from experimentation to execution. Notably, 76 per cent of business leaders believe GenAI will have a significant business impact, and 63 per cent report being prepared to leverage it effectively
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India’s enterprise AI landscape has reached a pivotal stage, according to the latest EY-CII report, which says that nearly half of Indian enterprises now have multiple Generative AI (GenAI) live use cases.
Besides, the report said 23 per cent remains in the pilot stage, signalling a clear shift from experimentation to execution. Notably, 76 per cent of business leaders believe GenAI will have a significant business impact, and 63 per cent report being prepared to leverage it effectively.
Furthermore, operations (63 per cent), customer service (54 per cent) and marketing (33 per cent) are identified as the top three business functions prioritised for GenAI use cases over the next 12 months. Additionally, 91 per cent of leaders pointed out speed of deployment as the single biggest factor driving their buy-versus-build decisions.
“Our survey shows that corporate India has moved beyond experimentation. Nearly half the enterprises already have multiple use cases in production. For enterprises, the focus must now move from building pilots to designing processes, where humans and AI agents collaborate seamlessly,” said Mahesh Makhija, Partner and Technology Consulting Leader at EY India.
“Enterprises that prioritise data readiness, model assurance, and Responsible AI will shape the competitive advantage of the decade.”
Quality of AI integration
According to Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII, the coming decade will be defined not only by the speed of AI adoption, but by the quality of its integration into India’s economic and social fabric.
“This transformation has the potential to add value to India’s growth story. While challenges around data readiness, governance, and measurement persist, India’s AI journey is moving from pilots to performance,” said Banerjee.
However, despite the optimism, AI and machine learning investments remain relatively modest. The report, further showed that more than 95 per cent of organisations allocate less than 20 per cent of their IT budgets to AI, while only 4 per cent have crossed the 20 per cent threshold.
Accordingly, there is an evident gap between belief in AI’s potential and actual funding for scaled transformation.
In addition, as enterprises operationalise AI, the focus on return on investment is becoming increasingly central.
The EY-CII report added that companies are beginning to move away from measuring AI success purely through cost metrics, instead embedding AI into core business workflows to drive tangible outcomes.
Published on November 16, 2025