India’s GenAI Adoption: 94% On Board, But Only 15% Hit Production — Can ROI Keep Pace?

Indian companies are racing into GenAI, with a staggering 94% already testing the waters — the highest adoption rate in 19 countries. Yet just 15% have moved beyond experiments to real-world impact. From insurers slashing costs by 90% to chatbots handling millions, the early winners are emerging fast. But can businesses clear cost, skill, and governance hurdles to turn hype into profit?

• Mass Adoption Meets Immature Implementation: While 94% of Indian firms use GenAI in at least one function (leading globally), only 15–24% have production-ready solutions. Budgets are surging (36% investing), but measuring ROI and costs lags (just 8% can fully track expenses).

• Early Wins Reveal Huge Potential: Fintech and insurance lead the charge: Bajaj Finance saved ₹150 crore/year via AI bots, ERGO built “superapps” for hyper-personalization, and Tata AIA’s chatbot Tasha hit 98% completion rates. Healthcare’s AI-driven telemedicine is breaking language barriers.

• Agentic AI & Automation Are the Next Frontier: Over 80% of firms are exploring autonomous agents, while 70% prioritize GenAI for automation. Multi-agent workflows (50% focus) and software development (67% boosted efficiency) signal a shift from experimentation to scaled transformation — if skills, cost, and governance gaps close.

The pace of Artificial Intelligence(AI) and GenAI  adoption by Indian companies is quickening pace as businesses see tangible value, though a number of companies are still experimenting and are at the Proof-of-Concept stage. However, success stories of AI usage are prompting more organizations (94%) to start the process of introducing the technology at lease in some parts of their  value chain. According to a Databricks report this is the highest rate of adoption among the 19 countries surveyed.

ERGO, India’s leading non-life insurance company, built a pair of insurance “superapps” for the Indian market. On the 1Up app, the insurer leverages Vertex AI to give insurance agents context-sensitive “nudges” through different scenarios to facilitate the customer on-boarding experience.Th company also runs advanced data insight from BigQuery through Vertex AI to drive highly personalized offerings for consumers in specific geographical locations.

The fintech sector as been on the first to join the AI bandwagon and reap its benefits.  Bajaj Finance, for example, saved Rs 150 crore in a year by deploying AI-driven bots for customer care, sales, and onboarding. The company aims to expand its targeted messaging base from 160 million to 500 million and triple its direct sales conversion rate using conversational GenAI. Meanwhile, Tata AIA Life’s AI-powered chatbot, Tasha, has handled 7.5 million customer interactions with a 98% completion rate, allowing policyholders to access over 60 digital services.

Healthcare has not been far behind either. The Tata Group, through its innovation arm Tata Elxsi, is working on AI-powered medical imaging solutions. healthcare startup, Practo, is employing the multilingual ability of AI to power its telemedicine services, which are removing language barriers and enhancing healthcare accessibility considerably.

Per a Databricks report, 94% of Indian enterprises use GenAI in at least one function (highest globally among 19 surveyed countries), but only 24% consider their GenAI applications production-ready. Key hurdles in Asia-Pacific include cost (40%), skills (38%), governance (38%), and quality (33%).

Over 80 percent of Indian organizations are exploring the development of autonomous agents, indicating a substantial shift towards Agentic AI, according to Deloitte’s fourth wave of the State of GenAI report (India perspective). The findings also highlight the growing interest in multi-agent workflows, which, with no constant oversight, orchestrates a set of goal-oriented sub-agents under the supervision of the master agents to perform the desired action, with 50 percent of organizations identifying it as a key focus area.

Additionally, 70 percent of firms indicated a strong desire to use GenAI for automation, highlighting the increasing adoption of AI-powered autonomous systems across industries. The survey further hints towards an increase in the pace of innovation, the democratization of AI and investment in AI-driven transformation, with 71 percent of firms actively pursuing more than 10 GenAI experiments.

For Indian businesses, the increased interest in GenAI and agentic AI workflows is already producing a significant impact at scale. According to the report, more than 67 percent of firms said that GenAI had a beneficial effect on all phases of the software development lifecycle. The findings further demonstrated the business benefits of GenAI as almost 70 percent of respondents said their AI integration efforts met or surpassed ROI estimates. Critical departments such as IT, customer service, marketing, operations, and product development emerged as leaders in AI adoption as businesses advance in their AI maturity.

A recent EY India survey found that 74% of financial firms have initiated GenAI proof-of-concept (PoC) projects, with 11% already running in production.

India’s financial services sector witnessed significant real-world adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) in 2024, moving beyond innovation projects to business-driven implementation.

A recent EY India survey found that 74% of financial firms have initiated GenAI proof-of-concept (PoC) projects, with 11% already running in production. Notably, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and insurers are leading the charge, leveraging GenAI to cut operational costs by up to 90% in areas like customer engagement, underwriting, and marketing automation.

However an EY report points out that enterprise adoption rates of GenAI remain very low. Their survey shows that 36% of Indian enterprises have allocated budgets and begun investing in GenAI, while another 24% are testing its potential. Technology sector clients are leading the way, with Life Sciences and Financial Services following suit. Despite this, the business value remains limited, with just 15% having GenAI workloads in production and only 8% able to fully measure and allocate AI costs.

The EY survey of Indian enterprises suggests that 36% of enterprises have budgeted and started investing in GenAI while another 24% are experimenting with it. Technology sector clients have been leading the way with Life Sciences and Financial Services following suit. At the same time business value delivered is relatively low with only 15% of Indian enterprises report having GenAI workloads in production, and just 8% being able to fully measure and allocate AI costs.