The Avanade AI report released on 3 November 2026 finds that 75% of Indian business leaders say artificial intelligence has not yet delivered returns that justify the money and effort spent. The figure stands against 65% across all markets surveyed. The Avanade AI report, titled “Build Beyond Limits: AI Reality Report”, surveyed 3,600 business decision-makers across markets, including India, and it shows Indian firms giving generative AI more autonomy than peers in any other market.
Indian leaders report unusually high confidence in their teams’ use of AI. The Avanade AI report puts that confidence at 82%, yet only 23% say they have fundamentally reshaped how their teams work around the technology. The gap between confidence and changed working practices runs through the findings, and it sits beside a second gap between spending and measured return.
About 83% of Indian respondents believe their company is ahead of competitors in using AI, against an average of 68% across markets. The Avanade AI report records 27% saying AI is used across all or nearly all relevant parts of the business, against 18% globally. Only 19% say they are still investing heavily in pilots and proofs of concept, the lowest share of any market surveyed.
How the Avanade AI report measures autonomy
Autonomy is where India stands furthest from the global average. The Avanade AI report finds 28% of Indian respondents say generative AI in their teams completes defined processes end to end without routine human approval. That is the highest share of any market and well above the 19% average. Only 24% require explicit human approval before generative AI acts, against 29% globally.
That level of delegation raises governance questions that regulators are already flagging. CERT-In recently warned that AI agents were reading Indian firms’ data undetected, and the Data Security Council of India has issued industry guidance on who is liable when an AI agent gets it wrong. The report places those warnings beside the autonomy figures, since firms that let systems act alone need clear rules on responsibility when something goes wrong.
Indian firms are also building tools to police AI agents as enterprises scale agentic AI, according to the report’s summary of the market. The work reflects a shift from deciding whether to use AI agents to deciding how to watch them, a change that follows directly from the autonomy numbers.
What the Avanade AI report says about measurement
India ranks first among surveyed markets for significant, measurable gains in operational efficiency, at 44% against 36%, and for employee productivity, at 42% against 36%. The Avanade AI report still finds that 74% of Indian respondents say their organisation has not formally calculated AI return on investment and had it reviewed by finance or leadership. About 46% say AI projects are reported as successful despite limited measurable impact.
Weak foundations form a key brake on returns. The Avanade AI report records 47% of Indian respondents saying they have faced integration or scaling problems, the highest of any market, while 48% name integrating AI with core systems and data as a top challenge. The pattern matches other recent surveys, including Dun and Bradstreet’s finding that only 3% of Indian firms have AI-ready data. Adoption is racing ahead of the foundations and the financial proof.
Leadership is also in focus. The survey finds 93% of Indian respondents agree leaders could do more to understand AI’s capabilities and limits. That admission sits oddly beside the high confidence figures, and it points to a management gap rather than a technology gap: leaders back AI spending while still learning what the systems can and cannot do.
Avanade AI report and the push for financial discipline
“Indian enterprises are leading the world on AI ambition,” said Achal Kataria, Managing Director and CEO of Avanade India. “The next stage is proving that value in financial terms. Companies that treat AI with the same financial discipline as any other major investment will be best placed to turn early momentum into lasting advantage.” Ben Beath, Chief AI Officer at Avanade, said too many organisations measure AI progress “by activity rather than impact”.
The Avanade AI report adds to pressure on technology leaders to tie AI deployments to measurable outcomes. Firms that can show a return in finance terms will find it easier to defend further spending, while firms that report success without numbers will face harder questions from boards and finance teams. Full findings from the report are available from Avanade India.