India pulls ahead in enterprise AI adoption
India has emerged as the Asia-Pacific leader in enterprise artificial intelligence investment and adoption, with businesses accelerating spending while pushing AI deeper into everyday operations.
Autodesk’s 2026 State of Design & Make: AI Pulse shows 91% of organisations surveyed in India increased their AI investment during the past year, compared with 85% across Asia-Pacific and 81% globally. The findings point to a widening shift from experimental projects towards operational deployment, particularly in industries where design, engineering, construction, manufacturing and digital content depend on complex data and workflows.
AI assistants and chatbots are already used by 63% of respondents in India, the highest proportion in Asia-Pacific, while every organisation covered by the India survey reported using at least one form of AI. The figures place the country ahead of several mature technology markets in the region in the breadth of enterprise adoption.
Investment is increasingly moving towards technologies that can perform defined tasks rather than simply generate text or images. Generative AI remains the largest investment priority, cited by 74% of respondents, followed by process automation at 58% and AI-powered decision-support systems at 54%. About 69% expect to introduce agentic AI within the next 12 months, signalling growing corporate interest in systems capable of carrying out multi-step activities with limited human intervention.
Businesses are also reporting measurable gains. About 88% of respondents in India said AI had improved productivity, 84% reported stronger innovation and 75% cited improvements in decision-making. Globally, Autodesk found that 98% of leaders across the design and make industries use at least one AI tool and 84% associate AI with productivity gains.
The findings reinforce evidence that businesses across the country are moving beyond isolated proof-of-concept programmes. Separate enterprise research published this year found 40% of organisations reporting significant or full AI usage, compared with about 28% globally, while large-scale deployment was particularly strong in product development, strategy and operations, marketing and sales, and supply chains.
Workforce preparedness has become another differentiating factor. Autodesk’s survey found 70% of respondents in India considered the AI training available to employees adequate, while 88% reported leadership support for AI adoption. That combination of management backing and workforce development is helping companies shift AI projects from technology teams into business functions.
The picture is not uniformly positive. Regulatory uncertainty was identified as a challenge by 50% of respondents, while 49% pointed to shortages of specialised skills and 47% cited difficulties integrating AI with existing systems. Other research on enterprise AI deployment has similarly identified data quality, systems integration, talent availability and uncertain returns as obstacles to scaling applications beyond individual departments.
Confidence in data security nevertheless remains high among the Autodesk respondents, with 93% saying their AI systems could securely handle business data. That level of confidence is important as companies introduce models into engineering, construction, manufacturing and media workflows containing commercially sensitive intellectual property and proprietary design information.
Market expansion is also becoming linked with AI strategy. About 87% of respondents in India said their organisations were prioritising expansion into new markets, suggesting companies increasingly view AI not only as an efficiency tool but as infrastructure for growth, product development and faster decision-making.
Autodesk compiled the AI Pulse study with Statista Plus Research from a survey conducted between January and February 2026. It covered 2,500 industry leaders and experts across 16 countries and regions spanning architecture, engineering, construction and operations, design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment. The company classified 19% of global respondents as early adopters that had already incorporated advanced technologies such as large language models or agentic AI into their workflows.
Autodesk’s 2026 State of Design & Make: AI Pulse shows 91% of organisations surveyed in India increased their AI investment during the past year, compared with 85% across Asia-Pacific and 81% globally. The findings point to a widening shift from experimental projects towards operational deployment, particularly in industries where design, engineering, construction, manufacturing and digital content depend on complex data and workflows.
AI assistants and chatbots are already used by 63% of respondents in India, the highest proportion in Asia-Pacific, while every organisation covered by the India survey reported using at least one form of AI. The figures place the country ahead of several mature technology markets in the region in the breadth of enterprise adoption.
Investment is increasingly moving towards technologies that can perform defined tasks rather than simply generate text or images. Generative AI remains the largest investment priority, cited by 74% of respondents, followed by process automation at 58% and AI-powered decision-support systems at 54%. About 69% expect to introduce agentic AI within the next 12 months, signalling growing corporate interest in systems capable of carrying out multi-step activities with limited human intervention.
Businesses are also reporting measurable gains. About 88% of respondents in India said AI had improved productivity, 84% reported stronger innovation and 75% cited improvements in decision-making. Globally, Autodesk found that 98% of leaders across the design and make industries use at least one AI tool and 84% associate AI with productivity gains.
The findings reinforce evidence that businesses across the country are moving beyond isolated proof-of-concept programmes. Separate enterprise research published this year found 40% of organisations reporting significant or full AI usage, compared with about 28% globally, while large-scale deployment was particularly strong in product development, strategy and operations, marketing and sales, and supply chains.
Workforce preparedness has become another differentiating factor. Autodesk’s survey found 70% of respondents in India considered the AI training available to employees adequate, while 88% reported leadership support for AI adoption. That combination of management backing and workforce development is helping companies shift AI projects from technology teams into business functions.
The picture is not uniformly positive. Regulatory uncertainty was identified as a challenge by 50% of respondents, while 49% pointed to shortages of specialised skills and 47% cited difficulties integrating AI with existing systems. Other research on enterprise AI deployment has similarly identified data quality, systems integration, talent availability and uncertain returns as obstacles to scaling applications beyond individual departments.
Confidence in data security nevertheless remains high among the Autodesk respondents, with 93% saying their AI systems could securely handle business data. That level of confidence is important as companies introduce models into engineering, construction, manufacturing and media workflows containing commercially sensitive intellectual property and proprietary design information.
Market expansion is also becoming linked with AI strategy. About 87% of respondents in India said their organisations were prioritising expansion into new markets, suggesting companies increasingly view AI not only as an efficiency tool but as infrastructure for growth, product development and faster decision-making.
Autodesk compiled the AI Pulse study with Statista Plus Research from a survey conducted between January and February 2026. It covered 2,500 industry leaders and experts across 16 countries and regions spanning architecture, engineering, construction and operations, design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment. The company classified 19% of global respondents as early adopters that had already incorporated advanced technologies such as large language models or agentic AI into their workflows.