India is racing ahead in AI adoption, but falling behind where it matters

India has emerged as the most aggressive adopter of artificial intelligence (AI) among major economies, with nearly 40% of Indian enterprise respondents reporting significant or full use of AI, well ahead of a global average of 28% across 15 surveyed markets. 

Yet the same survey has a flip side. When it comes to deep technical expertise in next-generation AI, India ranks near the bottom of that same group.

According to Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise: India Insights report, released in April 2026, India ranks at the top in adoption velocity across nearly every functional category surveyed, including strategy and operations, product development, marketing and sales, supply chain, legal, risk and compliance, HR, and finance.

In strategy and operations, 56% of Indian respondents report at-scale implementation, against a global average of 39%. In marketing and sales, the figure is 55% in India against a global average of 46%.

India also leads on strategic integration. The survey ranks India first among 15 countries and regions on the active use of AI in strategic decision-making, a metric that Deloitte notes is indicative of how embedded the technology has become in core business functions, not just operational tasks.

But the expertise picture tells a different story. When asked to rate organisational proficiency in AI at the highest level, defined as 'very high expertise,' Indian respondents report figures between 0% and 4% across AI types, compared to a global range of 2% to 8%. 

In generative AI, where India shows the strongest momentum on adoption, only 4% of Indian respondents claim very high expertise, against a global average of 8.3%. For agentic AI, the figure is zero, versus a global average of 2.6%.

The gap is less pronounced in traditional AI and machine learning, where India's expertise rating of 24% is close to the global average of 23.5%, a reflection, the report notes, of longer maturity and more established deployment patterns in that segment.

The report argues that in the next phase of AI transformation, building institutional strength will outweigh access to technology. Success will depend on developing robust governance and cultivating talent with adaptive AI skills, the report noted.

The findings arrive as India Inc. signals its strongest-ever commitment to AI investment. In a parallel data point from the same survey, 94% of Indian respondents expect AI spending to increase in the next year, the highest share among all surveyed markets. 

No Indian respondent expects a decrease in AI spend, unlike other markets where at least 10% expected AI spending cuts.