IBM India News Room – Announcements

• 80% of Indian business leaders say AI will directly help shape the country’s economic trajectory, making India a global AI powerhouse.

• 73% of Indian executives believe that India will become the world’s leading AI nation by 2030.

May 13, 2026

New Delhi, India — May 13, 2026 — India is entering a decisive phase of economic transformation as artificial intelligence (AI) moves beyond experimentation to become a fundamental force driving national growth, according to a new study by the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Institute for Business Value and IndiaAI. The study reveals that AI could contribute more than $500 billion to the Indian economy by 2030, positioning India as the world’s most dynamic AI-driven economy.

with title “From Promise to Power: How AI is redefining India’s economic future.”this study highlights a powerful blend of ambition and urgency. Four out of five business leaders believe that investments in AI will have a direct impact on India’s GDP growth, and 73% expect India to emerge as the world’s leading AI nation by 2030.

Looking ahead, the study also revealed a significant bending gap, with 72% of surveyed organizations admitting that they are lagging behind their global peers in AI adoption. Bridging this gap between ambition and execution is critical to determining India’s leadership in the global AI economy.

He said this at the report presentation. Shri S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India “India is no longer just participating in the global AI conversation, but is helping to shape it. Our vision is clear: AI must evolve as an extension of our people’s aspirations, driving inclusive growth and national progress. Vikshit Bharat Guided by our vision, we are advancing a human-centered approach to AI that is rooted in trust, ethics, and national sovereignty. This collaboration between IndiaAI and IBM is a timely contribution that will help unlock policy, industry, and innovation together.” AI offers maximum potential for the future of the Indian economy. ”

“AI has the potential to become one of the most powerful growth engines for the Indian economy,” he said. Sandip Patel, Managing Director, India and South Asia, IBM said: “What sets India apart is not just the scale of deployment, but the way organizations build trusted AI agents and systems on top of strong data foundations, hybrid architectures, and a workforce empowered to work with AI. With the right investments in skills, governance, and infrastructure, India can turn its AI ambitions into sustainable economic impact,” he added.

India’s AI moment: Convergence towards a sovereign hybrid model

Sovereign AI infrastructure is rapidly becoming a strategic necessity for regulated sectors and public systems. 74% of executives surveyed said that control over where data resides is essential, pointing to increasing consolidation around sovereign hybrid design architectures. This doesn’t mean isolation; when combined with open standards, organizations can access global innovation while maintaining control over sensitive workloads. This model has emerged as a trust layer that will enable India to scale AI on its own terms with confidence. Organizations are increasingly adopting a hybrid approach to balance performance, cost, and control, with 7 in 10 executives surveyed saying it gives them greater control over the location of their data without significantly increasing costs.

Data and AI infrastructure are key

India may be hurtling towards an AI-powered future, but data reveals a more complex story. 57% of respondents say uneven data quality and 77% lack of accessible, affordable and secure cloud infrastructure are major barriers to AI readiness. Despite the excitement about advanced AI, our findings show that Indian companies’ ability to scale AI is shaped by the readiness of their data and infrastructure, not the sophistication of their models. These fundamental technical choices emerge as critical elements in transforming AI from an experiment to an operational engine that impacts the entire enterprise.

Building India’s AI Talent Pipeline at Scale

While India has made great strides in building its AI talent pool, research points to a widening skills gap. Currently, only about 30% of employees have the level of AI literacy that companies need. Respondents say this number should rise to nearly 57% by 2030. This suggests that the total number of AI talent needed in India will exceed 350 million by 2030. The findings highlight the need to rethink the way India learns and works through new education models, redesigned career pathways and clearer guidance on which skills are most important in an AI-driven economy. Initiatives like IndiaAI FutureSkills are responding by incorporating AI fluency into education and corporate training, and expanding data and AI labs to tier 2 and 3 cities to expand access to AI skill development and help address this gap across the country.

Other important findings from the study:

Businesses are preparing to move from pilot to AI at scale

• 15% of organizations surveyed are currently scaling AI through major cross-functional investments, and the remaining 85% are in pilot-stage AI initiatives.

Sovereign and hybrid cloud architectures are the foundation for scaling trusted AI

• 62% of respondents said data localization strengthens trust, and 77% noted that India-based cloud capacity is important for trustworthy AI.
• 67% of executives surveyed say AI innovation will be stifled without stronger domestic capabilities.

Focus on robust AI governance and deeper ecosystem partnership integration

• 68% of companies surveyed cited gaps in AI governance as a barrier to expansion, while 45% said they are piloting governance practices or have already embedded them into their day-to-day systems.
• 68% of executives surveyed said India needs an ecosystem-oriented approach to AI adoption, with more focus on partnerships.
• 68% of companies are already developing, optimizing, or expanding external AI partnerships.

To view the entire study, please visit: https://ibm.biz/india-economy

methodology

This report is based on a multi-layered study that combines quantitative research, pulse-based sentiment tracking, expert insights, and secondary analysis to understand the state and trajectory of AI adoption in India. The study surveyed 1,500 Indian executives across industries across a range of organizational sizes and leadership roles, ranging from CEOs, CTOs, CAIOs, CDOs, chief strategy officers/heads of strategy, and department heads managing cloud and AI strategies under union and state governments. An additional pulse survey of 405 Indian executives was conducted by the same agency to understand the rapidly changing sentiment around AI governance, operating model readiness, and security.
Practice and ecosystem partnerships.

About IBM

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