India Inc. weighs in on AI investments: Deloitte survey

National, Nov 30, 2022: Deloitte India’s second edition of the ‘State of AI in India’ survey highlights the likely impact of overall global economic uncertainty on India Inc.’s plans of increasing AI investments. The survey reveals that only 39 percent of the represented businesses are looking at more than 20 percent increase in AI investments this year vis-à-vis 50 percent past year. This is despite 88 percent respondents planning a year-on-year increase in AI investments in 2022 compared with 82 percent in 2021.

Nearly half of the survey respondents achieved quicker-than-expected payback on their AI investments this year. Interestingly, those reporting a slower-than-expected payback also fared better in 2022.

Therefore, while India Inc. might invest in enhancing existing AI infrastructure, it will be skeptical of making any major capital-intensive investments until the general business sentiment improves.

Speaking at the report launch, Prashanth Kaddi, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP, said, “Our second edition deep dives into the AI adoption funnel, the roadblocks India Inc. has encountered, and how AI is gradually crossing the chasm to become a ‘mainstream technology’.

He added, “Indian enterprises today like to demystify how solving business problems with AI needs custom thinking, analysis, modelling, and sustenance efforts. However, with rapid changes, ensuring agility requires using pre-built solutions to reduce the time to market by over 60─70 percent.”

Other trends from the survey

1. Improved business outcomes across industry sectors
   The industry sectors betting bigger on AI include Life Sciences and Health Care (60 percent respondents); Financial Services (56 percent); Technology, Media, and Telecom (45 percent); and Consumer Services (35 percent). Respondents from these sectors confirmed that their organisations plan to increase AI investments by more than 20 percent.
   
   
2. Building ability to scale AI projects to sustain business outcomes
   The survey indicates that scaling AI projects is more challenging than starting them. The wider adoption of and adherence to best practices, such as MLOps/AIOps, is key to sustaining AI initiatives in the long run.
   
   
3. Right time to build the culture of working “with” AI
   Automating jobs is one of the top AI use cases for most businesses, causing concerns amongst the workforce; 77 percent respondents fear that AI adoption will lead to job cuts. However, about 93 percent respondents mentioned that their organisations’ senior leaders communicate a vision for AI. About 88 percent confirmed that their leadership had communicated their AI strategy to the workforce and the use of AI was critical to their organisations’ success.
   
   
4. Move towards greater AI decentralisation and democratisation
   Organisations are adopting decentralised AI practices while retaining centralised practices that helped in the past. Establishing AI centres of excellence, creating AI-specific roles, and forming AI ethics boards are amongst the popular governance practices.

Methodology

To understand organisations’ strategies to adopt AI, preferred use cases for different industry sectors, and adoption-related challenges, Deloitte surveyed 200 senior executives across industries and business functions between April 2022 and May 2022.

The survey included C-level executives (41 percent), senior management (42 percent), and other key decision-makers (18 percent). Respondents were grouped by organisation size (number of employees, starting from 100 to 20,000). The survey also took into consideration a wide cross-section of organisations based on their annual revenue.

To read the detailed report, click here

Note to the editor for reference purposes only:

This press release has been issued by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP.
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