AI Adoption Surges in India, Raising Concerns Over Energy Consumption and Sustainability

AI Adoption Soars in India, But Energy Demands and Infrastructure Challenges Threaten Sustainability Goals, Reveals Pure Storage Survey

85% of organizations across sectors indicate a need for substantial or complete IT infrastructure upgrade to support AI Pure Storage® (NYSE: PSTG), the IT pioneer that delivers the world's most advanced data storage technology and services has released a new report highlighting the preparedness of enterprises in India to compete in a business landscape characterized by two key trends - AI and sustainability. The report, "India's AI Journey: Balancing Innovation with Sustainable Growth" found that while AI is a top priority, companies are concerned about its impact on energy consumption and that meeting their ESG goals will become impossible without a modern robust IT infrastructure. Industry Significance: AI is rapidly emerging as a transformative power across various industries in India, driven by the urgent demand for innovation, increased productivity, and improved customer experiences. A recent report by TeamLease Digital indicated that AI could contribute approximately $450-500 billion to the nation's GDP by 2025, representing 10% of India's ambitious $5 trillion GDP goal. However, AI is also putting a strain on data centers by requiring more resources such as electricity, water and space. According to the International Energy Agency, data centers already account for 1 to 2 percent of global energy consumption, AI will push this up even more. Survey Highlights: India's AI Momentum gaining traction: Over the next three years, 48% of respondents have prioritized AI to maintain their competitive edge. Currently, 52% of organizations have deployed AI technologies, 35% are piloting them, and 12% are still exploring integration strategies.Current AI Applications: AI is being leveraged across various functions, including marketing and sales, IT operations and fraud detection, reflecting its versatility. Today, 64% of the organizations use AI for their virtual assistant/chatbot function, 45% use AI across IT operations and cybersecurity reflecting the critical need for secure and efficient IT environments and 40% use it for new product development (NPD) and innovation.AI Adoption Across Sectors: The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI); technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sectors lead in AI adoption with 68% and 70% rates, respectively, while sectors like government, healthcare, and manufacturing show more cautious adoption, with higher percentages in the piloting phase. While tech and media sectors prefer cloud-based AI solutions, BFSI and government sectors lean towards on-premises solutions due to compliance and security concerns.IT infrastructure is a key challenge in AI deployment: To prepare for AI, 74% of organizations plan to upgrade data management tools and processes, 65% plan to enhance data storage infrastructure, and 61% plan to invest in data security and compliance to ensure secure and efficient data flows.Rising Energy Consumption and Sustainability Concerns: As AI technologies expand, the demand for supporting infrastructure has surged. 42% of organizations report a doubling in compute power needs, while 41% have seen their storage demands double. This growth also drives higher energy consumption, with 74% of organizations concerned about AI's impact on energy use and ESG goals. Executive Insight: "As AI adoption surges in India, organizations are driving innovation across sectors, but they struggle with rising energy demands and meeting ESG goals. Our report highlights the urgent need to invest in robust, energy-efficient systems that can power AI-driven growth while securing a greener future for all." - Ajay Singh, Chief Product Officer, Pure Storage Methodology Pure Storage's study is based on a survey conducted across India's enterprises in sectors such as BFSI, Tech-Telecom-Media, Healthcare (Pharma R&D and Diagnostics), Government, Airlines, Transportation, Supply Chain and Logistics, Manufacturing, etc. from June to August 2024. The study involved 210 respondents including key IT decision-makers and those with the authority to influence IT purchasing decisions. The insights were gathered through a combination of in-depth interviews and a survey questionnaire. Learn More: Download Pure Storage's "AI Adoption in India: Navigating the Path to Sustainable Innovation" study here. About Pure Storage Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG) delivers the industry's most advanced data storage platform to store, manage, and protect the world's data at any scale. With Pure Storage, organizations have ultimate simplicity and flexibility, saving time, money, and energy. From AI to archive, Pure Storage delivers a cloud experience with one unified Storage as-a-Service platform across on premises, cloud, and hosted environments. Our platform is built on our Evergreen architecture that evolves with your business - always getting newer and better with zero planned downtime, guaranteed. Our customers are actively increasing their capacity and processing power while significantly reducing their carbon and energy footprint. It's easy to fall in love with Pure Storage, as evidenced by the highest Net Promoter Score in the industry.

AI Adoption Rises in India, But Energy Demands Threaten ESG Targets, Says Pure Storage

Pure Storage has released a new report highlighting the preparedness of enterprises in India to compete in a business landscape characterized by two key trends - AI and sustainability. The report, "India's AI Journey: Balancing Innovation with Sustainable Growth" found that while AI is a top priority, companies are concerned about its impact on energy consumption and that meeting their ESG goals will become impossible without a modern robust IT infrastructure.

AI priority raises concerns over energy consumption: Report

AI is being leveraged across various functions such as marketing and sales, IT operations and fraud detection. (Image/Reuters) Pure Storage, a leading provider of advanced data storage technology and services, in a report said while AI remains a priority for innovation, increased productivity and enhanced customer experiences, there is growing concern about its impact on energy consumption. In a report titled "India's AI Journey: Balancing Innovation with Sustainable Growth," the company said that enterprises fear that without a modern and robust IT infrastructure, achieving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals could be at risk. As AI technologies expand, 42% of organisations report a doubling in compute power needs, and 41% have seen their storage demands double. This growth drives higher energy consumption, with 74% expressing concern over AI's impact on energy use and ESG goals. Ajay Singh, chief product officer at Pure Storage, said: "As AI adoption surges in India, organizations are driving innovation across sectors, but they struggle with rising energy demands and meeting ESG goals. Our report highlights the urgent need to invest in robust, energy-efficient systems that can power AI-driven growth while securing a greener future for all." The study was conducted from June to August 2024 across various sectors including banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), tech-telecom-media, healthcare, government and more. It involved 210 respondents ranging from key IT decision-makers to those influencing IT purchasing decisions. The survey also highlighted significant traction for AI in India with 48% of respondents prioritising AI to maintain their competitive edge over the next three years. It also shows that 52% of organisations have already deployed AI technologies, 35% are piloting them and 12% are exploring integration strategies. AI is being leveraged across various functions such as marketing and sales, IT operations and fraud detection. Notably, 64% of the organizations use AI for virtual assistant/chatbot functions, 45% across IT operations and cybersecurity, and 40% for new product development and innovation. The BFSI and technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sectors are leading in AI adoption with 68% and 70% respectively. Conversely, sectors like government, healthcare, and manufacturing show more cautious adoption, with a higher percentage in the piloting phase. Further, cloud-based AI solutions are preferred in tech and media sectors, while BFSI and government sectors opt for on-premises solutions due to compliance and security concerns.