India's Agentic AI returns set to surge fivefold to $14.4 million as enterprises accelerate adoption

Agentic AI returns in India poised to grow fivefold to $14.4 million: SAP study

Globally, India ranks second in strategic approaches to AI investment. Reflecting this momentum, Indian organisations plan to invest $25.9 million in AI, with spending expected to rise 45% over the next two years, it said. Indian enterprises are speeding past AI experimentation stage to value-driven implementation, positioning themselves as global frontrunners in enterprise-wide adoption, according to a SAP study. Globally, India ranks second in strategic approaches to AI investment. Reflecting this momentum, Indian organisations plan to invest $25.9 million in AI, with spending expected to rise 45% over the next two years, it said. Agentic AI returns in India are projected to grow fivefold to $14.4 million, as per the SAP study. Agentic AI refers to autonomous artificial intelligence systems capable of independently making decisions, planning multi-step actions, and executing tasks to achieve a specific goal without requiring constant human prompts. The latest findings are part of the SAP Value of AI report 2026, based on a global study conducted in partnership with Oxford Economics, surveying 2,600 business leaders across 13 countries, including 200 respondents from India. Manos Raptopoulos, Global President, Customer Success -- Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and Member of the Extended Board, SAP SE, noted that AI is the backbone of the autonomous enterprise. "In SAP, AI is grounded in deep industry context and rich business semantics, meaning AI that truly understands the processes, and data of your specific industry," Raptopoulos said. As this embedded intelligence becomes core to operations, organisations become more adaptive, resilient, and future-ready, the senior executive said, pointing to a fundamental shift toward enterprises that can act with greater agility, innovate continuously, and scale with confidence in an increasingly dynamic world. Moving from experimentation to execution, AI has taken centrestage in India Inc. About 71% of Indian businesses have defined AI strategy that is aligned with their business goals. The study found that AI currently supports 33% of business tasks, with levels expected to rise to 51% over the next two years. About 74% of businesses are satisfied with current AI returns, with value creation emerging as a key measure of success, it said. Further end-to-end, cross-functional AI adoption is expected to more than double to 40% in the next two years and 55% of organisations have employed dedicated AI leaders to scale adoption -- the highest globally, the study found.

India's Agentic AI Returns Projected to Skyrocket 5x to $14.4 Million, Says SAP

Overall, AI ROI projected to rise from 22% to 39% within two years, 85% of organizations see agentic AI transforming business operations SAP SE today revealed that Indian enterprises are rapidly moving beyond AI experimentation to value-driven implementation -- positioning themselves as global leaders in enterprise-wide adoption. India now ranks second worldwide in strategic approaches to AI investment. Reflecting this momentum, Indian organizations plan to invest US$25.9 million in AI, with spending expected to grow by 45% over the next two years. Unveiled at SAP's flagship SAP NOW AI Tour India, these findings are part of the SAP Value of AI Report 2026, based on a global study conducted in collaboration with Oxford Economics, surveying 2,600 business leaders across 13 countries, including 200 respondents from India. Manos Raptopoulos, Global President, Customer Success - Europe, APAC, Middle East & Africa, and Member of the Extended Board, SAP SE, said, "AI is the backbone of the Autonomous Enterprise. In SAP, AI is grounded in deep industry context and rich business semantics, meaning AI that truly understands the processes, and data of your specific industry. As this embedded intelligence becomes core to operations, organizations become more adaptive, resilient, and future-ready. This marks a fundamental shift toward enterprises that can act with greater agility, innovate continuously, and scale with confidence in an increasingly dynamic world." From Experimentation to Execution: AI Takes Centre Stage in India Inc. * 71% of Indian businesses have defined AI strategy that is aligned with their business goals * AI currently supports 33% of business tasks, expected to rise to 51% over the next two years * 74% of businesses are satisfied with current AI ROI, with value creation emerging as a key measure of success * End-to-end, cross-functional AI adoption is expected to more than double to 40% within next two years * 55% of organizations have employed dedicated AI leaders to scale adoption - the highest globally India Leads AI Data Readiness Growth * 63% organisations are data ready for AI (up from 42% last year)- marking the highest year-on-year growth globally * 78% believe data availability and quality are critical to AI driven decision-making * Operations leads AI data readiness, followed by Sales & Marketing, Product Development, IT, and HR Agentic AI Powers the Next Wave of Enterprise Transformation * 52% of businesses report a clear and shared understanding of agentic AI across their organisation * 67% of Indian businesses are piloting agentic use cases * 85% organisations believe that agentic AI has moderate-to-very high potential to transform their business * 66% believe soft skills are a core job requirement in an AI-driven workplace * 80% agree that maximizing AI value requires workforce transformation beyond upskilling. Indian Businesses Balance AI Optimism with Caution * Almost 8 in 10 organisations are not convinced their upskilling can keep up with AI advancements * AI governance remains in focus as businesses say they're not fully ready when it comes to skills (11%) and processes (14%) * 76% of organisations face challenges with incomplete data, while 67% enterprises struggle with low-quality data Manish Prasad, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent, further added, "India stands at the forefront of one of the most significant technology shifts of our time -- and our Value of AI survey shows that organizations are not waiting on the sidelines. Customers are moving decisively beyond experimentation, embedding AI into the core of their business and making it a strategic priority. This momentum, combined with India's strong digital foundation, deep talent pool, and vibrant innovation ecosystem, uniquely positions the country not just to adopt AI at scale, but lead the next wave of enterprise transformation and define how AI delivers real business value globally." Echoing the survey, Indian customer momentum toward enterprise-wide AI adoption continues to strengthen, with leading enterprises already translating ambition into measurable outcomes. * PI Industries is leveraging SAP Business Transformation Management and the SAP Business AI Platform -- including Joule for Consultants and Joule for Developers -- while exploring agentic AI to drive productivity and scalable growth. * UPL Ltd. is harnessing SAP Business AI across finance, HR, supply chain, and IT to transform decision-making, automate workflows, and advance operational excellence, sustainability, and growth. * Parle Products Pvt. Ltd. has embarked on its journey to become a data-driven, cloud-first enterprise by leveraging SAP technologies, AI, automation, and analytics to enhance efficiency, agility, and decision-making across the organization. SAP's vision of the Autonomous Enterprise focuses on helping organisations bring together AI, data, and business processes to drive more connected, trusted, and responsible business outcomes at scale.