Successful adoption of AI could add up to 1.4% points annually to GDP growth of India

Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and Boston Consulting Group note on their joint study ‘AI in India – A Strategic Necessity’:

***

The Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CDSA) at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), a premier global management Institute and BCG X, the AI, and Digital Transformation unit of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have collaborated to release a comprehensive report titled "AI in India - A Strategic Necessity" on the AI readiness levels of Indian businesses.
The report findings are based on the study of 130 companies from the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI), Consumer Goods (CG), and Industrial Goods (IG) sectors along with extensive interviews and surveys conducted on CXO’s of large-sized, medium, and small organisations. The study objectively and wholistically measures the ability of a company to leverage AI to drive its strategic objectives and enhance its financial and operational performance.
The report was released at the IIMA campus by Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA, Professor Ankur Sinha, Professor Anindya Chakrabarti, Co-Chairs of the Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Professor Arindam Banerjee, Debjit Ghatak, IIMA alumnus and General Manager, Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and AI, Sumit Sarawgi, Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG, Deep Narayan Mukherjee, Vice President - Data Science, Rajat Mathur, Partner, BCG , all co-authors of the report from IIM A and BCG respectively.
Releasing the study, Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director of IIMA, said, "India is poised to enter into a digital revolution where successful AI adoption by our industry can be a crucial determinant of India’s competitiveness globally. Successful adoption of AI could add up to 1.4 percentage points annually to real GDP growth of India. From the perspective of corporates, successful adoption of AI is expected to add over a five-year period, INR 1.5-2.5 trillion in incremental pre-tax profit for the top 500 Indian companies alone. This presents an incredible opportunity for the Indian industry and our companies can leverage the widespread internet access and cost -effective labour to move ahead and align themselves to the global AI maturity standards.
"I am confident that the joint study by the Brij Disa Centre IIM A and BCG, will have significant implications for policymakers as well as industry lenders to foster a conducive ecosystem for the adoption of AI by Indian organisations, and their success in translating it into business performance.”
The report emphasizes the significance of achieving an advanced level of AI maturity for success in today's business landscape. Sumit Sarawgi, Managing Director & Senior Partner, BCG commented, “Investments into AI could deliver extraordinary returns but success hinges on deploying AI at scale. An organisation wide commitment is required in successful AI driven transformation of the organisation. The reason being success from AI adoption, algorithms drive approximately 10% of the success, while data and technology infrastructure adds a further 20%. The remaining 70% hinges on people, processes, and business transformation.”
The report provides key insights into India’s corporate AI landscape and roadmaps in AI adoption. The study reveals that select Indian BFSI companies (particularly banks and new-age NBFCs) have very high AI Maturity, on par with global frontrunners. It divides companies into four groups based on their maturity level— Leaders, Steady Followers, Leapfroggers and Laggards. 11% of companies in the set were adjudged Leaders, that now face a stiff challenge from the Leapfroggers (9% of the companies) who started their AI-driven transformation journey late but have improved sharply in AI Maturity in the last three years, converging with the Leaders on most aspects of AI Maturity. However, the concern emerged with Laggards, about 2/3rds of the companies, that have some exposure and investment in AI in their Technology, Data and Analytical capabilities.
The report offers actionable guidance for companies with mid-level AI maturity to progress towards global best-in-class AI maturity levels. For leaders in AI adoption, the report focuses on exploring the next frontiers of AI excellence. Research shows that AI investments augmenting end-user value and topline growth could drive significant economic and wage expansion. The opportunity is India’s for the taking—the challenge is now to turn the enormous potential of AI into reality.
Key Highlights:

Select companies in the BFSI, CG, and IG sectors have achieved high AI maturity, positioning themselves at par with global benchmarks
A Significant Leap: 10% organizations have transformed their AI capabilities in the last 3 years, and they come from across sizes
Data mindset in Leadership is the Key: Top 500 Indian companies require 1 Million hours of training in upskilling mid and senior level management on the business aspects of AI, digital transformation, Agile ways of working and more
Most MSMEs are now able to leverage AI because of on-demand access to business software and the availability of services like digital payment gateways, fraud detection systems and CRM.
Dearth of Data scientists with domain expertise: Need for 25,000 to 30,000 advanced practitioners of AIML expected in Top 500 Companies in the next 3-5 years
India has only around 4.5% of the world’s AI professionals, and the talent crunch will get more acute
Benefits of AI: INR 1.5-2.5 Trillion incremental pre-tax profit for the top 500 Indian companies in next 5 years

---
Click here for complete report

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog