Deloitte India's third edition of its people analytics maturity study, titled "Future of Work and People Analytics Maturity – The Indian Story" and released on 29 July 2026, offers a detailed, data-backed picture of how Indian organisations are progressing—and struggling—with AI-enabled workforce transformation. The report is based on insights from over 85 organisations across India and assesses how businesses are using people analytics to support workforce transformation and business decision-making.
The finding shows real but incomplete progress: 43 percent of organisations now operate at advanced maturity levels in people analytics. However, the study is clear that this leaves the majority of Indian organisations short of advanced maturity, and even among leaders, gaps remain across data infrastructure, analytics capability and governance. The most significant issue flagged is a widespread over-reliance on backward-looking methods: more than 70 percent of organisations continue to rely on static reporting approaches, rather than dynamic or predictive analytics, which the report says represents a major missed opportunity to strengthen insight adoption and decision-making.
The study also documents sharp unevenness across industries. Technology and ITeS organisations continue to lead people analytics maturity, while manufacturing, retail and industrial sectors present significant growth opportunities—effectively meaning these sectors are trailing well behind the leaders. This sectoral gap suggests that AI-readiness in India is concentrated in a narrow band of digitally mature industries, leaving large parts of the economy underprepared.
On foundational readiness, the report is direct about what is missing rather than what exists: organisations can only unlock meaningful value from people analytics if they have structured workforce data, high data quality and unified, enriched people data platforms. The framing implies that many organisations currently lack one or more of these building blocks, which constrains how much value AI and analytics tools can realistically deliver even where adoption has begun.
The study also identifies a persistent capability challenge tied to the sheer pace of AI evolution. As technology moves from traditional analytics and machine learning to GenAI and Agentic AI, HR functions face pressure to continuously adopt and integrate emerging AI capabilities, ensuring workforce decisions keep pace with technological advancements and future disruptions. This is presented not as a one-time hurdle but an ongoing organisational demand that many firms are still adjusting to.
A further structural gap concerns talent models: the report urges Indian organisations to accelerate this transition from job-based to skills-based structures in order to remain competitive in the age of AI and automation, indicating that this shift is still at an early stage domestically compared to what AI-driven work models increasingly require.
Despite these gaps, the report also records notable movement. Over half of the Indian organisations have started integrating AI into HR and work processes, and more than 60 percent report a visible shift from task-based roles towards roles requiring problem-solving and creativity. Workforce planning is also strengthening, with around 80 percent of organisations strengthening workforce planning and contingent talent strategies, 76 percent actively identifying future skill gaps, and 81 percent investing in employee experience, career development and well-being initiatives. The report also notes that business alignment has emerged as the fastest-improving people analytics maturity dimension since 2022, reflecting a growing role for workforce data in shaping business outcomes.
Taken together, the study frames Indian organisations as being in a transitional phase: meaningful AI adoption has begun and is accelerating in some areas, particularly workforce planning and business alignment, but the underlying infrastructure, data governance, sectoral spread and analytical sophistication needed to sustain that adoption remain uneven. Deloitte South Asia's Human Capital Consulting Leader, Nitin Razdan, characterised India as well positioned to lead the next phase of AI-enabled workforce transformation given its digital ecosystem and talent pool, but stressed that the differentiating factor going forward would be how effectively organisations translate data and insights into reimagined work models, future-ready skills and agile workforce structures.
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