According to the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) – Protiviti India Survey 2025, as Indian enterprises navigate an increasingly complex risk management landscape, internal audit professionals have identified cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), and other emerging technologies as the most critical governance risks.
As many as 66 per cent of Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) across large and midsized enterprises interviewed for the survey consider emerging technologies including AI, ML, and bots, and cybersecurity as the top risks confronting their organisations.
Despite growing awareness of digital tools as both risks and enablers, the survey highlights that digitisation within the internal audit function remains limited. A significant 60 per cent of Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) acknowledged that their departments are only partially digitised, while 23 per cent have yet to begin this transition.
To address the increasing complexity of emerging risks, CAEs are actively seeking domain experts with specialised technical knowledge. 56 per cent of respondents pointed to the lack of subject matter experts (SMEs) as a key challenge in auditing highly technical or evolving risk areas.
The survey also revealed a strong belief that AI and machine learning (ML) will shape the future of internal audits, with 69 per cent of respondents expressing this view. However, many noted a lack of real-world use cases demonstrating how AI/ML can be effectively integrated into audit processes.
While AI-driven tools and data analytics have enhanced audit quality, their adoption remains uneven. Only 18 per cent of organisations report extensive use of data analytics, while 82 per cent use it only moderately or minimally, indicating significant room for improvement in leveraging advanced analytics for internal auditing.
