According to a joint study by IBM and IndiaAI, artificial intelligence (AI) could contribute more than $500 billion to India’s economy by 2030. The report found that four in five business leaders believe AI investments will directly influence India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth, while 73 per cent expect India to emerge as a leading global AI nation by 2030.
The study, however, identified a significant execution gap, with 72 per cent of surveyed organisations acknowledging that they lag behind global peers in AI adoption. Bridging this divide, the report said, will be critical to determining India’s standing in the global AI economy.
On data sovereignty, 74 per cent of surveyed executives said control over where data resides is essential, pointing to growing demand for sovereign and hybrid AI systems. Organisations are increasingly adopting hybrid models to balance performance, cost and control, the study noted.
The report also flagged major infrastructure and data challenges. Around 57 per cent of respondents cited uneven data quality as a barrier, while 77 per cent pointed to the lack of accessible, affordable and secure cloud infrastructure as a significant obstacle to AI readiness.
On the talent front, only around 30 per cent of employees currently possess the AI literacy levels that businesses require, a figure that would need to rise to nearly 57 per cent by 2030. The study estimated that India will need more than 350 million AI-skilled workers by the end of the decade.
Additionally, 68 per cent of enterprises cited gaps in AI governance as a barrier to scaling AI, while an equal proportion said India needs an ecosystem-oriented approach to drive broader AI adoption.
