Autodesk has released its AI Pulse Report 2026 at the Autodesk Design & Make Summit India in Mumbai, highlighting India’s growing position as one of the world’s most AI-ready economies.
According to the report, Indian businesses are leading regional and global peers in AI investment, enterprise adoption, leadership commitment and market ambition. The findings indicate a shift from experimenting with AI to integrating the technology into core business operations.
The report states that 91% of Indian organisations have increased their AI investment over the past year, compared with 85% across APAC and 81% globally. AI adoption is also expanding across organisations, with 63% using AI assistants and chatbots, the highest adoption rate in APAC. No surveyed organisation reported operating without AI tools.
Indian businesses are also showing strong confidence in AI adoption. 93% of respondents believe their organisations can keep business data secure while using AI, the highest level recorded globally.
The report further found that 87% of Indian organisations are actively exploring new markets, making India the most expansion-focused country among all markets surveyed.
The top two highlights of the report are:
a) Indian businesses are moving beyond experimentation to measurable business outcomes
As AI adoption matures, organisations are reporting tangible business benefits. Nearly 88% of Indian respondents say AI has improved productivity, while 84% report stronger innovation outcomes and 75% believe AI is enabling better decision-making.
Investment priorities are also evolving. Generative AI remains the highest investment priority (74%), followed by process automation (58%) and decision-support AI (54%), while 51% of businesses now prioritise investment in AI agents. Looking ahead, 69% expect to adopt agentic AI within the next year, highlighting growing confidence in more autonomous AI capabilities.
These findings indicate that Indian organisations are increasingly viewing AI as a strategic business capability rather than a standalone technology initiative.
“India’s rapid AI adoption reflects far more than technology uptake- it signals the country’s growing leadership as a global innovation and engineering powerhouse”, said Haresh Khoobchandani, Vice President, APAC & Japan at Autodesk. “For industries that design and make the world around us- from infrastructure and manufacturing to architecture and construction, AI is becoming a strategic enabler of design innovation, productivity and resilience. As India progresses towards the vision of Viksit Bharat, the ability to combine world-class talent with trusted, industry-specific AI will strengthen its position as a global technology innovation leader.”
b) India’s AI talent readiness is higher than its regional peers
While talent development remains a global AI challenge, India is closing the capability gap faster than many of its peers.
According to the report, 70% of Indian respondents believe their organisation provides sufficient AI training, significantly higher than the APAC average of 57% and the global average of 59%, making India one of the highest-ranked markets globally on workforce preparedness.
Leadership commitment is equally strong, with 88% saying senior leaders actively encourage AI adoption, compared with 81% across APAC.
However, businesses recognise that scaling AI responsibly will require continued investment in people and governance. Organisations continue to cite regulatory uncertainty (50%), AI skills shortages (49%), data quality (45%) and system integration (47%) among their biggest implementation challenges.
About the AI Pulse Report
The data for the 2026 State of Design & Make: AI Pulse report was compiled from the AI Pulse
Survey conducted between January and February 2026 with Statista Plus Research. This survey
includes responses from 2,500 global industry leaders and experts spanning various regions:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East
(Saudi Arabia & the United Arab Emirates), the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden),
Spain, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It draws insights from a wide
range of industry professionals in architecture, engineering, construction, and operations
(AECO); product design and manufacturing (D&M); and media and entertainment (M&E) from
across sectors.