90% of Indian organisations to adopt AI agents within the next 12 months: IDC UiPath

A new IDC InfoBrief titled “Agentic Automation: Unlocking Seamless Orchestration for the Modern Enterprise”, commissioned by UiPath, has revealed that close to 90% of Indian organisations are either already using or planning to implement agentic AI solutions within the next 12 months. The report highlights a significant shift from AI experimentation to large-scale enterprise adoption, driven by the growing maturity of AI ecosystems in India.

Currently, around 40% of Indian organisations have already implemented agentic AI tools, with another 50% planning to adopt them over the coming year. The widespread interest in AI agents reflects their expanding role across industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, life sciences, retail, and wholesale, particularly in operations that depend on data-driven decisions and repetitive tasks.

Surge in AI Agents investment

India’s overall spending on AI technologies is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 38% from 2023, reaching USD 10.4 billion by 2028. In 2025, investments remain focused on building the foundational infrastructure needed to support high-impact use cases in AI agents.

According to the report, Indian enterprises are actively investing in:

• Enterprise-wide automation platforms

• Multilingual AI models

• Agentic AI deployments across workflows

The adoption is being fuelled by the country’s digitally skilled workforce, expanding Cloud infrastructure, and sustained policy support for emerging technologies. Nearly 80% of Indian companies already report productivity gains from agentic AI, while 73% say it has improved decision-making capabilities.

Growing use cases of AI Agents across industries

Agentic AI is being applied across both front-end and back-end functions:

• 69% of organisations report enhanced productivity

• 59% are using it for personalised customer engagement

• 57% are deploying it for risk and fraud detection

These figures underscore the growing trust in agentic automation, which combines AI agents, robotic process automation (RPA), and orchestration to enable autonomous execution of complex business processes.

Key challenges remain

Despite strong interest, organisations face several challenges in implementing AI solutions at scale. The report identifies the top three barriers as:

• Lack of skilled in-house IT workforce (53%)

• Data security concerns (47%)

• Ethical and regulatory issues (47%)

From a business risk perspective, concerns include potential data privacy breaches (53%), lack of transparency in automated decision-making (47%), and risks of AI misuse by malicious actors (46%).

Willingness to invest and the road ahead

Notwithstanding these risks, Indian enterprises are displaying a strong willingness to invest in AI platforms. Many are prepared to pay up to 50% premium for the right AI agent tools and expect up to 3X returns on these investments.

Agentic automation is emerging as a preferred path forward, allowing companies to scale AI agents without overhauling existing IT infrastructure. It offers a layered approach by integrating intelligent agents with enterprise workflows, enhancing both speed and autonomy.

Commenting on the trend, DebDeep Sengupta, Area Vice President, South Asia, UiPath said, “Agentic automation is rapidly redefining business operations across India. While enterprises in this region are embracing the full potential of AI agents to streamline workflows and autonomously execute complex business processes, trust and security remain barriers to widespread implementation. Our agentic automation platform directly addresses these challenges, breaking down barriers to enterprise AI adoption by enhancing security and compliance, improving accuracy and reliability for agentic outcomes.”

Deepika Giri, Associate Vice President, IDC Asia/Pacific added, “Becoming an AI-fuelled business is no longer an option in today’s unpredictable climate. For many organisations, it's fast becoming a strategic necessity. Across the region, organisations are embracing agentic AI and agentic automation at scale. It is clear that many leaders see its potential to drive unprecedented levels of productivity, innovation, and growth, which will be key in building organisational resilience against future disruptions.”

The way forward

As agentic AI becomes central to digital transformation strategies, business leaders are urged to focus on developing transparent and accountable AI ecosystems. This includes:

• Strengthening governance frameworks

• Ensuring compliance with data security and privacy standards

• Implementing risk management protocols

• Upskilling internal teams to work alongside AI agents

Technology leaders must also evaluate platforms based on their ability to integrate with existing systems and scale with evolving business requirements.

The report concludes that the next 12 months will be pivotal in determining how Indian enterprises navigate the complexities of AI adoption while unlocking its full potential.

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