India Leads in Workplace AI Adoption as Workers Push for More Trusted, Contextual AI Experiences 

Workers in India are 45% more likely than the global average to say AI is part of their core workflow — while unsuccessful pilots reveal the need for trusted, contextual, and personalised AI agents

Bengaluru, India – July 30, 2026: Salesforce, the #1 Agentic CRM*, today released the India findings from its Agentic Workplace Study, a double-blind survey of desk workers, revealing that Indian workers are among the most active users of AI at work. According to the study, workers in India are 45% more likely than the global average to say AI is part of their core workflow – the highest share across surveyed markets – signalling that AI is moving from experimentation to everyday use.

At the same time, India also reports the highest incidence of unsuccessful AI pilots, with 38% of workers saying their organisation experienced an unsuccessful AI pilot in the last year, compared with 28% globally. The findings suggest that India’s workforce is not rejecting AI — it is rejecting generic AI. As organisations move from experimentation to enterprise-wide adoption, workers are looking for AI that understands business context, is tailored to their roles, works inside existing workflows, and is supported by the right training and change management.

Key findings:

• India leads in workplace AI adoption: Workers in India are 45% more likely than the global average to say AI is part of their core workflow – the highest share across surveyed markets.
• Unsuccessful pilots are exposing the limits of generic AI: 38% of workers in India say their organization experienced an unsuccessful AI pilot in the last year, the highest across surveyed markets and above the global average of 28%.
• Skepticism remains high: 49% of workers in India consider themselves AI skeptics, compared with 37% globally. This suggests that greater exposure to AI is also creating higher expectations for relevance, trust and usability.
• Lack of business context is the top reason AI pilots fall short: Among Indian workers whose AI tools or pilots did not work out, 34% said results lacked business context, higher than the global average of 22%.
• Workers want AI that is personalized and practical: Other top reasons cited for unsuccessful AI pilots in India include limited ability to personalize AI to their role or tasks, 31%; generic outputs, 31%; insufficient training, 29%; and too many different tools, 28%.

For leaders in India, the data points to a clear path forward. The next phase of AI adoption will depend on building better AI experiences, not just deploying more pilots. Organisations that invest in secure, trusted, and enterprise-ready AI agents; connect them to relevant business data; personalise them for specific roles; and train employees to use them effectively will be better positioned to turn experimentation into measurable workforce impact. In a market where workers are already ahead on adoption, the opportunity is to help AI graduate from a promising tool to a trusted partner in how work gets done.

Comments on the news: 

Deepu Chacko, VP, Solution Engineering, said, “India’s AI story is now about execution. The workforce is experiencing AI in the flow of work, and that experience is creating a more mature expectation from technology — AI that understands their business, supports their role, and helps them make decisions with confidence. Leaders must now focus on operationalising AI — connecting data, redesigning workflows, building trust, and equipping people to work alongside agents. If this is done well, AI will not just lift productivity. It will define how India competes, innovates, and grows.”

Salesforce Survey Methodology: In partnership with YouGov, Salesforce conducted a double-blind online survey among over 1,500 desk workers, defined as workers who consider their day-to-day job primarily mental labor over manual or task-based labor and were required to have at least minimal familiarity with AI, in Australia, India (120 respondents), Japan, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, Mexico, United States, and Canada. The survey was conducted from December 2025 to January 2026. The sample is representative across job roles, industries, and business size.

*Salesforce, the #1 CRM, powered by AI technology and capabilities.