AI increases decision making capability by 54%: CII-Protiviti report

News Delhi [India], February 21 (ANI): Artificial Intelligence (AI) increases decision making capability by 54 per cent and with time AI adoption within Indian businesses is set to accelerate rapidly — a majority planning to scale up their AI initiatives in the near future, a new joint report by leading global consulting firm Protiviti and industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has revealed.

The report, titled “AI Trends and Future Impact: Industry Adoption and Insights” was released on Friday at the 4th edition of the CII International Conference on Artificial Intelligence – The AI India Show 2025.

According to the report, over half of Indian enterprises confirm their plans to rapidly expand AI adoption within their organisations.

About 59 per cent of enterprises surveyed by Protiviti for the report voice that their organisation is prepared for AI adoption, while 38 per cent remain in early readiness stages.

AI governance remains a red flag, with only 23 per cent of enterprises having implemented AI ethics and governance frameworks.

Over 40 per cent of enterprises are open to external AI audits and bias assessments.

As per the survey conducted by Protiviti and included in the report, 51 per cent of Indian enterprises have confirmed their plans to rapidly expand AI adoption within their organisation, while an additional 32 per cent enterprises note that they plan a gradual expansion (of AI adoption).

The Protiviti survey further revealed that six out of 10 enterprises (59 per cent of respondents) are fully or moderately prepared for implementing AI within their organisation.

The survey findings are based on data collected from senior leaders at over 300 enterprises across diverse industries, including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, automotive, transportation, telecom and aviation, among others.

The CII-Protiviti report highlighted that for Indian enterprises, increasing operational efficiency, enhancing customer experience, and improving decision-making capabilities are the top three business objectives driving AI investments.

Further, among various AI technologies, Predictive AI, Chatbots, and Machine Learning have seen the highest implementation rates so far, while Generative AI and Agentic AI are most popular technologies being actively explored for future investments.

While enterprises recognize the transformative potential of AI, the survey also underscores key barriers to its widespread adoption.

The top four challenges according to the report include ethical concerns, bias, and legal compliance risks; a shortage of skilled AI professionals; high implementation costs; and data privacy and governance issues.

The survey further found that despite these concerns, 65-70 per cent of organizations feel prepared in terms of data, strategy, and culture to adopt AI.

However, only 23 per cent have implemented AI ethics and governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI deployment.

As AI adoption scales up, governance remains a critical factor. While 36 per cent of respondents believe a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) should lead AI initiatives, another 18 per cent favor a shared responsibility approach for AI governance within organizations.

Encouragingly, over 40 per cent of enterprises are open to external AI audits and bias assessments to drive accountability and ethical AI use.

Talking to ANI, Amit Lundia, Managing Director, Protiviti said, “AI is reshaping the world, and India is at the forefront of this shift. With rapid digital adoption, businesses are integrating AI at an accelerated pace, driving economic growth. Encouragingly, over 74 per cent executives are considering Generative AI as one of the critical business imperative and more than 80 per cent are carrying out multiple auditability measures such as, Biasness Audits, AI Governance Framework or Explainable AI tools, demonstrating a commitment to responsible AI.”

Sandeep Gupta, Managing Director, Protiviti Member for India said, “As AI becomes more cost-effective, its transformative impact will redefine industries and spur innovation. Protiviti collaborated with CII to deliver key insights into India’s AI landscape through the AI Trends and Future Impact report, which we launched at the – 4th edition of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence – The AI India Show 2025,”

Coming back to the report, the survey result shows that Increasing Operational Efficiency is the most critical and significant business objective across industries that will drive Al Adoption.

The other significant objectives are enhancing customer experience and improving decision making. Cost optimization and better

risk management is expected to speed up in the next five years along with innovation.

The survey highlights some very interesting perspective. 55-60 per cent executives feel that they are either limited or not prepared for Al Adoption on

Infrastructure, Governance and Cost standpoint; 74 per cent of executives are already considering Generative Al and LLM technologies, and financial services industry leads this wave with 85 per cent.