Indian firms see AI returns rise as cyber readiness drops: Kyndryl survey

Indian organisations are reporting higher returns from artificial intelligence investments even as their ability to manage cybersecurity threats has declined sharply, according to a survey of 3,700 senior business and technology leaders across 21 countries.

The Kyndryl Readiness Report, released on Tuesday (10 November), found that 60 per cent of Indian organisations investing in AI and machine learning reported positive returns, a three percentage point increase from 2025. However, the share of organisations reporting complete readiness to manage external business risks fell eight percentage points to 27 per cent.

The survey included 200 respondents from India. The findings point to a widening gap between AI ambitions and the operational capabilities required to support them, particularly in cybersecurity, said top executives from Kyndryl in a virtual launch.

Cybersecurity remained a leading concern among Indian businesses, with 68 per cent of respondents identifying cyberattacks as a primary external risk. Yet only 35 per cent said their organisations were completely prepared to manage such threats, a decline of 10 percentage points from the previous year.

The global figure for cyber readiness stood at 26 per cent, down 11 percentage points from 2025. The decline occurred despite three in four Indian business leaders saying AI had helped their organisations identify security threats faster.

AI readiness gaps

The report found that Indian organisations were increasingly integrating AI into business operations, with 85 per cent deploying the technology in workflows beyond pilot projects. Another 80 per cent said they were using AI agents, software programmes that can autonomously perform tasks, to automate processes that previously required coordination between multiple teams or systems.

However, the transition from experimentation to wider deployment continued to face challenges. Some 70 per cent of Indian respondents said their organisations had more AI pilots than they could realistically scale, while 58 per cent reported that innovation initiatives often stalled after the proof-of-concept stage.

Half of the Indian organisations surveyed had significantly changed their AI strategy over the past year, while 31 per cent reported experiencing an AI investment failure. Differences within senior management were also evident, with 37 per cent of respondents reporting disagreements between their chief human resources officer and chief technology or information officer over AI strategy.

“As AI creates significant opportunity, organizations are now focusing on how to make early returns sustainable,” said Martin Schroeter, chairman and chief executive officer of Kyndryl, a technology infrastructure services company which came into existence after IBM spin-off of its managed infrastructure services business

“This year’s Readiness Report shows a new kind of readiness gap: AI ambitions are moving faster than the systems needed to support them, and the bar for readiness keeps moving as AI becomes more integrated in enterprises,” he said.

The report also identified gaps between IT modernisation efforts and the infrastructure required to support AI deployment at scale. Although 71 per cent of Indian respondents described their organisations’ IT infrastructure as mostly or fully modernised, 59 per cent said significant re-architecture would be required to support AI at scale.

For the third consecutive year, Indian business leaders identified IT infrastructure upgrades as the primary measure their organisations were taking to address external risks. The findings suggest that existing modernisation efforts have not necessarily addressed the infrastructure requirements associated with wider AI adoption, particularly as organisations move from individual applications towards more integrated, AI-enabled operations.

Globally, 64 per cent of organisations investing in AI and machine learning reported positive returns, up 10 percentage points from last year, while average readiness to manage external risks declined seven points to 24 per cent.

The survey was conducted by Edelman Intelligence on behalf of Kyndryl between 10 July and 2 September 2026, using online surveys and telephone interviews. Respondents included C-suite executives, senior directors and business unit leaders involved in technology decisions.

As the findings are based on executives’ self-reported assessments, they show perceptions of AI investment returns, technology adoption and organisational preparedness rather than independently verified measures of business performance or risk readiness.

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