SAP India Notes Boards Shift to AI Cost Focus

SAP's Value of AI Report 2026, produced in partnership with Oxford Economics, surveyed 2,600 business leaders across 13 countries - 200 from India. Released at the SAP NOW AI Tour India in Mumbai on June 14, the report documents a measurable shift in enterprise AI priorities from experimentation to value-driven deployment at scale.

Indian organizations plan to invest an average of $25.9 million in AI, with spending expected to rise 45% over the next two years. AI currently supports 33% of business tasks and is projected to reach 51% within two years. Overall AI ROI is expected to climb from 22% today to roughly 40%, while agentic AI returns specifically are projected to grow fivefold to $14.4 million in India.

India ranks second worldwide in strategic approaches to AI investment, per the report. 71% of Indian businesses have a defined AI strategy aligned with business goals - among the highest globally. 55% have appointed dedicated AI leaders, the highest share of any market surveyed. End-to-end, cross-functional AI adoption is forecast to more than double to 40% within two years.

67% of Indian businesses are already piloting agentic AI use cases, while 85% believe the technology has the potential to significantly transform business operations. 74% of businesses are satisfied with current AI ROI. Manoj Thamba of SAP framed the shift toward orchestration: "The future is not about individual agents becoming heroes. The future is about orchestrating agents so they work together toward common business outcomes."

Despite rising confidence, execution challenges persist. Data readiness has improved - 63% of organizations now consider themselves data-ready for AI, up from 42% the prior year, the highest year-on-year growth globally. But 76% cite incomplete data as a barrier and 67% flag data quality concerns. Workforce readiness is the biggest lag: only 11% of organizations believe they are fully prepared from a skills perspective, and just 14% say they have adequate governance structures to scale AI effectively. 80% of respondents agreed that maximizing AI value requires workforce transformation beyond upskilling alone.

Manish Prasad, President and Managing Director of SAP Indian Subcontinent, described the current period as a new phase: "Today, we are entering a completely new phase. This isn't simply another technology cycle. Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the way organizations think about work, decision-making, and business models." He framed SAP's vision of the "Autonomous Enterprise" around three pillars - trusted business systems, high-quality governed data, and the ability to turn intelligence into measurable business outcomes. Manos Raptopoulos, Global President of Customer Success at SAP SE, emphasized the higher bar for enterprise AI versus consumer tools: "If you're managing financial operations, supply chains, procurement, or manufacturing environments, ninety percent accuracy isn't good enough."