A sharp rise in artificial intelligence adoption is reshaping how Indian companies operate at scale. India has now become the world’s 2nd-largest user of enterprise AI and machine learning, ranking just behind the US, driven by rapid deployment across industries.
According to a recent report by Zscaler, Indian enterprises recorded more than 82 billion AI transactions in just 6 months last year. This surge placed India at the centre of enterprise AI activity, accounting for nearly half of all such usage across the Asia-Pacific region.
Technology and communication companies led enterprise AI adoption in India. However, strong momentum was also seen across manufacturing, services, and finance, reflecting broad-based use of AI tools across sectors. By late 2025, almost half of Indian businesses were already running multiple Generative AI projects simultaneously, highlighting how quickly AI has moved from experimentation to active deployment.
Despite the rapid growth, the report flagged serious security concerns. Many organisations are not fully aware of which AI models are being used within their systems. This lack of visibility increases the risk of data leaks and security breaches.
Testing revealed that most enterprise AI systems could be compromised in under 90 minutes. ChatGPT alone was associated with more than 400 million data loss incidents last year. These findings have heightened concerns around “shadow AI,” where employees use unauthorised AI tools without oversight, potentially exposing sensitive company information.
As AI adoption accelerates, the report suggests that stronger governance and visibility into AI usage will be critical. Without proper controls, the same tools driving productivity could also increase exposure to data and security risks.
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