While 74 per cent enterprises established either a formal strategy or obtained C-suite sponsorship to initiate or scale-up their AI programmes, 78 per cent believed re-skilling of the existing talent will aid in maximizing value from AI.

"Implementing AI will not only catalyze the innovation to stay competitive but also generate long-term value for enterprises. The survey is ready reckoner that AI adoption is a critical competitive lever. It enables business leaders to infuse technology at speed," said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.

As business leaders continue to recognise the role AI can play in providing competitive advantage and generating long-term value, the top three areas cited by the survey respondents where AI is believed to add maximum value were; operational efficiency, customer experience and revenue growth.

"AI adopters have already achieved remarkable success in transforming their business models, operational processes and stakeholder experiences. As business leaders continue to push the frontiers of technology and the future success of AI will be driven only by our inspiration and imagination," explained Nitin Bhatt, Partner & Technology Sector Leader, EY India.

Sectors such as BFSI and retail that are intensive in terms of recorded or digitized data were found to be leading in AI adoption with 36 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.

While end-customer centric functions were most favoured by organizations in retail and BFSI sectors, healthcare and agriculture cited operations to be the function with the highest potential for AI deployment, the survey added.

The joint survey assessed the responses of over 500 CXOs on the maturity of AI adoption and the challenges faced by enterprises in their AI journey.