93% of India Inc May Deploy AI Agents by Next Year, Microsoft Study Shows
Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2025 highlights India’s AI-first momentum as companies shift from pilots to scaled systems, creating new roles and resetting strategies.
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About 93% of Indian business leaders plan to deploy AI agents to expand workforce capacity within the next 12 to 18 months, according to Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index released on Wednesday, 20 August.
The report shows Indian companies moving swiftly to scale AI agents, shifting from pilot programs to production-grade systems. Microsoft identified a group of advanced adopters, or so‑called Frontier Firms, that are redesigning operations around human‑agent collaboration.
Fifty‑nine percent of business leaders say they already use AI agents to automate workstreams or business processes across entire teams, highlighting a move from testing to enterprise-wide deployment.
The intent is unmistakable. Nine out of ten Indian executives say 2025 is the year to rethink core strategies and operating models—the highest proportion among all countries surveyed.
Sixty‑four percent identify productivity gains as an immediate priority, and the same 93% who plan to deploy agents are confident these systems will expand workforce capacity over the next 12 to 18 months.
“India is firmly in its AI‑first era, with AI agility accelerating at an unprecedented pace,” said Puneet Chandok, President, Microsoft India & South Asia. “Leaders are scaling operations with AI emerging as a true thought partner—fueling creativity, fast‑tracking decisions, and redefining collaboration.”
As strategic intent shifts, so do organizational charts. Companies are creating roles that two years ago barely existed—Agent Bosses who oversee digital labor, AI Workflow Designers who assemble multi‑step processes, and Software Operators who run agentic systems day to day.
Ninety‑two percent of leaders say they are considering AI‑specific roles, and 57% expect teams to build multi‑agent systems to tackle complex tasks.
This language signals a shift from experimenting with chatbots toward adopting AI as a foundational layer of planning, execution, and review.
Upskilling remains critical. Microsoft reports that 51% of leaders rank upskilling among their top priorities over the next 12 to 18 months, and 63% of managers expect AI training to become a core team responsibility within five years.
The emphasis is not just on technical skills but on developing “AI fluency,” ethical awareness, and cross‑functional agility so teams can design, supervise, and troubleshoot human‑agent workflows independently.
Familiarity is rising too: 66% of employees and 80% of leaders are already conversant with AI agents for work.
Microsoft tied these India-specific insights to broader usage across its ecosystem, noting that Microsoft 365 Copilot apps now exceed 100 million monthly active users and over 800 million people engage with AI-powered features across its products.
Overall, the report presents India as firmly in an AI-first era: leadership intent, employee familiarity, and skilling initiatives are converging to move AI strategy from experiment to enterprise scale.
