Cognizant today announced findings from new research examining how AI-enabled workforce productivity could contribute to India’s economic output. The study estimates that under realistic near-term adoption scenarios, AI-enabled productivity could contribute approximately $28 billion to $84 billion in additional annual nominal GDP, depending on the breadth of AI adoption and how effective productivity gains translate into economic output.
The model also indicates a theoretical upper bound of $830 billion annually, assuming widespread adoption of AI across the entire workforce and full translation of productivity gains into economic output.
The research, based on a survey of 700 enterprise employees and 75 C-suite and business executives across companies with revenues ranging from $100 million to over $10 billion across 10 major industries, suggests India has a strong foundation to capture this opportunity.
Ninety-seven percent of employees surveyed report some productivity improvement from AI, with an average reported 15% productivity uplift.
Employees in India are also preparing for AI, 74% have completed AI training, compared with 56% globally. Yet business leaders surveyed caution that, on average, only 36% of employees have access to AI tools, pointing to a gap between workforce preparedness and adoption at scale in an enterprise.
“India has a strong foundation to capture greater value from AI. Realizing this potential will require adoption of AI tools across enterprises, continued investment in skilling, and an enabling environment for responsible AI at scale,” said Rajesh Varrier, President – Global Operations and Chairman & Managing Director, Cognizant India. “Bringing these elements together will be critical to translating workforce productivity into measurable enterprise and economic value.”
Productivity gains vary across sectors. Healthcare leads, with 38% of employees surveyed reporting productivity gains above 20%, followed by communications (31%), technology (28%), banking (28%), and retail and CPG (18%). Manufacturing has the lowest share of employees reporting any level of productivity gain, at 82%. However, over a quarter (27%) expect to see gains above 20%.
The foundations for broader adoption are taking shape: 79% of senior leaders surveyed say their organization’s technology infrastructure is accelerating AI rollout, while 68% view India’s national infrastructure as an accelerator. However, translating productivity into measurable business returns remains a challenge. While 35% of leaders report workforce productivity gains, 84% have not yet seen AI lower costs, 91% report no revenue impact, and 37% have paused or stopped AI initiatives due to unclear ROI.
The findings point to the need for organizations’ to broaden access to AI tools, sustain workforce skilling, extend AI into more complex and higher-value work, and strengthen measurement of business outcomes, helping translate workforce-level productivity gains into broader enterprise and economic value.
CT Bureau
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