Snowflake Research Reveals 71% of Indian Firms See Positive ROI from Gen AI

Indian enterprises report stronger adoption across IT operations and software development, and the highest planned investment in generative AI

India – 12 March, 2026 – Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the AI Data Cloud company, in collaboration with Omdia by Informa TechTarget, today released “The ROI of Gen AI and Agents”, a global research report surveying 2,050 business and technology leaders across 10 different countries, all of whom influence their organization’s current and future AI purchases.

The findings show that India is emerging as one of the world’s leading adopters of generative AI, ranking among the top three markets globally alongside the United States and Germany. Indian organizations are not only adopting AI at scale but are also seeing stronger returns and operational improvements compared to the global average.

According to the report, 71% of Indian respondents reported measurable returns from generative AI investments, significantly higher than the global average of 61%. Additionally, 42% of Indian organisations are already using Generative AI across multiple use cases.

Indian enterprises applying Generative AI Across Core Enterprise Functions

 The research shows that Indian organisations are deploying generative AI across a wide range of technology and business functions. Compared to global averages, companies in India report higher adoption of AI across several key areas:

• IT operations: 76% vs. 61% globally
• Data analytics: 75% vs. 57% globally
• Cybersecurity: 69% vs. 52% globally
• Software development: 65% vs. 48% globally
• Customer service: 58% vs. 48% globally
• Sales: 41% vs. 31% globally

These findings highlight how generative AI is becoming embedded in operational workflows across Indian enterprises.

“Indian organisations are moving quickly from early experimentation to embedding generative AI into core business operations,” said Vijayant Rai, Managing Director – India, Snowflake. “What stands out is the strong focus on translating AI adoption into measurable outcomes. As companies continue to invest in modern data platforms and AI capabilities, India is well-positioned to lead the next phase of enterprise AI innovation.”

Generative AI Transforming India’s Tech Ecosystem

 The report highlights that generative AI could have a particularly significant impact in India, where IT services and software development contribute substantially to the country’s digital economy. Indian organisations are among the most aggressive adopters of AI tools across software development and IT operations:

• 77% of respondents say their organisations use AI to generate code, compared with 64% globally
• 76% use AI for code reviews and debugging, versus 65% globally
• 66% use AI for IT or cybersecurity incident response, compared with 54% globally
• 68% use AI to configure and optimise infrastructure, versus 58% globally

These capabilities are helping organisations accelerate development cycles, improve system reliability, and automate routine engineering tasks.

Strong Business Outcomes from Generative AI

 Indian organisations are also reporting stronger business outcomes from generative AI initiatives than the global average. According to respondents:

• 94% report improved operational efficiency, compared with 87% globally
• 92% report increased innovation, versus 83% globally
• 86% report improved financial performance, compared with 75% globally

These results suggest that Indian enterprises are not only adopting generative AI rapidly but are also successfully translating adoption into measurable business outcomes.

India Set to lead the next wave of AI Investment

Looking ahead, Indian organisations are expected to lead global investment in generative AI initiatives. The report finds that Indian enterprises plan to allocate 28%  of their technology budgets to generative AI in the next 12 months, the highest share among all countries surveyed, compared to the global average of 22%. Adoption of agentic systems is also accelerating, with 66% of Indian organisations already using or planning to implement agentic AI within the next year, compared to 56% globally. As AI-assisted development expands, enterprises are increasingly exploring coding agents built on trusted enterprise data, an area Snowflake is advancing through Cortex Code, its AI-powered coding agent.

Methodology
The ROI of Gen AI and Agents is based on responses from 2,050 respondents from 10 countries (Australia/New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States) that are influential in their organization’s future AI purchases. The survey was conducted in collaboration with Omdia by Informa TechTarget between August 13, 2025, and September 17, 2025. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number, with values below .5 rounded down and .5 and above rounded up.