India is emerging as Asia Pacific’s most AI-ready consumer market, with a majority of users showing strong interest in adopting personal artificial intelligence assistants, a trend that could unlock massive business opportunities for brands racing to capitalise on the next phase of the digital economy.
According to the latest 2026 AI and Digital Trends Report released by Adobe, nearly 60% of Indian consumers are interested in creating their own personal AI agent, the highest among countries surveyed in the Asia Pacific region, revealing India’s rapidly growing appetite for AI-driven digital experiences.
According to the Adobe report, the findings position India as a crucial growth market in the global AI economy, particularly as companies invest heavily in automation, customer experience technologies and next-generation AI-powered commerce.
India shows strongest appetite for AI adoption in Asia Pacific
The report, based on responses from over 7,000 consumers and business leaders globally, found Indian consumers significantly more open to agentic AI compared to other Asia Pacific markets.
More than half of Indian consumers surveyed said they are willing to interact directly with AI-powered brand assistants. Around 55% said they would engage with a company’s AI agent if offered, while 58% said they are comfortable with AI systems interacting directly with other AI systems on their behalf.
Even more notably, 61% of respondents said they are comfortable allowing an AI agent to communicate with a company’s human representative for customer service or transactions. India also recorded the highest confidence among consumers in adopting new digital tools, with 26% showing strong readiness to experiment with emerging technologies.
AI becoming central to India’s consumer spending behavior
The research shows artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of India’s consumer buying journey, creating significant revenue opportunities for brands and digital businesses. According to the study, 65% of Indian consumers are already using AI tools for personalised product recommendations, while 60% rely on AI-powered instant customer support.
Another 62% reportedly said they are open to shopping through virtual AI concierge systems, signalling a future where AI could increasingly influence consumer spending decisions, e-commerce conversions and brand engagement strategies.
Massive business opportunity but companies face execution challenges
While consumer adoption is accelerating, businesses appear to be lagging behind in large-scale implementation. Adobe’s report found only a small percentage of Indian companies have fully integrated agentic AI across operations. Around 10% of brands have deployed AI agents for customer support, while only 7% have scaled AI deployment for marketing content creation.
Nearly 69% of Indian businesses cited poor data integration and data quality as the biggest obstacle to scaling AI systems. Another 65% pointed to talent shortages and lack of skilled professionals, while 62% said unclear return on investment remains a major concern.
Anindita Veluri, Director of Marketing at Adobe India, said, “India is emerging as one of the most receptive markets for agentic AI in Asia Pacific, creating new opportunities for brands to deliver more personalised and effective customer experiences.”
“At the same time, consumers expect these interactions to be transparent, intuitive and human-centric. As organisations move from experimentation to scaled adoption, strong data foundations, governance and trust will be critical to unlocking the full value of AI,” she further said.
Trust could determine the future of AI-driven business
The report also highlights a growing disconnect between what consumers expect from AI and what businesses prioritise. While companies remain focused on efficiency gains and cost reduction, consumers care more about transparency, trust and maintaining human connection during AI interactions.
About 21% of consumers said clear labelling is the most important reassurance when interacting with AI systems, while 17% said they want the option to switch to a human representative at any time. The study found 61% of consumers would stop engaging with a brand if they discovered they were unknowingly interacting with AI when they expected a human. At the same time, 76% said AI interactions should still feel human rather than robotic.
Generative AI already boosting business productivity
Despite deployment challenges, Indian businesses are already seeing measurable gains from early AI adoption.
According to the report, 71% of organisations said generative AI has improved the speed and scale of content creation, while 67% said non-creative teams are now able to generate content using AI tools.
The report suggests India could become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI boom, but businesses that fail to build trustworthy, transparent and scalable AI systems may struggle to monetise the enormous opportunity ahead.