India Tops GenAI Adoption Chart Across Asia Pacific Region: Deloitte Study

As generative AI (GenAI) continues to make waves across the world since 2022 end, it has also given new wings to the early stage Indian tech ecosystem, growth startups and enterprise players. Recently, a study conducted by Deloitte showed India at the top among 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region for GenAI use and adoption.

The report titled ‘Generative AI in Asia Pacific’, covered 11,900 people in the Asia Pacific region.

As per the findings, around 93% of students and 83% of employees in India are actively using this technology.

This rapid adoption comes at the back of GenAI usage by young tech-savvy employees who are saving work hours, increasing productivity, creating new skill development opportunities and sustainable workloads using this technology. 

As a result of this adoption, around 86% of Indian users do faster task completion, 85% experience improved output quality and 83% leverage their ideation capabilities, the report added.

“GenAI holds enormous potential to reshape our work and innovation landscape. With its promise of improved efficiency, enhanced quality and amplified creativity, businesses and universities stand to unlock unprecedented growth opportunities,” the survey said.

On the broader Asia Pacific level, GenAI can majorly affect 17% of working hours across the region which accounts for 1.1 Bn work hours annually. Moreover, 41% of surveyed individuals believed that using GenAI has improved their work-life balance. 

Even when it comes to time-saving, Indians are ahead of the other in the region by saving 7.85 hours per week against the Asia Pacific number of 6.3 hours per week. 

The pace of adoption in developing countries supersedes that of the adoption in developed economies across the Asia Pacific. 

The report projected an 182% increase in daily usage over the next five years, reflecting the dynamic business impact of GenAI adoption. 

Moreover, 75% of Indians trusted GenAI’s potential to elevate Asia Pacific’s role in the global economy and 83% expressed confidence in its ability to enhance social outcomes.

The most affected industries by GenAI usage are Finance, ICT and media, professional services and education. These four industries together account for an average of one-fifth of the economies of each market in Asia Pacific. 

Chris Lewin, Deloitte Asia Pacific’s AI & Data Capability Leader, said, “One of the most exciting aspects of working with GenAI is that across the globe, it is happening to everything, everywhere, all at once. What we have experienced in the last 12 months is that the challenges faced by our clients in Indonesia or India are almost immediately relevant to teams in Italy and Ireland.”

“One key lesson is that the rapid adoption of AI will not directly eliminate jobs, but the impact will be felt by businesses that fail to adapt. Their employees, and in particular, talent new to the workforce will be drawn to rival businesses offering AI applications that can redraw the future of modern work.”

Underlining the challenges around GenAI adoption, the report said that three-quarters of businesses are falling behind on GenAI adoption. 

“To fully use this transformative technology, it is crucial to address implementation challenges and deepen our understanding of its capabilities. Despite its clear benefits, obstacles such as implementation complexities, risk aversion and knowledge gaps impede widespread adoption,” said, Anjani Kumar, Partner, Consulting, Deloitte India.

“Leaders should use these technologies not only for efficiency gains but also to fundamentally reshape business models and processes. Overcoming implementation hurdles requires proactive engagement and a comprehensive understanding of AI’s capabilities among stakeholders,” said Kumar.

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