Only 25% of Indian Organisations Feel Workforce Ready for AI, Kyndryl Report Finds

Kyndryl has published its second annual People Readiness Report, based on a global study of 1,100 senior business and technology leaders across eight countries, including India.

The report points to a decline in workforce readiness for AI and a gap between what organisations expect from AI and what they have put in place to support it.

The report states that AI success does not depend only on strategy, use cases, or technology, but on whether organisations redesign work and manage the changes that follow across their workforce. It also states that trust in AI can be built through changes to operating models and governance.

In India, 25% of organisations say their workforce is prepared to use AI, down 12 percentage points from 2025. Kyndryl says this points to a widening gap between AI ambitions and workforce readiness, as organisations work to give employees the skills needed for AI-based work.

At the same time, 69% of organisations in India have redesigned roles within or across functions to support AI adoption, and 33% have set formal budgets and upskilling plans. Kyndryl says the pace of this change is outpacing the development of governance, trust, and oversight structures.

Lingraju Sawkar, President - Kyndryl APxJ, said, “While organisations continue to invest in AI technologies and expand use cases, scaling impact will require businesses to rethink how work gets done, redesign roles, build new capabilities and establish governance frameworks that foster trust and responsible adoption.”

Among other findings in India, the report states that 56% of organisations say AI is deployed broadly or built into core business processes, up from 36% in 2025. It states that 81% of Indian leaders are concerned that AI advancement will move faster than their workforce capabilities, governance frameworks, and operating models. On AI agents, 84% of organisations expect autonomous AI systems to make material decisions within 12 months, while 28% say they trust such systems to operate without human oversight.

The report notes that worldwide spending on AI is forecast to reach $2.52 trillion in 2026, a 44% rise from the previous year, according to Gartner, Inc.

Kim Basile, CIO, Kyndryl, said, “The data shows that the organisations investing in people—whether it’s rethinking roles and workflows, dedicating resources for upskilling and retraining, or guiding employees through change—are experiencing positive outcomes at a much higher rate.”

Mark Paulek, Chief Human Resources Officer, Kyndryl, said, “AI’s ability to reshape work is challenging organisations to reshape their workforce more rapidly than ever before. The leaders pulling ahead are aligning skills, roles and decision-making with how work is actually changing.”

The report identifies a group it calls Pacesetters, comprising 9% of organisations worldwide that have redesigned roles around AI, put change management in place so staff understand the new operating model, and built workforce readiness. Kyndryl says these organisations are roughly twice as likely to have governance measures fully in place across every area measured in the study.

According to the global findings, Pacesetters are 1.5 times more likely to report AI-related revenue growth and 1.6 times more likely to report improved innovation in products and services.

Globally, 23% of organisations say their workforce is fully ready for AI, a fall of six percentage points from the previous year, and 79% say AI will move faster than their workforce, governance, and operating models. On AI agents, 81% of organisations globally expect them to make impactful decisions within a year, while 25% say they trust such systems without human oversight.

The report also outlines steps organisations are taking to prepare their workforce. Globally, 61% say they have already redesigned roles, and 24% are creating new roles focused on managing AI. 

On skills, 52% of leaders say it has become harder to find employees with the skills needed for their AI strategy, and a third have training programmes in place to help staff work alongside AI tools. On governance, 33% of organisations say they have clear policies on which decisions AI can and cannot make, and 27% use a registry to monitor their AI systems.