Mar 05: Enterprises across India are accelerating their AI adoption journey, moving from experimentation to execution, according to the 4th edition of the Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 – The Race for Enterprise AI, commissioned by Lenovo with insights from IDC. The report highlights that 99% of Indian organizations plan to increase AI investments over the next 12 months, with budgets expected to grow by 19% year-over-year, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region.
Indian enterprises are prioritizing investments in AI infrastructure, generative AI development, internal AI training for both IT and non-IT staff, AI devices, and AI security, trust, and transparency tools. This underscores AI’s role as a core driver of enterprise efficiency, resilience, and growth.
Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific, ISG, Lenovo, said
“When 96% of organizations across AP are increasing AI investment, it signals that AI decisions are now central to enterprise strategy. The differentiator will be how effectively AI is integrated into infrastructure, operations, and security to drive long-term value.”
The report also emphasizes a shift from ROI validation to outcomes-led AI adoption, with 88% of AP organizations expecting positive ROI, averaging 2.8x returns. AI is increasingly expanding beyond IT departments, with non-IT teams funding initiatives, demonstrating the growing enterprise-wide importance of AI.
Agentic AI is emerging as the next frontier, with 21% of organizations reporting significant usage and nearly 60% exploring deployments, particularly in sectors like telecommunications, healthcare, and government. Despite strong interest, readiness remains uneven, with only 10% prepared for scaled Agentic AI implementation.
Hybrid AI architectures are becoming the default model, with 90% of Indian organizations preferring a hybrid approach combining on-premises and edge environments to balance performance, security, and compliance.
Shailendra Katyal, Vice President & Managing Director, Lenovo India, stated,
“India’s AI journey reflects a builder mindset. With budgets growing fastest in the region and adoption moving into active deployment, enterprises are focusing on infrastructure and workforce readiness to industrialize AI responsibly. Nearly $3 in expected return for every dollar invested confirms AI is now moving from pilot programs to core business infrastructure.”
Key 2026 CIO Priorities Identified in the Playbook:
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AI inferencing as a value engine: Distributed edge infrastructure will handle the bulk of AI compute.
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Employee productivity through AI devices: 50% of enterprise PC purchases will shift to models with on-device AI agents.
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Scaling AI remains critical: Only half of AI proofs-of-concept reach production despite high expected ROI.
The Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 reinforces that AI is no longer a niche initiative but a strategic enabler of enterprise transformation, efficiency, and competitive differentiation.