Around 53% of Indian chief marketing officers (CMOs) anticipate 5–9% incremental topline growth, surpassing the global average, as per a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Indian firms are increasingly taking charge of AI investments, with 57% of respondents indicating that AI funding comes from the marketing function, higher than the global average of 47%.
India leads globally in the adoption of agentic commerce, with 73% of Indian CMOs ranking it among their top three strategic priorities, compared to the global average of 63%. The report also notes that 43% of Indian CMOs consider accelerating AI and digital transformation as their CEO’s top priority, reflecting a significant rise in marketing expectations over the past two years.
CMOs in India are optimistic about the impact of generative AI on personalization, with 52% expecting a substantial positive influence, the highest among all regions surveyed. Despite 96% of CMOs acknowledging that AI drives end-to-end transformation, only about a third have implemented agents at scale, and merely 8% run campaigns with multiple AI agents operating autonomously.
In India, approximately 27% of CMOs prioritize accelerating AI and digital transformation as their CEO’s top agenda, nearly double the rate in EMESA and ahead of the North America average. Mark Abraham, Global Leader of Marketing, Sales, and Pricing Practice at BCG, emphasized the need for a shift towards connected agentic operating systems to effectively leverage AI tools and enhance brand intelligence.
An overwhelming 88% of Indian CMOs believe that GenAI will enable their teams to respond promptly to signals in real-time, highlighting the urgency for speed in India’s AI marketing strategies.
