MUMBAI, February 2026 — India is no longer just a participant in the AI race; it is redefining the track. In a landmark discussion on All About AI, industry leaders from Salesforce and global tech veterans revealed that Indian enterprises are moving toward an “Agentic-First” philosophy—a shift from tools that assist to systems that reason, decide, and act autonomously.
The Death of the “Pilot Era”
For the past year, the boardroom conversation was dominated by skepticism and small-scale experiments. That era is over. Ignasi Peral, EVP at Salesforce, notes that the transition to agentic systems is moving 10 times faster than the original digital transformation wave.
While the shift to mobile and cloud took a decade, the agentic era is becoming a reality in months. Companies are realizing that digital agents are not just fancy chatbots; they are “digital employees” integrated into the core data flows of the business. Peral suggests we are likely the last generation to work in offices populated solely by humans.
India: The World’s AI Laboratory
India holds a unique strategic advantage that the West cannot easily replicate. By skipping the “laptop generation” and moving straight to a mobile-first society, India has created a massive reservoir of engagement data.
- Scale: Billions of transactions daily allow Indian models to be fine-tuned to local needs rather than relying on generic global LLMs.
- Infrastructure: Public systems like Aadhaar and DigiYatra provide a structured foundation that makes implementing autonomous agents seamless.
- Cost: The favorable economics in India allow companies to iterate and “fail fast,” finding high-ROI use cases at a fraction of the cost seen in Silicon Valley.
The Non-Negotiables: Data and Trust
As firms move from Proof of Concept (PoC) to full production, the “gold” of this era is trusted data. Experts warn that an agent is only as good as the information it accesses. Without unified, governed, and secure data, autonomous systems can “hallucinate” or take unapproved actions.
For the first time, technology is providing a clear, measurable Return on Investment (ROI). Unlike previous software where value was often intangible, an agentic intervention—such as resolving a complex customer dispute without human help—has a specific dollar value attached to every action it completes.
Breaking the “Mindset” Barrier
Despite the technology’s readiness, the biggest hurdle remains human. Many organizations are tethered to legacy ways of working, fearing that AI will replace the workforce.
However, the panel argues that AI is the ultimate equalizer. For a young nation like India, agentic AI allows a newcomer to perform with the skill of a veteran on day one. The goal is a “hybrid workforce” where AI handles the repetitive “drudge work,” freeing humans to focus on strategy, creativity, and the “art of the possible.”
The Voice Revolution
What does the immediate future look like? The most anticipated breakthrough for India is Agentic Voice. By integrating autonomous reasoning with regional Indian languages, businesses can reach the “next half-billion” users. Imagine a farmer or a small-town shopkeeper interacting with a sophisticated digital agent in their native tongue, solving complex financial or logistical problems through a simple, natural conversation.
