Bengaluru: Artificial intelligence could contribute more than $500 billion to India's economy by 2030, according to a joint study released by IBM and IndiaAI, which said the country was poised to emerge as one of the world's leading AI-driven economies.

The report, titled "From Promise to Power: How AI is Redefining India's Economic Future", found that 80 per cent of Indian business leaders believe AI investments will directly influence the country's economic growth, while 73 per cent expect India to become a leading global AI nation by the end of the decade.

The study, based on surveys of 1,500 executives across industries and government sectors, highlighted both the opportunities and challenges in India's AI journey.

It noted that while businesses were increasingly embracing AI, nearly 72 per cent of organisations felt they were lagging behind global peers in AI adoption, pointing to a significant gap between ambition and implementation.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Electronics and Information Technology Secretary S Krishnan said India was moving beyond being a participant in the global AI conversation and was beginning to shape it.

IBM India and South Asia Managing Director Sandip Patel said AI could become one of the strongest growth drivers for the Indian economy if backed by investments in trusted systems, infrastructure, governance and workforce skills.

The report said data infrastructure and cloud capacity remain major concerns for enterprises. Around 77 per cent of respondents cited lack of accessible and secure cloud infrastructure as a barrier to AI readiness, while 57 per cent pointed to poor data quality.