Indian organisations prepare for AI-powered experiences, but governance capabilities are still evolving: Okta research

Okta released new research highlighting that while Indian organisations are actively preparing to deliver AI-powered digital experiences, many are still building the governance, visibility and access controls required to manage AI agents and non-human identities at scale.

Nearly 73% of respondents in India said their organisations are either very prepared or somewhat prepared to deliver AI-powered digital experiences across applications, customer services and AI agents. However, the findings also point to a widening gap between AI adoption ambitions and the governance capabilities needed to support trusted, secure deployment. These findings, based on polls conducted at the recently held Okta AI Identity Summits in Mumbai and Bengaluru, reflect growing momentum around AI adoption across India.

Only 14% of respondents said they have full visibility into all AI agents and non-human identities operating across their environments, while just 17% said they could restrict or suspend an AI agent across all environments if required. The findings come at a time when enterprises in India are accelerating AI adoption across business processes, customer engagement and internal operations.

“As organisations move beyond experimentation and begin embedding AI into business processes, governance becomes just as important as innovation,” said Matthew Graham, Chief Security Officer, APJ at Okta. “The organisations that will realise the greatest value from AI will be those that build visibility, accountability and security into their AI initiatives from the outset.”

The polls highlighted several trends shaping AI readiness among Indian organisations:

Governance capabilities are still maturing: Just 17% of respondents said they could restrict or suspend an AI agent across all environments if required, while 51% said they could do so in some cases.

Confidence in managing non-human identities remains mixed: Only 17% of respondents said they were very confident in their organisation’s ability to manage and secure non-human identities such as service accounts, APIs and AI agents, while 53% said they were somewhat confident.

Confidence in AI access governance remains relatively low: Only 14% of respondents said they were very confident that AI agents only have access to the systems and data required to perform their tasks.

“The conversation around AI is shifting,” Graham added. “The focus is no longer solely on adoption. Organisations are increasingly asking how they can govern AI consistently, manage access appropriately and maintain trust as AI agents become more embedded in everyday operations. Identity has an important role to play in answering those questions.”

The findings underline the growing importance of identity security as Indian enterprises scale AI adoption. As AI agents, service accounts, APIs and other non-human identities become more deeply connected to enterprise systems and data, organisations will need stronger visibility, lifecycle management and access governance to ensure AI is deployed responsibly and securely.

Okta’s AI Identity Summits in Mumbai and Bengaluru brought together technology and security leaders from across India to explore identity security, AI governance and how organisations can build trusted foundations for AI adoption. More than 120 respondents were included in the polling.