AI boom puts India second globally; Agentic AI threats loom

New Delhi: India has emerged as a global powerhouse in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, ranking second only to the United States in enterprise AI/ML transactions, according to a report by cloud security major Zscaler.

The findings, released in the ‘Zscaler ThreatLabz 2026 AI Security Report,’ come a week ahead of the high-stakes India AI Impact Summit 2026. Zscaler pointed out that despite strong momentum in AI adoption in India, significant security challenges persist. These include the weaponisation of agentic AI and a critical gap between innovation and security measures. The report, drawing on an analysis of nearly one trillion AI and machine learning transactions on the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform from January to December 2025, indicates that enterprises have reached a tipping point where AI is shifting from a productivity tool to a primary vector for autonomous, machine-speed conflict. The study examines AI and ML traffic together, as enterprise AI systems depend on machine learning models to function at scale. Indian enterprises logged a staggering 82.3 billion AI/ML transactions between June and December 2025. This volume accounts for 46.2 per cent of all AI activity in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, comfortably placing India as the regional leader.

“India’s growth aligns with continued government-backed digital transformation efforts in 2025, alongside major public and private investment in AI infrastructure and skills development,” the report noted.