India’s CMOs project higher AI-driven marketing growth in BCG survey

"Indian CMOs are projecting the highest AI-driven growth, owning the investment agenda, and betting on agentic commerce and personalisation."

New Delhi: Around 53 per cent of Indian chief marketing officers (CMOs) projected 5-9 per cent incremental topline growth, against a global average of 43 per cent, the highest projection of any region in the survey, a report said on Monday.Also Watch: AI-led marketing investment trendsThe report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said Indian firms are taking direct ownership of AI investments, with 57 per cent of respondents saying that AI is funded by the marketing function, against 47 per cent global share, making India one of the most marketing-led AI investment markets in the world. India leads globally in agentic commerce adoption, with 73 per cent of Indian CMOs ranking it among their top three strategic priorities, versus a global average of 63 per cent. Sixteen IIT Bombay Deep-Tech Startups To Represent India At Bharat Innovates 2026 Global Showcase In Nice, France The report highlighted that 43 per cent of Indian CMOs said accelerating AI and digital transformation is their CEO's top priority and their expectations of marketing have increased significantly over the past two years, placing India among the highest globally. Around 52 per cent of CMOs expect generative AI to have a significant positive impact on personalisation, the highest across all regions surveyed.Survey findings on AI transformationThe firm conducted an annual survey of 300 CMOs and found that while 96 per cent say AI is driving end-to-end transformation, only about a third have used agents at scale and just 8 per cent run campaigns where multiple AI agents operate autonomously. 'Most People Find The Work Soul-Crushing': Meta Applied AI Team Employees Revolt Against Data-Training Work Roughly 27 per cent of Indian CMOs reported that accelerating AI and digital transformation is their CEO's number one priority, nearly twice the EMESA rate of 15 per cent and ahead of the North America average of 20 per cent. "Ninety per cent of the CMOs agreed that GenAI is already reshaping how consumers discover and evaluate brands. But most marketing organisations are not yet built to compete in that environment," said Mark Abraham, Global Leader, Marketing, Sales and Pricing Practice, Boston Consulting Group, and coauthor of the report. "Investment must now move beyond individual AI tools and towards fully connected agentic operating systems built on strong data foundations, brand intelligence layers, multi-agent orchestration, and the right talent," he added.GenAI impact and real-time marketingAround 88 per cent of Indian CMOs agreed that GenAI will help their teams sense signals and act in near real time, underscoring the speed imperative that defines India's AI marketing agenda.(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)