22 MARKETWATCH India sets pace for frontier transformation Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index finds that almost one in three of India’s AI users are redesigning how work gets done with AI agents Almost one in three Indian AI users (32 per cent) now qualify as frontier professionals – people who are actively redesigning how work gets done with AI agents – according to the Microsoft 2026 Work Trend Index Annual Report. This is double the global average of 16 per cent recorded by the report. Seventy-eight per cent of India’s survey respondents also said that AI is enabling work that was not possible a year ago, compared with 58 per cent globally. “A year ago, India said it would build human-agent teams at scale, the data now says we are doing it,” said Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India & South Asia. “India is amongst the markets with the highest share of frontier professionals in this study. One in three Indian professionals using AI is working with agents on multi-step, real work. Globally it’s one in six. That’s not a gap, that’s a lead.” The report is based on research conducted with 20,000 AI users across ten markets and trillions of anonymised Microsoft 365 productivity signals. It found that as agents absorb more of the execution, people gain more room to direct the work, make the calls and own the outcomes. Quality control of AI output and critical thinking are highlighted as two of the most important human judgement skills for individuals to prioritise as the foothold of AI in the workforce continues to grow. “The human brain remains the most complex, incredible object in the known universe, and it has existed far longer than the machines and technology that defined the industrial age,” said Aneesh Raman, chief economic opportunity officer at Microsoft. “We’re going back to some of the fundamentals that make us, us.” The report highlights that organisational readiness – encompassing leadership alignment, governance maturity, AI performance evaluation and team training – accounts for twice the impact that individual mindset and behaviour has on the outcomes of AI adoption. India’s leadership alignment on AI stands at 44 per cent, compared to a global average of 26 per cent. From left: Nirajita Banerjee of LinkedIn India, Balakrishna D.R. of Infosys and Puneet Chandok discuss the launch of Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index Annual Report Photo: Microsoft
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