Tech Explained: Indian IT set for AI-led growth spurt in 2026: Uniphore Chief Umesh Sachdeva in Simple Terms

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos, Sachdeva said Indian IT firms have largely caught up on AI adoption and are now well placed to benefit from rising enterprise demand.

AI has dominated conversations in Davos this year, with global companies focusing on how to move beyond pilots to large-scale deployment. Sachdeva said this shift is already visible across industries and will directly support IT services growth. “Watch Indian IT services growth rates accelerate this year,” he said, adding that firms which were slow to respond initially now have clear strategies in place.
He said the demand from large enterprises for AI agents and smaller language models, deployed in a secure and governed manner, has been very strong. According to him, enterprises are no longer experimenting but are building AI into core operations, which creates sustained work for IT services companies. “The key difference is that companies have moved past the proof-of-concept mentality to a production mindset,” Sachdeva said.

Sachdeva pointed to Uniphore’s own growth as evidence of this broader trend. The company raised $260 million in a Series F funding round in 2025, with strategic investors including Nvidia, AMD, Snowflake and Databricks. He said the round was less about capital and more about validation of Uniphore’s position in enterprise AI. Over the last year, the company grew more than 100% and is on track to double again, potentially crossing $1 billion in total revenue bookings.

For Indian IT services firms, the shift towards AI-led delivery models is crucial. Sachdeva said most large players are now adopting what is being described as an asset-led services model, built around industry solutions, pre-trained models and pre-built AI agents. This allows them to offer outcomes rather than just manpower-led services, placing them “firmly in the middle of the AI economy”.

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He also addressed concerns around how productivity gains from AI are measured. Citing an example from the insurance sector, Sachdeva said AI agents reduced claims processing time from 27 minutes to just three minutes, without cutting headcount. “The same team now has dramatically higher throughput,” he said, arguing that such efficiency gains will increasingly show up in company earnings.

Sachdeva believes 2026 will mark a turning point, with large enterprises publicly reporting the benefits of AI adoption. He said large-scale agentic deployments are already underway across financial services, insurance, telecom and consulting, including through partnerships such as Uniphore’s tie-up with KPMG.

“If we had spoken last year, I would have said I was concerned,” Sachdeva said, referring to the mood around Indian IT in 2025. “But today, almost all of them have very solid strategies in place.” Over the next few quarters, he added, the impact of AI as a growth tailwind should become clearly visible in the performance of Indian IT services companies.

Below is the excerpt of the interview.

Q: You closed 2025 on a very strong note, bringing the likes of Nvidia, AMD, Snowflake and Databricks on board as investors in your Series F round.

Sachdeva: Yes, we were pleased with the Series F not only because of the size of the round—we ended up raising $260 million. There were financial investors and sovereign wealth funds that came in, but these four tech companies, who also happen to be close partners of Uniphore, made it a huge validation of Uniphore’s position in the business AI space.

Q: What this $260 million now does for Uniphore, as well as your appetite for risk and growth.

Sachdeva: Look, over the last two years, the business has inflected. We grew more than we wanted to last year, we grew a little over 100%, and we are likely to double this year as well, which should take us past a billion dollars in total revenue bookings.

The demand in large enterprises for AI agents and small language models—implemented in a secure, governed way that meets regulatory requirements—is insatiable. Yes, there are models out there and GPUs out there, but what large businesses really need is a secure, governed platform. That’s what Uniphore provides today in a sovereign and open manner, and that’s what’s driving our growth. So this fundraise, more than the capital infused, is a validation.

Q: Of course, it is a validation. You not only have marquee names but also market competitors coming in on this round. And I was walking through the promenade—you’re quite prominently placed right next to the Belvédère Hotel—so you’re clearly making a splash here in Davos this year.

Sachdeva: Well, clearly, every time technology changes, the leaderboards of companies change. AI, just like the internet did, is beginning to create new leaders, and Uniphore is clearly one of them. It was about time we had a presence on the promenade and let the world know that we are growing, and we’re happy to be here today.

Q: In terms of enterprise adoption, are there new industries or sectors that are coming on board and saying they want to move this beyond the pilot stage? What adoption trends are you seeing?

Sachdeva: The big theme for 2026, is that there is probably no industry left that is not thinking about AI agents or driving efficiency with AI. The key difference is that companies have moved past the proof-of-concept or pilot mentality to a production mindset. That brings back some old-fashioned considerations, like the cost of the solution. Not everything needs a large language model; some use cases can be handled with small language models. Not everything needs the biggest GPU from Nvidia; some use cases can be supported by older generations of GPUs. As enterprises get more serious about scaling AI across the organisation, cost, openness, and the fact that one size does not fit all are becoming core architecture decisions. That’s why I believe that while last year an MIT report saying that 95% of agentic initiatives would fail went viral, this year similar reports will point to something very different.

Q: What are they going to be pointing towards?

Sachdeva: We should expect large-scale agentic deployments in large enterprises, which are already happening. We work with large financial institutions, insurance companies, and telecom companies. Just this morning, we announced a strategic partnership with KPMG. Across consulting firms, system integrators, and enterprises, agents are being rolled out as we speak. The first dominor to fall will be a Fortune 500 company reporting efficiency gains from AI in its earnings. This year, AI is going to be a major driver of growth for the companies we work with.

Q: That’s interesting. We were just speaking with the tech CEO of one of the Indian IT services companies, and he said that while there’s a lot of talk around productivity gains, there isn’t yet a transparent or credible metric to measure them. How do you view that?

Sachdeva: Let me give you an example of how this plays out at a micro level. An insurance client of ours runs claims processing. They are not reducing headcount because AI agents are processing claims. They’ve gone from a 27-minute process to a three-minute process. The same team now has dramatically higher throughput. We are also working with all the major Indian IT services firms. They were probably a bit slower to get to the party, but every single one of them has caught on. Watch Indian IT services growth rates accelerate this year.

Q: That aligns with what we’re hearing—that AI is now seen as a big tailwind, versus last year’s consensus view that it could pose another existential crisis for the Indian IT services model.

Sachdeva: If we had spoken last year—and we did—I would have said I was concerned. But today, almost all of them have very solid strategies in place. They were slow off the mark, but they’ve caught up. They’re all pursuing what’s being called an asset-led services model. The assets are industry solutions, pre-trained models, and pre-built agents. They’re going to clients and saying, “We can now bring our assets and deliver outcomes as a service.” That puts IT services firms firmly in the middle of the AI economy. Over the next four quarters, their growth rates will look very different from last year.

Watch the video for the full conversation