85% of Indian CFOs under pressure to prove AI ROI as governance falls behind: Survey

India's finance leaders are under growing pressure to demonstrate returns on investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), but governance frameworks are failing to keep pace, raising concerns over accountability, compliance and audit readiness, according to a new survey by tax compliance software firm Avalara.

The study found that 85% of Indian chief financial officers (CFOs) and senior finance leaders face moderate or significant career pressure to prove that AI agent investments are delivering measurable returns. At the same time, 71% said their organisations prioritise deployment speed over governance, while only 8% indicated that governance takes precedence over rapid AI adoption.

Governance gap widens as AI adoption accelerates

The rush to deploy AI agents is exposing weaknesses in governance and internal controls across Indian enterprises. The survey revealed that 27% of respondents believe accountability for significant AI-related errors is either unclear or rests with no one — the highest proportion among the four markets surveyed, which included the US, UK and Australia.

Further, 10% of finance leaders admitted they were not confident they could provide regulators or auditors with a clear explanation of how AI agents reached specific decisions. Around 24% said their organisations had not updated internal controls within the past year to account for AI-driven actions or recommendations. Only 28% reported that AI controls had been reviewed by IT or cybersecurity teams, while 34% said risk or compliance teams had assessed those controls.

Finance leaders seek stronger oversight

Commenting on the findings, Dulles Krishnan, Vice President and General Manager, India Operations at Avalara, said Indian companies are embracing AI rapidly, but governance frameworks are struggling to keep up.

"While Indian enterprises are moving fast to automate, their internal rulebooks are being left behind. Running new AI tools on outdated compliance policies is a massive blind spot. CFOs in this market need to ensure their risk frameworks are actually updated to monitor automated decisions before an auditor comes knocking," Krishnan said.

The survey also highlighted a skills deficit, with 76% of Indian finance leaders saying their organisations lack dedicated in-house expertise to fully understand how AI agents function. To build confidence in expanding AI adoption, respondents identified verified tax and financial data (27%), human review controls for high-risk actions (26%), comprehensive audit trails (22%), and stronger vendor accountability commitments (20%) as the most important safeguards.

Survey methodology

The findings are based on a Censuswide survey of 250 CFOs and senior finance leaders from Indian companies with annual revenue of at least US$10 million. Respondents represented sectors including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, professional services and technology, and had either deployed, piloted or evaluated AI agents during the past 12 months. The survey was conducted between June 15 and June 22, 2026.