India’s Digital Ground Game (Part 2): Sector Stacks, Compliance Clocks & Vendor Playbooks

From Trends to Tactics: Where India’s Digital Story Gets Real

In Part 1 of this series, we explored the changing dynamics of India’s enterprise market, which is now characterized by a strong focus on outcomes and a pivot from cost arbitrage to impact.

In this second part, we will focus on the sector-by-sector implementation of tech stacks that are transforming operations, customer experience, and profitability. We will also examine the compliance realities shaping vendor strategies. Finally, we will analyze what these trends mean for a European firm looking to enter India, as well as for an Indian enterprise selecting its next technology partner.

Banking and BFSI: More Than Just AI Hype

Let’s begin with the banking and financial services sector, where digital ambition often meets the harshest regulatory scrutiny.

BFSI players in India are deploying AI for everything from underwriting loans to preventing fraud, building domain-specific tech stacks. One such example is Sesame, a BFSI-specialised Large Language Model co-developed by Setu and Sarvam AI, which helps banks automate credit decisioning and fraud workflows.

It’s not just startups driving this change. Major players like HDFC, Axis, and SBI are investing heavily in automation layers that go beyond chatbots—touching core banking, onboarding, and even claims.

According to EY, generative AI alone could drive 46% productivity gains in Indian banking by 2030 (EY GenAI Report).

Behind the scenes, cloud providers like AWS (supporting core banking modernization), Azure (used by leading Indian banks), and Google Cloud (driving next-gen BFSI in India); workflow automation leaders like Pega (with deep roots in customer decisioning and collections), Microsoft Power Automate (used for secure financial process automation), and Appian (low-code automation for regulatory and risk operations); as well as Indian fintech AI innovators like Perfios (used in underwriting by over 300 financial institutions) and Karza Technologies (AI-powered KYC, fraud, and onboarding tools) are quietly orchestrating the new digital core of BFSI.

Manufacturing: Sensors, Edge, and Quiet Reinvention

Indian manufacturers lag in formalising their digital transformation. According to PwC India, 38% operate without a digital roadmap—dramatically higher than the 2% global average.

Despite this lag in planning, the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining significant traction across the Indian manufacturing sector.

Case Study: A cable manufacturer backed by private equity recently partnered with EY to modernize its digital stack—implementing predictive maintenance with industrial IoT, real-time dashboards, quality control automation, and supply chain visibility.

📎 EY Case Study

Logistics: The AI Supply Chain Is Already Here

India’s logistics sector has rapidly adopted AI and IoT to address the challenges of complex, high-volume supply chains. Leaders like DHL, Amazon India, and major Indian 3PLs utilize AI-driven forecasting, sensor-driven fleet monitoring, and automated warehouse operations to cut costs, optimize routes, and predict delays due to weather or traffic.

India’s homegrown logistics tech startups and large integrators are also adopting these techniques, showcased at events like the Supply Chain & Logistics Conclave 2025, where panel discussions covered digital twins, autonomous fleet operations, and smart freight networks. Reports by IndiaAI and others highlight this rapid shift: AI is now integral to logistics networks, making them more agile, transparent, and customer-responsive than ever before.

📎 Delhivery Case Study

Public Sector: No-Code Meets Governance

India’s public sector is quietly undergoing a digital revolution, blending massive scale with nimble, innovative approaches. No-code and low-code platforms, alongside AI, are enabling agencies to digitize services and processes in weeks, rather than years.

Take the Hyderabad Water Board, which digitized inspections and incident reporting using Quixy’s no-code platform—in just 15 days.

Thanks to Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) layers like Aadhaar, DigiLocker, and UPI, public agencies can now offer digital services at a fraction of the time and cost. System integrators like TCS and Infosys are also rolling out AI-backed solutions across state governments.

📎 TCS SovereignSecure Cloud

Education: Adaptive, Cloud-Native, and Secure

India’s edtech sector is fast becoming cloud-native. From AI-driven personalised learning (Vedantu) to secure learning environments on Google Workspace and Azure, schools and universities are catching up.

Cybersecurity vendors like CrowdStrike and Cisco are becoming an integral part of the stack—because privacy and integrity are finally part of the conversation.

📎 Vedantu Wati

Compliance: The New Default

If you’re a European vendor used to GDPR, you’ll find India’s regulatory environment both familiar and uniquely demanding.

Indian enterprises face what I call the regulatory “triple threat”:

• Data localisation rules that require in-country storage and processing.
• Explainable AI mandates to make algorithms auditable.
• CERT-In directives that demand breach reporting within six hours.

Tools like Pega and OutSystems are gaining traction because their governance-first designs align with this reality.

How Indian Enterprises Actually Select Vendors

Here’s what Indian CIOs and buying committees really care about:

• Compliance readiness: Does your solution meet India-specific mandates like CERT-In breach reporting and data localisation requirements? (CERT-In Guidelines)
• Proof via pilots: Can you demonstrate measurable outcomes in under six months? The Digital Enterprise 2025 Report states that 55% of enterprises have increased AI PoCs and production projects, reflecting this preference.
• Vertical expertise: Do you understand sectoral regulations and use cases—like BFSI’s underwriting standards or manufacturing’s predictive systems?
• Outcome-based pricing: Are you aligned with value-delivered contracts, not just seat licenses?
• Local support: Can you provide on-ground enablement, integration, and post-sale agility?

The process is rigorous. According to McKinsey’s India Digital Enterprise study, vendor evaluations often span multiple stakeholder layers—CIOs, business owners, risk/compliance leads, and procurement teams—scoring partners on both domain relevance and pilot traction.

The Hybrid Model That Wins

The most successful firms—especially those blending European and Indian capabilities—don’t outsource; they collaborate.

Infosys and Wipro run hybrid Global Capability Centers with compliance design in the EU and scale delivery in India. Adani Green, in partnership with automation vendors, built cross-border workflows using low-code platforms that meet regulatory standards across geographies.

📎 EY Case Studies

India’s Market Readiness in 2025

Let’s close with a few numbers:

• India’s enterprise digital maturity is now 64.6%, ahead of the global average of 62.3%.
• 71% of Indian employees are at advanced digital maturity levels (Zoho Survey).
• 97% of Indian firms plan to increase AI investments in 2025.
• 44% use hybrid multi-cloud, with that number expected to double (IBM & Business Today).

Advice for European Tech Companies

India isn’t just a price-sensitive market—it’s an outcomes-sensitive one, with highly sophisticated buyers. Many Indian CIOs understand compliance, procurement, and transformation cycles better than their European counterparts.

Here’s what we’re seeing on the ground:

• Vertical depth beats generic breadth: Solutions tailored to BFSI won’t cut it in Manufacturing or Logistics. One-size-fits-all isn’t working anymore.
• Buyer sophistication is real: Indian CIOs often have a strong grasp of compliance and local regulations. They’re not just looking for features—they’re evaluating execution capability.
• Time-to-value is everything: Long sales cycles and vague PoCs rarely survive. Value needs to show up in weeks, not quarters.
• Scalability is the filter: A successful pilot isn’t enough unless it can scale—fast and reliably.
• Hybrid delivery models are gaining ground: The winning formula seems to be compliance-by-design with Indian execution strength.
• Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is not optional: Platforms like Aadhaar, UPI, and ONDC are shaping how digital services scale in India. Competing with them—or ignoring them—creates friction.

What Indian Enterprises Are Prioritising

Indian companies, too, are evolving. In particular, those gaining ground in regulated and global-facing sectors are:

• Building compliance into their RFPs and product architectures.
• Pushing for pilot-to-production cycles within six months.
• Focusing on monetization at functional scale, not just innovation labs.
• Embedding DPI into core workflows for faster reach and governance alignment.
• Customizing their vendor stack by industry—not by popularity.

A Shift Toward Hybrid, Global Thinking

Across the board, successful enterprises are blending design maturity with agile execution. This isn’t about East vs. West, or domestic vs. international. It’s about building systems that meet global standards and local expectations—without trade-offs.

📎 KPMG India: The Future of Digital Platforms

India is becoming a testbed for compliance-led, API-first transformation. From Digital India 2.0 to IndiaAI, the ecosystem is moving toward faster, modular, and business-aligned architectures—often without bloated teams or multi-year timelines.

Closing Reflection

The real shift isn’t just technological—it’s a mindset. Firms that succeed in India today aren’t just selling—they’re co-building. And those same models, shaped here, often end up informing how they scale globally.

“The biggest myth about IT modernization in India is that it requires massive teams and multi-year timelines. Often, leaner firms with accelerators outperform the giants.”