•
India's Digital
Maturity Index Climbs to 60.8; Telangana and Karnataka Lead State Rankings, Andhra Pradesh
enters the Top 10 for the first time in
India Largest Digital Advisory for MSMEs –
Vi Business Ready for Next,
Covering over 2.5 Lakh MSMEs
•
Introduces Financial
Readiness as the fourth pillar of assessment, beyond Digital Customer, Digital
Workplace and Digital Operations
•
Women-led MSMEs
show strong digital progress, outperforming male led businesses
•
46.3% of Indian MSMEs have adopted cyber defence
solutions to counter rising online threats
As India rapidly emerges as a global destination for AI adoption and a data centre hub, the growing MSME sector that contributes over 31 percent of the GDP, is accelerating its adoption. The latest edition of the VI Business MSME Growth Insights Study 2026, found that 57% of surveyed enterprises view AI as a core tool that can enhance and accelerate business growth, with 25% of enterprises having already integrated AI in their business practices and operational workflows.
The
study maps insights from Vi Business's 'ReadyForNext' platform- India's largest
digital advisory for small and medium businesses that engaged with over 2.5
lakh MSMEs across 16 sectors. This year, the Digital Maturity Index (DMI)
increased to 60.8, up from 58.0 in 2025 and 55.9 in 2023. The study further identifies three technology
vectors that will shape the next phase of MSME scale - AI to drive productivity
and decision-making, SaaS-led workplace collaboration to enable scalable
operations, and cybersecurity to build trust, resilience and business
continuity.
Key highlights from the
report include:
·
Cybersecurity
Adoption: Nearly half (46.3%) of Indian
MSMEs have adopted cyber defence solutions to counter rising online threats,
acting as a major driver for the country's overall DMI growth
·
India's entrepreneurial landscape shows strong digital
progress, with women-led MSMEs
achieving a DMI of 61.6 and male-led businesses reporting 60.4. The sharp rise
in digital maturity from 58 in 2025 to 60.8 in 2026 underscores how
entrepreneurs are increasingly leveraging digital technologies to drive
business growth, improve operational efficiency and build resilient
enterprises.
·
Digital
Workplace has emerged as the fastest growing pillar of transformation, rising from 57.5 in 2023 to 65.7 in 2026, reflecting
growing adoption of workplace collaboration platforms, productivity suites,
HRMS solutions and digital ways of working. Digital Operations also recorded
strong progress, increasing from 56.5 to 62.0 during the same period, as MSMEs
increasingly leveraged technology to streamline processes, improve efficiency
and strengthen business resilience.
To
turn these digital gains into sustainable business growth, Vi Business has
expanded its ReadyForNext assessment by introducing Financial Readiness.
Serving as the fourth pillar alongside Digital Maturity, Digital Workplace, and
Digital Operations, the Financial Readiness pillar will benchmark MSMEs funding
readiness and risk coverage awareness. This strategic addition will allow next
year’s study to map how effectively Indian enterprises are converting digital
tools into financial strength.
Speaking
on the occasion M P Sunil Kumar, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Vodafone
Idea Limited. said "India's MSMEs are moving beyond basic digitisation
towards building intelligent, secure, and future-ready enterprises. The growing
adoption of AI, rising digital maturity levels, and increasing investments in
workplace and operational technologies reflect a perceptible shift. By
collaborating with global tech giants, Vi Business is scaling its capabilities
to provide solutions across cloud, security, communication and other enterprise
solutions leading to measurable, impactful outcomes. By introducing the
Financial Readiness Pillar, we aim to provide an all-inclusive ecosystem
blueprint that helps small and medium size businesses evaluate their
resilience, secure funding, and scale sustainably in a highly competitive
global market."
Addendum – Detailed insights of the Vi Business MSME
Study:
Sectoral Rankings & Digital Evolution: Digital
maturity continued to improve across sectors, although the pace of
transformation varied significantly. Financial Services emerged as India's most
digitally mature sector with a DMI of 67.3, overtaking IT & ITeS (66.2),
while Transportation (63.6), Energy & Utilities (62.9) and Tourism &
Hospitality (62.0) also ranked among the leading sectors.
• Looking at the longer-term trend since the study's inception in 2023, Financial Services recorded the strongest improvement since 2023, gaining 14.3 points, driven by widespread adoption of digital payments, online onboarding, customer engagement platforms and cybersecurity solutions. Retail emerged as the second-most improved sector, recording a 9.9-point increase in DMI from 52 to 61.9, reflecting growing adoption of omnichannel engagement, digital payments and online customer acquisition channels. IT & ITeS (+7.2 points), Tourism & Hospitality (+7.0 points) and Energy & Utilities (+6.9 points) also registered strong gains, supported by increasing adoption of AI, cloud technologies, workplace collaboration tools, smart infrastructure and digital service platforms.
• Despite this progress, digital transformation remains uneven across sectors. Manufacturing, Agriculture, Telecom, Logistics, Mining, Media & Entertainment and Professional Services continue to lag in digital maturity growth, highlighting opportunities for deeper technology adoption, capability building and digital enablement across India's MSME ecosystem.
Regional and State Highlights: The
study points to an uneven digital transformation landscape across the country.
While South and West India continue to dominate the digital maturity rankings,
no Eastern state features among the top ten digitally mature MSME ecosystems,
underscoring the need for greater technology adoption, digital enablement and
ecosystem support across emerging business centres in the region.
•
Andhra Pradesh entered the Top 10 rankings for the first
time, a significant marker of digital
adoption spreading beyond established tech hubs into emerging MSME markets
•
Telangana (68.3) and
Karnataka (65.7) emerged as India's most digitally mature MSME ecosystems,
followed by Maharashtra (65.2), Kerala (63.7) and Gujarat (62.8)
•
Maharashtra recorded the
highest digital maturity among women-led MSMEs
•
Tamil Nadu, Kerala and
Delhi emerged as the top states for AI adoption and intent among MSMEs
•
Karnataka, Kerala and
Telangana reported the highest adoption of cybersecurity solutions
•
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana
and Kerala led in the use of digital payments for business transactions
•
Telangana recorded the
highest Digital Maturity Index in Manufacturing, while Maharashtra led in
Financial Services and Haryana topped the rankings in IT & ITeS
Among the overall key takeaways from the
report, it was found that four-fifths of MSMEs are now online in some form,
with over 35% having their own websites. However, there exist certain gaps,
such as one-fifth of MSMEs still being fully offline and a significant chunk
without a website presence.
To read more Download the ReadyForNext MSME
growth Insights Study 2026: https://www.myvi.in/content/dam/vodafoneideadigital/business/msme/RFN5.0-Vi.pdf
To Take the ReadyForNext assessment please
click here: https://www.myvi.in/business/enterprise-segments/smb/msme-readyfornext-digital-assessment