Nearly half of Indian organisations — 49 per cent — are concerned about investing in artificial intelligence without adequate employee training, while 52 per cent flagged weak cyber threat literacy as a 'top people' risk, according to a new report by risk advisory firm Marsh released on Wednesday, 10 June. The findings point to a deepening disconnect between the pace of AI adoption and workforce readiness across Indian enterprises.

Benefits Inflation Leads the Risk Chart

The Marsh People Risk Report identified benefits inflation as the single biggest people risk for Indian organisations. A striking 65 per cent of HR and risk professionals surveyed said they expect health and benefit costs to rise over the next one to two years. The report drew on responses from over 4,500 HR and risk professionals across 26 markets, including 311 participants from India.

Despite this pressure, decision-making around benefits remains structurally weak. Some 41 per cent of respondents said benefit decisions are made without considering long-term cost impact, and 40 per cent said those decisions fail to adequately account for the health and financial wellbeing of employees.

Employee Dependence on Employer Healthcare Remains High

The report underscores the degree to which Indian workers rely on their employers for healthcare access. Around 96 per cent of employees trust their employer to provide affordable, quality healthcare, and 54 per cent depend on employer-provided medical coverage. This makes rising benefit costs not just a financial risk for organisations, but a direct welfare concern for millions of workers.

Leadership Gaps and Labour Shortages as Risk Multipliers

Inadequate supervisory and leadership skills emerged as India's most powerful risk multiplier. Some 62 per cent of respondents said weak leadership would have a catastrophic or high impact on their organisations — a figure that places leadership quality at the centre of enterprise resilience. Labour shortages, meanwhile, ranked as the top concern for HR professionals in India and the fourth overall risk in the country's rankings.

Notably, lack of transparency, fairness, and inclusion featured within India's top five people risks — more prominently than in the global rankings — suggesting that workforce trust and equity are emerging as material business vulnerabilities in the Indian context, not just HR concerns.

Technology Disruption and the Talent Crunch

The report described a workforce operating under sustained uncertainty driven by rapid AI adoption pressures and a deepening talent crunch. Technology disruption, rising economic pressures, and shifting talent dynamics are collectively reshaping the enterprise risk landscape. This comes amid a broader global reckoning with AI integration, where the speed of deployment has consistently outpaced reskilling efforts.

Within India, these workforce vulnerabilities directly impact organisational resilience and business performance, the report warned. As Indian firms accelerate AI investments, the absence of structured upskilling pathways risks compounding both productivity losses and cybersecurity exposure in the near term.