AI in Accounting and Tax: Both Sides of the Ledger in Numbers
November 2, 2026 · Taxation
AI in accounting and tax: ICAI trained 50,000+ members in AI, while NUDGE led to 1.25 crore updated or revised ITRs and GST checks found 30,162 fake ITC cases.
In FY 2025-26, Central Tax formations detected about 83 fake input tax credit (ITC) cases a day on average, worth about INR 204.9 crore a day. That is our simple division of the totals in a Rajya Sabha reply of July 28, 2026: 30,162 cases and INR 74,781.56 crore over 365 days.
This report sets both sides of AI in accounting and tax in India side by side, using published documents and our arithmetic. On the other side of the ledger, ICAI said in June 2026 that it had trained more than 50,000 members in AI. In February 2025, PTI reported about 12,000 trained. The two figures may not be counted the same way.
AI in tax compliance in India: the two sides at a glance
The table pairs a profession-side and a department-side measure on each theme. All figures are Indian.
Theme
Indian professionals adopting AI
Tax department using analytics
Scale
50,000+ ICAI members trained in AI, June 2026 (ICAI)
1.25 crore updated or revised ITRs after SAKSHAM NUDGE, FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26
Main use
Automated data entry and reconciliation, used by 28.8% of responding offices; 52.9% used none of the listed tools (ICAI survey, 2024)
Risk analysis of SFT, TDS/TCS, GST, bank and property registration data
Measured outcome
Grant Thornton Bharat (2026): 45% of 149 finance leaders report measurable AI value; 8% report significant value
Revenue impact of INR 12,121.91 crore reported to Parliament
What this means: both sides report growing use of data and AI. The department reports case and revenue outcomes to Parliament; profession-side outcome data is mostly survey based.
AI in accounting and tax: how India's professionals are adopting it
ICAI member survey: where CA offices stood
The ICAI Committee on Artificial Intelligence surveyed about 1,100 members on AI use in their offices in 2024. The results are published on the ICAI AI portal and were reported by Taxscan on June 25, 2024 .
Measure (ICAI survey)
Figure
Use AI daily for routine accounting
21%
Use AI rarely or never for routine accounting
About 61% (31.1% rarely, 29.8% never)
Use AI in audit to some degree
About 60% (38.8% minimally)
Provide comprehensive AI training to staff
19.6%
See AI as transformative and essential to the profession
82.8%
What this means: 82.8% of responding offices saw AI as transformative and essential, and 19.6% provided comprehensive AI training to staff. ICAI's own reading of the survey points to a need for wider AI training.
ICAI's training push, February 2025 to June 2026
The ICAI President's message of February 2025 put AI certificate course enrolment above 5,000 and membership past 4 lakh. PTI reported on February 25, 2025 that about 12,000 chartered accountants had been trained under ICAI's AI certificate programme, and an ICAI press release of June 26, 2026 put it above 50,000.
Date
Measure
Figure
Source
February 2025
Members enrolled in AICA
5,000+
ICAI President's message
February 25, 2025
CAs trained in AI (as reported)
About 12,000
PTI
June 26, 2026
Members trained in AI
50,000+
ICAI press release
What this means: ICAI's reported AI training reach has grown since 2025. The counts come from different sources and may define training differently, so we do not calculate a growth rate. On the February 2025 membership of about 4 lakh, 50,000 would be about one in eight members, if each person is counted once.
Indian finance and tax functions
The EY India release of November 26, 2024 covers 70 CFOs and tax leaders; Deloitte India's Survey on income tax digitalisation 2.0 of November 2024 covers 250+ professionals. The EY figures are the India results of a global survey. ETCFO reported the India results of Deloitte's Asia Pacific CFO Pulse Survey (May 2026) on June 9, 2026 , and Grant Thornton Bharat's barometer of 149 finance leaders on August 14, 2026 .
Survey (India)
Measure
Figure
EY, 2024
Expect GenAI to significantly enhance the tax function
94% (19% in 2023)
EY, 2024
Actively developing GenAI strategies or pilots
14% (47% still exploring)
Deloitte India, 2024
Comfort with AI/ML and GenAI in tax
Ready to implement right away 16%; selectively 35%; wait and watch 33%
Deloitte Asia Pacific CFO Pulse Survey, May 2026 (India respondents)
Finance functions using AI
48%; organisations, 62%; extensive use in finance, 6%
Grant Thornton Bharat, 2026
AI already delivering measurable value
45% (8% significant, gains of 15% or more) (45% as reported by ETCFO)
What this means: in EY's 2024 India results, 94% expected GenAI to significantly enhance the tax function, while 14% were developing strategies or pilots and 47% were exploring.
Skills are a common barrier. In the ICAI survey, 57% named lack of knowledge or skills as the main barrier; 44% of EY's Indian respondents cited lack of skilled talent and limited understanding of GenAI's capabilities.
Indian firms, company secretaries and cost accountants
Firm-level data is rare. In a Microsoft release of August 20, 2025 , PwC India said around 30,000 of its employees in India were given access to an AI platform and that it saw a 70% adoption rate within seven months of launch. This is a self-reported figure.
In August 2026, ICSI invited its members and students to respond to an AI Readiness, Adoption and Future Strategy Survey by August 22, 2026. We found no published results as of November 2, 2026. ICMAI announced the first batch of its CMA AI Pravesh programme for March 2025. We found no published adoption figures.
What this means: with no published CS or CMA baseline, we do not estimate one.
Tax department data analytics: the official numbers
For a wider view of how these systems flag returns, see our explainer on how GST and income tax systems flag taxpayers . The figures below come from the published replies themselves.
Income tax: SAKSHAM NUDGE results
In Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2494 , answered on August 3, 2026, the Ministry of Finance said CBDT analytics draws on SFT, TDS/TCS, GST, high-value bank transaction and property registration data. Its risk rules are "continually calibrated and refined".
The reply describes SAKSHAM as the seven-stage strategy for implementing NUDGE campaigns, from Sankalan (compilation and collection of data) to Mulyankan (monitoring and evaluation). Its NUDGE outcome table for FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26 is below, with our per-return maths.
Item
Official figure
Our calculation
Updated or revised ITRs filed
1.25 crore
About 62.5 lakh a year, or about 17,123 a day over two years
Additional tax paid
INR 9,493.66 crore
About INR 7,595 per return
Revenue impact of campaign
INR 12,121.91 crore
About INR 9,698 per return
Additional tax as share of revenue impact
Not stated
78.3%; the balance of INR 2,628.25 crore is not broken down in the reply
What this means: the average correction is small, about INR 7,595 of tax per return, so NUDGE works on volume rather than on a few large cases.
Separately, CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal said in an interview published by The Hindu BusinessLine on July 24, 2025 that 88,92,395 updated returns had yielded INR 9,577.06 crore as of June 18, 2025. That is about INR 10,770 per updated return.
The foreign-asset NUDGE
A PIB release of November 27, 2025 says the first foreign-asset NUDGE, launched on November 17, 2024 for AY 2024-25, used Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) data received under CRS and FATCA. As a result, 24,678 taxpayers, including several not directly nudged, revisited their returns.
They disclosed foreign assets of INR 29,208 crore and foreign-source income of INR 1,089.88 crore. A second campaign sent SMS and emails from November 28, 2025, asking identified taxpayers to revise AY 2025-26 returns by December 31, 2025.
Item
Official figure
Our calculation
Taxpayers who revisited returns
24,678
Base for averages
Foreign assets disclosed
INR 29,208 crore
About INR 1.18 crore per taxpayer
Foreign-source