AI and automation top priorities for Indian corporate treasuries: EY

EY India's 2025 corporate treasury survey shows leaders moving from AI pilots to real-world applications, with automation and digital fluency at the core

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Indian corporate treasuries are prioritising automation and artificial intelligence (AI) as they prepare for the next phase of transformation, according to the EY India Corporate Treasury Survey 2025.

 

Nearly half of the 85 treasury leaders surveyed ranked automation of treasury and banking operations as their highest investment priority, while 82 per cent said AI is critical to their future strategy.

From pilots to real-world adoption

The survey showed that treasury leaders were moving beyond experiments with AI to real-world applications, with the top use case so far being cash forecasting. Around 26 per cent of respondents stated that they are testing AI models to get a clearer picture of money coming in and going out.

 

Other areas are also picking up momentum, including foreign exchange (9 per cent), trade finance (8 per cent), and working capital optimisation (6 per cent).

 

“Economic volatility, regulatory shifts, and rapid digitisation are forcing treasury teams to do more with less – automate without losing control, manage risk while enabling growth, and deliver predictive, real-time insights for strategic decision making,” said Hemal Shah, partner and leader, treasury and commodity advisory – risk consulting, EY India.

Combining financial expertise with digital fluency

Treasury effectiveness is also increasingly being defined by the ability to combine financial expertise with digital fluency. Nearly 49 per cent of respondents reported a 50:50 split between functional and technology roles, while another 35 per cent favoured a 70:30 balance in favour of financial expertise.

 

The survey found that hybrid and modular models are becoming more common. Thirty-five per cent of treasuries have partially or fully outsourced technology maintenance, 25 per cent outsource back-office accounting, and 11 per cent outsource front-office dealing operations.

Skilling challenge

Despite progress in technology adoption, weaknesses persist. More than 70 per cent of treasury teams continue to rely on spreadsheets, while two-thirds cite weak reporting and dashboarding as a challenge.

 

The survey also found skilling to be lagging. Around 50 per cent of leaders stressed the importance of domain expertise, while 52 per cent highlighted technical skills such as software and data analysis. However, many organisations have yet to embed structured training. This creates a risk that technology investments may outpace workforce readiness.

Vision for 2030

By 2030, EY projects treasuries will operate as "digitally native" control towers, using real-time data and intelligent systems to anticipate risks and guide capital allocation.

 

Future-ready treasuries will go beyond liquidity management and will “anticipate risks, shape capital allocation, and safeguard organisational resilience”, the report concludes.