Top Tech Trends of 2025: Rise of Agentic AI, Crypto Conundrum, and India's Tech Efforts In 2025, we saw technology shifting towards Agentic AI, crypto space getting bigger, and an all-round push for self-dependence in tech in India.

Even as the year inches closer to a wrap, the world of technology continues to see massive growth and innovation. This year was no different. In fact, this year we saw AI headlining all major conversations related to technology. AI even became much smarter, better, and more deeply integrated with new and legacy workflows. But then, there's a lot more to the world of technology than just AI. Let's take a closer look at different sectors.

From Generative to Agentic

Generative AI has disrupted the way we interact with the internet. While the technology became much more superior this year, AI also branched out into Agentic AI—essentially hypersmart versions of existing chatbots that could perform basic commands. Agentic AI are autonomous systems that can do much more with minimum or no human intervention on your behalf. This year, we saw companies across categories shifting to AI agents to manage workflows, a trend likely to continue in the coming year. From a policy point of view, India has finally begun discussing AI with an objective to make the technology more inclusive and sovereign.

"If 2025 taught leaders anything, it's this: AI didn't fail. Our expectations did. Last year was a carnival of copilots, dashboards, and demos. Almost every enterprise did something with AI. Few can honestly say they run better because of it. Costs didn't come down in a lasting way.

Customer experience didn't stabilise. Controls didn't simplify. Teams, if anything, became busier—pulled between experimentation and delivery. The gap wasn't technology. It was an execution. And beneath that, a deeper one: belief. Three truths cut through the noise.

First, visibility beats intelligence. AI can't fix what leaders can't see. Most organisations still lack a shared, end-to-end view of how work behaves—where effort piles up, where rework loops form, where timing quietly kills otherwise good decisions," Shammik Gupta, Founder & CEO, 3Cubed told Entrepreneur India.

"Second, data exhaust isn't an operational truth. Dashboards tell you what happened. Logs tell you where. Neither explains why. Without causality, AI just optimises noise—faster. Third, automation without context breeds fragility. Many organisations automated steps only to add more reviews, exceptions, and controls later. Cost came back. Risk rose. Trust fell. The lesson wasn't that AI needs better models. It was that enterprises need better operating understanding—a clearer picture of how their own systems think, move, and decide," he added.

"As we step into 2026, the highest transformation will show up in how AI is used – it feels less like a tool and more like a teammate. Effectively, it reshapes engineering and the way organizations build. Human–machine interaction is set to be significantly elevated by humanoids and intelligent agents. On the other hand, smaller, faster, and more cost-efficient models push intelligence to the edge, making scalability a matter of ROI rather than raw compute."

"The maturing of GenAI infrastructure is pushing AI-native organizations beyond proofs of concept to actual adoption and deployment. AI is increasingly embedded across the software development life cycle to accelerate innovation and productivity.That said, the true barometer rests on trust. Organizations must ensure reliable integration, transparent and observable agents, built-in safety mechanisms, a strong cybersecurity posture, and clear boundaries between what machines decide and what humans must confirm. Machines continue to learn faster, and the widespread use of digital twins increasingly determines real-world impact," said Pankaj Vyas, CEO and Managing Director, Siemens in a statement.

"As organizations drive the technological shift, the key responsibility is to help people learn confidently, collaboratively, and continuously-because the real breakthrough is not intelligence everywhere, but trustworthy intelligence that makes humans more precise, creative, and capable than ever."

Cryptocurrency & Web3

Even as the government remains reluctant to recognize typical cryptocurrencies, there have been significant efforts to find alternatives. For instance, the CBDC is being pushed ahead from retail to B2B 'Deposit Tokenization,' with the objective of enabling easy, instant, and programmable cross-border payments for smaller enterprises. B2B platforms are gradually increasing the deployment of blockchain for tokenizing invoices, supply chain assets, and more. As far as safety and governance go, FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) compliance for all Virtual Digital Asset (VDA) providers is widely seen as an effort to sanitize the space.

"As we move into 2026, the cryptocurrency sector is entering a phase of strategic consolidation. The sharp volatility of late 2025 underscored the market's sensitivity to global macroeconomic shifts. In the year ahead, regulatory clarity will be the primary catalyst, with initiatives such as the SEC's proposed "innovation exemption" likely to influence how digital-asset firms operate and scale. Simultaneously, changes in monetary policy across major economies will shape liquidity conditions and risk appetite. Although sentiment has improved from the extreme fear of November, traders remain cautious, with elevated futures open interest pointing to shorter, tactical positioning. Nevertheless, deeper institutional participation and clearer compliance frameworks support a constructive long-term outlook, making 2026 a year that rewards disciplined conviction," Vikas Gupta, Country Manager- India, Bybit told Entrepreneur India.

Nischal Shetty, Founder, WazirX said: "Looking back at 2025, the crypto industry paints a mixed but hopeful picture. On one hand, the industry saw real progress: growth in DeFi projects, expansion of stablecoins, new CBDC-infrastructure pilots, and rising developer activity across APAC and globally, with millions committing to code on-chain. On the other hand, after early-year optimism from retail investors, the October correction was a reminder that sentiment remains fragile and that hype without real delivery can still hurt the industry.

Institutional shifts and policy signals, however, brought meaningful momentum. Vanguard reversed its long-standing prohibition on crypto, opening its platform to Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana ETFs, triggering a surge in mainstream adoption. The CFTC's approval of spot crypto ETFs added another boost, reflecting a steady move toward giving traditional financial investors regulated crypto exposure. Firms like BlackRock continued their disciplined investment push into digital assets.

Looking ahead to 2026, there might be reason for optimism just yet. In India, the foundation stone of the CBDC project could be laid soon. The RBI has announced a hackathon in October to nurture tech talents in the emerging technology space, which will encourage more Indians to see emerging tech as a promising career prospect. A clearer regulatory framework for VDAs, potentially paired with supportive tax measures, support for stablecoin initiatives alongside CBDC measures, could unlock real-world blockchain use cases from Indian builders to kickstart on-chain growth for Indians.

So, while 2025 wasn't a clean breakout year, it was undeniably transformative. Infrastructure matured, institutional participation widened, and policy debates sharpened worldwide.

In 2026, globally, institutional appetite for regulated digital-asset products will continue to increase, driving capital inflows and contributing to market stability. At the same time, domestic policies for countries will be key in shaping their respective investor sentiment."

Semicon

Following the success of self-dependence in the smartphone space, India is looking to achieve the same in the semiconductor space. The focus is also important given increasing demand domestically and newer avenues such as AI. Moreover, semiconductors hold an important role in India's efforts to position itself as the manufacturing or creator hub instead of being just a large market. From indigenous chip designs to schemes that incentivise domestic production, there have been significant movements in this direction.

Last month, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India's chipmaking capabilities are set to be at par with US, China, and other major producers by 2032. The India Semiconductor Mission with $10 billion outlay boosts local manufacturing, design, and talent.

Electronics and IT Secretary S. Krishnan confirmed that the central government has already committed nearly INR 629 billion (US$7.17 billion)—about 97 percent of the INR 650 billion (US$7.41 billion) earmarked as incentives for semiconductor production under the India Semiconductor Mission. The remaining funds can accommodate only a few smaller projects.The allocated budget has been set aside for chip production, INR 100 billion (US$1.14 billion) for modernizing the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali, Punjab, and INR 10 billion (US$114 million) for the design-linked incentive scheme.

B2B SaaS

This year we saw the B2B SaaS becoming vertical and hyper localised as well as adapting to the new challenge in the form of AI. There have been efforts to build frameworks that understand local context as well as the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act implementation has nudged the SaaS players to reimagine their architecture with Design at core as well as B2B privacy-tech tools.

"While 2025 was a year of intense AI experimentation, much of that value remained confined to isolated use cases rather than being fully embedded into enterprise decision making. As we look toward 2026, the mandate for Indian enterprises is to move beyond fragmented pilots and weave AI into the very DNA of their operational workflows. The traditional trade off between rigid central control and unguided self service is no longer sustainable," Maurizio Garavello, SVP, APAC Region, Qlik, says.

"To succeed in this next phase, organisations must adopt a model of governed flexibility, where data integrity, security, and accountability are non-negotiable, yet teams closest to the business are Sempowered to innovate at speed. At Qlik, we believe that for AI to truly scale within India's high growth economy, innovation must be anchored in a foundation of trusted data and a culture of collective accountability," he adds.

India's GCC Turning Point

This year we saw India's GCC capabilities becoming stronger as the world pivoted to newer technologies, including AI. As mentioned above, the shift to agentic AI revived India's position as the back office for the tech companies looking for talents and related infrastructure. The GCC in India is also pretty much getting decentralised as newer cities such as Coimbatore, Kochi, and Ahmedabad are fast emerging as preferred destinations for smaller GCCs.

"2025 has been a turning point year for India's GCC story. We've moved firmly beyond the old 'back office' narrative. The most interesting work we see now is product, data, and AI sitting inside India pods that own real outcomes – not just volume. At the same time, the external climate has shifted. Tighter U.S. visa proposals like the H-1B changes and the HIRE Act have created uncertainty for both companies and Indian professionals abroad. Many firms are now treating India as a primary build location, not a backup, and we've seen that directly in inbound interest. On the ground, 2025 has been about getting the basics right: manager depth, security baselines, and cleaner operating cadence across hybrid teams. GCCs that invested in these fundamentals are already handling more strategic work," said Piyush Kedia, CEO and founder at Incommon.

"Looking to 2026, I expect three clear trends. First, more mid-market and PE-backed companies will set up 'India-first' pods for AI, data, and platform work. Second, hub-and-spoke models will mature, with Tier-2 cities becoming a serious part of the talent strategy, not just a cost play. Third, boards will increasingly measure GCCs on business impact – revenue, reliability, and innovation – rather than headcount alone. At InCommon, we believe that the next phase will belong to companies that treat India like an extension of HQ - with the same bar for leadership, security, and execution.If India can keep pairing capability with predictability, GCC 2.0 will be built here," Kedia added.