Without embracing technology, companies will not exist, says KV Kamath

KV Kamath

Veteran banker and Jio Financial Services' Chairman KV Kamath on March 4 called on companies to embrace technology, without which they will not be able to exist.

“Technology costs are crashing. I will give you a metric, which I think we need to look at in the context of how risky is a firm,” said Kamath. “Without embracing technology, I don't think companies will exist," Kamath added while speaking at the Institute of Internal Auditor India’s International Conference 2025.

KV Kamath said companies should recognise the speed of changing technology in the context of risk, so that they are not left behind. He said managements must counsel their companies about the rate of change of Artificial Intelligence, and how businesses are going to use it.

A survey by Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) – Protiviti India, released on March 4, showed that a majority of Indian enterprises lacked adequate skills to deal with emerging risks, with only 16% of the Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) saying they are ‘highly prepared’ to proactively identify and address them, as part of their internal audits. The executives are directly responsible for compliance, and protecting against fraud and operational risks.

As high as 66% of the Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) across large and mid-sized enterprises interviewed for the survey said they consider emerging technologies such as AI, ML and bots, along with cybersecurity as top risks for their organisations.

CAEs are increasingly looking to engage domain experts to identify risks in areas where technical competencies are needed. As many as 56% of the respondents said they lack Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for auditing technical or emerging risk areas, which is their biggest gap in internal audits.

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