India, Oct. 1 -- It was a breezy evening in late August Bengaluru where, in an august gathering of a group of investors, a chortle broke out. It was loud enough to overhear.

Nothing seems more natural than artificial intelligence in business. Every pitch deck seems to begin with the AI-first approach almost by default. That was the trigger behind the laughter. But, it was about knowing the reality of the tech age and, certainly, not about a rhetoric dismissive of the technology.

Underneath the humour lay a serious truth: the way capital is being deployed in India is changing fast, and investors are recalibrating their playbooks to balance conviction with caution.

The truth reflected in a recent Inc42 investor survey, where AI emerged a...