Financial Integration of AI for Talent Acquisition in Pune's IT Sector: A Quantitative Analysis of Budgetary Impacts on HR Practices

Abstract This study quantitatively assesses the financial impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration within talent acquisition (TA) functions in Pune's competitive Information Technology (IT) sector. Amidst massive capital investment in HR technology, this research moves beyond simple adoption metrics to analyze the correlation between strategic budgetary allocation for AI and tangible recruitment outcomes. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey of 166 (N=166) HR and Talent Acquisition professionals from Pune's IT industry was conducted. The analysis reveals a statistically significant, strong negative correlation between the percentage of the TA budget allocated to AI and perceived reductions in both Cost-per-Hire (CPH) (r = -.58, p