AI’m Possible: How India’s Brands Are Plugging Into the Future

Key Highlights

 

India's native digitally born brands, which were earlier celebrated for disrupting traditional retail with direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategies, are now adopting the next phase: D2AI—Direct to Agentic Intelligence. This shift, fueled by the rate of uptake of agentic AI, is enabling Indian businesses to surpass global counterparts in velocity, personalization, and operational efficiency.

 

•⁠  ⁠What's Driving the D2AI Wave

 

Over 80 percent of Indian businesses are now developing or piloting autonomous AI agents, Deloitte's new GenAI report reveals. Agentic AI systems entail more than just automation and orchestrate complex, goal-oriented workflows with minimal human input. AI agents are being applied by brands to everything from customer service and targeted marketing to supply chain optimization and product innovation in real-time.

 

Indian startups and incumbent companies both are leveraging agentic AI to deliver hyper-personalized experiences at scale. For example, AI agents can monitor customer behavior, predict preferences, and trigger automated targeted campaigns or service interventions—sometimes in real time.

 

•⁠  ⁠Business Impact and Competitive Advantage

 

The use of agentic AI has already yielded results: 70 percent of Indian businesses claim that AI implementation has achieved or exceeded ROI expectations, with significant gains in software development, marketing, operations, and customer service.

 

Agentic AI enables brands to move from reactive to proactive engagement, resolving customers' problems autonomously and eliminating operational costs. By 2029, Gartner estimates that agentic AI will respond automatically to 80 percent of routine customer service questions, reducing costs by 30 percent.

 

•⁠  ⁠Challenges and the Way Forward

 

While there is enthusiasm, scaling agentic AI proves to be challenging—only 29 percent of Indian firms have completely scaled their proofs of concept in AI. Fears about mistakes, prejudice, and quality of data still exist, but the majority of firms anticipate overcoming these within two years. The D2AI transformation is also democratizing AI, as businesses increasingly buy adaptive, pre-configured solutions rather than creating them, allowing for fast cycles of innovation.

 

India's brands are no longer merely following global trends—today, they're making them, led by agentic AI as the driver of the next retail and service revolution.

 

Sources: Exchange4Media, Deloitte, CRN, Creole Studios, Economic Times