From Shopping To Banking: How AI Agents Are Quietly Reshaping Our Daily Lives
By Imtiaz Bellary
There’s a quiet shift happening in how we live our digital lives in India. Whether we’re ordering groceries, checking our bank balances, or booking a doctor’s appointment, AI is becoming an invisible part of that experience.
We often don’t notice it. But it’s there - helping businesses serve customers faster, giving more relevant suggestions, and in many cases, understanding us better than before.
This isn’t about robots or science fiction anymore. These are smart AI agents operating behind the scenes. And they’re already influencing how millions of Indians interact with brands across sectors like retail, healthcare, and finance.
India’s Growing AI Moment
According to McKinsey, companies that personalise customer experiences will see revenue gains of 5-15 per cent. Globally, the market for AI agents is expected to touch $47.1 billion by 2030.
But it’s not the size of the market that matters. It’s what’s changing in our everyday lives.
Let’s look at a few real examples.
Retail: Helping You Find What You Didn’t Know You Wanted
Imagine you’re browsing through wedding outfits on an app like Myntra. You view a few lehengas, and suddenly the platform starts showing colour-matched accessories and shoes that fit your style. That’s not luck. That’s an AI agent understanding your preferences in real time.
Indian retailers who use AI for personalisation have already reported revenue lifts. Platforms like Pepperfry now let you see how furniture would look in your home. Lenskart lets you try frames virtually before buying. These aren’t gimmicks, they’re smart use cases of AI.
And it goes beyond the surface. AI also helps stores forecast demand, manage inventory better, and cut customer wait times. Companies using conversational AI have seen resolution times drop by as much as 50 per cent.
Healthcare: Giving Doctors More Time to Be Human
India’s healthcare system has always been high-pressure. AI isn’t here to replace doctors, but to help them focus on what matters - patient care.
Many hospitals are now using AI tools to automate admin work, from appointment scheduling to post-visit follow-ups. This has helped reduce non-clinical workload by nearly 30 per cent in some cases.
In diagnostics, AI is assisting radiologists by scanning X-rays and MRIs faster and often with higher accuracy. In some studies, AI models have achieved over 94 per cent accuracy in image-based diagnosis.
That’s especially powerful in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where specialists are hard to come by.
Banking and Finance: Making Money Management Simpler
With UPI transactions crossing 12 billion a month in India, AI is playing a key role in keeping financial systems safe and efficient.
AI agents are being used to monitor transactions, detect suspicious activity, and prevent fraud before it happens. Private banks have started deploying real-time risk engines powered by AI to catch anomalies the moment they appear.
There’s also a rise in robo-advisors - AI-powered tools that help people invest their money and plan their finances. These systems charge much lower fees than traditional advisors and are opening up wealth management to a much wider audience.
So, What Should Business Leaders Do?
It’s tempting to chase every new AI trend, but the smarter companies are doing something simpler. They’re asking better questions. Where are we losing time? What do our customers struggle with? What can we make easier, faster, or more personal?
The best use of AI doesn’t start with a tool. It starts with a problem worth solving.
That’s the approach we follow at Engati, working closely with brands to understand their customer challenges first, then building AI-powered solutions that truly move the needle.
This is a moment for clarity, not hype. If we focus on where AI can make a real difference, and build around that with purpose, we’ll create businesses that are not just more efficient, but more human too.
That’s the real opportunity for AI agents in India’s digital journey.
(The author is the MD & Co-Founder, Engati)
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP Network Pvt. Ltd.
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