India Investor Conference 2026 Panel Insights on AI in India: How Flipkart, KreditBee and Battery Smart Are Using AI to Drive Growth

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Artificial Intelligence has moved from being a technology discussion to becoming a business reality. Across sectors, companies are finding practical ways to use Artificial Intelligence to improve customer experiences, increase efficiency, expand access, and solve challenges that were difficult to address a few years ago.

At the India Investor Conference 2026, a panel featuring Samir Shah, Head of Artificial Intelligence at Flipkart, Vivek Veda, Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of KreditBee, and Pulkit Khurana, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Battery Smart, shared how Artificial Intelligence is shaping their businesses and where they see the biggest opportunities for India. The session was moderated by Manoj Menon, Head of Research, Institutional Equities, ICICI Securities.

The discussion covered India's readiness for Artificial Intelligence, emerging business applications, multilingual adoption, operational efficiencies, cybersecurity concerns, and the role of Artificial Intelligence in building the next generation of businesses.

Why India Is Well Positioned for Artificial Intelligence Adoption

Samir Shah highlighted India's unique strengths in the Artificial Intelligence era. With nearly a billion internet users and strong digital public infrastructure such as Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface, and Open Network for Digital Commerce, India has built a foundation that can support large-scale adoption of Artificial Intelligence.

According to him, Artificial Intelligence is creating value when it becomes part of products and services that people already use. At Flipkart, Artificial Intelligence is being integrated across product discovery, personalization, customer support, seller growth, and several other functions.

He also pointed to India's linguistic diversity as an area where innovation is naturally emerging. As businesses try to serve users across multiple languages and dialects, new Artificial Intelligence solutions are being developed to address those challenges.

Vivek Veda shared a similar view. He noted that India does not need to focus on becoming the global leader in every layer of the Artificial Intelligence value chain. Instead, the bigger opportunity lies in applying Artificial Intelligence to solve real problems for a large population. He emphasized that India's technology stack, built around initiatives such as Jan Dhan, Unified Payments Interface, and Account Aggregator, creates a strong base for widespread Artificial Intelligence applications.

Pulkit Khurana added that India has often benefited from adopting technologies and building businesses on top of them, even when the original innovations came from elsewhere. He cited examples from smartphones, renewable energy, and electric vehicles, where downstream opportunities created significant value. In his view, Artificial Intelligence could follow a similar path, with many opportunities still emerging over the coming decade.

How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Customer Experiences

One of the strongest themes during the discussion was the shift from traditional interfaces to conversational experiences.

Samir Shah explained how customers are increasingly interacting with commerce platforms through conversations rather than keywords. Instead of searching for products using simple search terms, users can now describe their intent.

A customer may explain that a family trip is coming up or that a child's birthday celebration is approaching. Artificial Intelligence can then engage in a conversation, ask follow-up questions, understand context, and provide relevant recommendations.

This ability to understand intent, maintain context, personalize responses, and support multiple forms of interaction such as text, voice, images, and videos is transforming the commerce experience.

He described conversational commerce as one of the developments that would have been difficult to imagine just five years ago.

Breaking Language Barriers Across India

Language emerged as one of the most important opportunities for Artificial Intelligence in India.

For KreditBee, Artificial Intelligence can help millions of users interact with financial services in the language they are most comfortable using. Vivek Veda explained that many applications today operate primarily in English or Hindi. Artificial Intelligence can help customers navigate applications, understand products, and solve problems in their preferred language.

At Flipkart, language remains a major area of focus. Samir Shah described the complexity involved in serving customers from different regions of India. Users often switch between languages during conversations, use local expressions, and interact in environments where multiple people may be speaking at the same time.

Artificial Intelligence systems must therefore be capable of understanding language switches, separating background noise, identifying the actual speaker, preserving conversational context, and responding appropriately in the customer's preferred language.

He believes these challenges represent one of the most significant areas of investment and innovation in the years ahead.

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services

Vivek Veda shared how KreditBee has used technology to scale digital lending.

The company has approximately 80 million application downloads and has provided loans to 18 million unique customers. Around 60,000 customers apply for loans on the platform every day.

Artificial Intelligence is helping KreditBee expand access to financial services while also improving operational efficiency.

He explained that the company evaluates not only financial information but also behavioral patterns. Factors such as how users navigate through the application, how they enter information, and how they interact with the platform can provide valuable signals about customer intent.

The company also uses alternative indicators to better understand customer behavior. Delivery addresses used for e-commerce or food delivery services can sometimes provide more relevant information than traditional address documents.

Customer service is another area where Artificial Intelligence is already delivering measurable results. Around 60 percent of customer queries are currently handled by automated systems without manual intervention.

Looking ahead, Vivek Veda expects Artificial Intelligence to further expand access by supporting additional languages and improving the customer experience for a wider audience.

How Battery Smart Uses Artificial Intelligence at Scale

Battery Smart operates a battery swapping network that serves electric vehicle users across multiple cities.

Pulkit Khurana explained that the company manages approximately 300,000 batteries that are used by around 100,000 customers daily. The network generates large volumes of data related to battery performance, locations, and usage patterns.

Artificial Intelligence helps the company analyze this information rapidly and identify batteries that may not be performing as expected. Instead of relying on large teams to manually review data, insights can be generated instantly.

The company also processes millions of kilometers of mobility data each day. This information helps Battery Smart understand movement patterns, optimize station placement, determine battery capacity requirements, and improve network planning.

According to Khurana, Artificial Intelligence is helping businesses automate workflows, deploy new capabilities faster, and operate more efficiently. He noted that Battery Smart grew by 60 percent during the previous year without increasing headcount, which he attributed to efficiency gains enabled by Artificial Intelligence.

The Hidden Artificial Intelligence Applications Customers Never See

While customer-facing innovations often attract attention, the panelists emphasized that many important applications operate behind the scenes.

At Flipkart, Artificial Intelligence supports assortment planning, demand forecasting, inventory optimization, supply chain operations, and numerous other backend functions.

KreditBee uses Artificial Intelligence extensively in collections and customer engagement. The company employs models that assess repayment intent, determine when customers should be contacted, and guide communication strategies.

Artificial Intelligence systems can consistently interact with customers using the same tone and approach, which helps improve efficiency and customer experience.

Battery Smart's use cases are largely operational. The company monitors battery health, tracks asset performance, and manages network optimization using Artificial Intelligence-driven analysis.

Across industries, backend applications are helping businesses improve decision-making, increase productivity, and scale operations more effectively.

Artificial Intelligence and Data Security

The discussion also addressed the growing importance of cybersecurity and data protection.

Samir Shah pointed out that Artificial Intelligence creates new opportunities while also introducing new risks. Identity theft and other forms of misuse can become more sophisticated as technology advances.

At the same time, Artificial Intelligence is being used to strengthen defenses through anomaly detection, spoof detection, and threat monitoring.

He also highlighted the importance of regulatory frameworks such as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, which provides guidance around user consent, data usage, and data sharing practices.

Vivek Veda discussed the risks of impersonation and data misuse. He referred to incidents where Artificial Intelligence-generated voices were allegedly used to impersonate senior executives and initiate unauthorized financial transactions.

He noted that regulators are already considering safeguards, including requirements to identify Artificial Intelligence-generated content more clearly.

Pulkit Khurana described cybersecurity as an area that remains difficult to predict because Artificial Intelligence is being used by both attackers and defenders. He believes regulation and governance will need to evolve rapidly to keep pace with emerging threats.

What Comes Next for Artificial Intelligence in India

Throughout the discussion, one message remained consistent. The opportunity for India lies in applying Artificial Intelligence to real-world problems at scale.

Whether it is helping new users access e-commerce platforms through voice interactions, expanding financial inclusion through multilingual lending platforms, optimizing battery networks for electric vehicles, or improving operational efficiency behind the scenes, Artificial Intelligence is already becoming part of everyday business operations.

The panelists agreed that adoption is still in its early stages. New applications continue to emerge, and many future use cases have yet to be imagined.

For India, the combination of digital infrastructure, large-scale internet adoption, diverse consumer needs, and entrepreneurial innovation creates a strong foundation for the next phase of Artificial Intelligence-led growth.

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