Agentic AI Adoption Grows Among Indian Startups and Enterprises

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape is undergoing a major transformation in our country. The buzz around AI and automation is very real, and almost all the big companies are trying to adapt it. Interestingly, the rise of Agentic AI is changing how businesses, especially startups function and operate in our country. 

According to Deloitte’s “State of Generative AI in the Enterprise” report (2024), over 80% of Indian enterprises have either already implemented or are exploring the use of Agentic AI in their daily operations.

But what exactly is this Agentic AI that everyone is talking about? Agentic AI refers to AI systems that don’t just merely follow a command. They understand the task, make decisions, and execute it from beginning to end with minimum human intervention. 

In other words, these AI agents behave more like junior employees or teammates rather than just tools. They can plan, prioritise, interpret instructions, and even communicate with other humans or agents to complete tasks smoothly.

This major shift from tool-based AI to Agentic AI is helping companies save time, reduce manual workload which helps them to focus more on creativity tasks. It becomes even more significant when it comes to startups.

Startups usually work in small setups with tight deadlines, and limited budgets. This is where Agentic AI becomes potentially a game changer. Reports suggest that there are over 4,500 AI startups in India, and 40% of them grew in just the last three years. 

Many of them are now working on solving problems based on our local needs specific to our country across various sectors like health, agritech, education, fintech and so on. As per recent reports, around 40 startups in India are already building agentic AI solutions and they have together raised more than 254 million since 2018. This clearly explains to us that Agentic AI isn't a trend but becoming an essential part of the startup ecosystem in our country. 

Imagine a scenario where AI agents can schedule your meetings, create weekly reports, analyse data, write emails, track user behaviour, generate weekly analytics, draft content and even do follow ups as required. This helps startups tremendously to scale faster and more efficiently. 

For example, in EdTech startups, AI agents can design personalised learning plans for students, answer their doubts in real-time, send class reminders, and even track their academic progress.

In healthcare startups, these agents can help in scheduling appointments, collecting and analysing patient history, giving accurate information about treatments, procedures, and doing regular follow-ups just like how a clinic assistant would do.

In fintech and e-commerce platforms, AI agents can do automated KYC checks, resolve customer queries in real-time, reduce manual errors, and update users about transactions or deliveries without much human involvement.

The biggest benefit is that these agents can handle repetitive tasks, which frees up human employees to focus on more strategic and creative tasks. This helps the business owners to concentrate on growth of their company. 

These AI agents need to be integrated into the core of the business, not just used as extra tools. That’s why many Indian startups are now building AI solutions that understand local languages, cater to regional needs, and are more customised for our country’s diversity.

Inspite of all of the wonderful things these AI agents can achieve, there are still some challenges which need attention. Some AI decisions may lack human intuition, or language barriers might cause issues in regional communication. Also, maintaining data privacy and security is a top concern. But all of these can be handled with responsible AI practices by training the systems well, reviewing their decisions from time to time and keeping transparency with users.

There are concerns that once these AI agents are integrated, it will take away jobs from people. However, it is not completely true. Because of increasing demand, there is a shortage of skilled AI professionals. As per recent reports, India will need over one million Agentic AI experts by 2026. That means there is a huge opportunity for young professionals, students, and even experienced workers to upskill in this area.

We need to realise that Agentic AI is here to stay and will grow even more rapidly. AI agents will not replace humans but will work with us. It’s here to help us do more, think better, and grow faster. Startups that understand this early and integrate it properly into their workflow will not only survive but will thrive in the near future.