For Rakhi Manwani, weekends are sacred, as that’s the only time she can catch up with friends and family after weekdays that blur into a cycle of deadlines and late-night emails. What she hates most is spending those precious hours on mundane chores. “I hate doing household work during the weekend — laundry, cleaning, etc. Home appliances need to go beyond basic functionality. They should intuitively support real life,” quips the 28-year-old tech analyst based in Bengaluru.]
All Manwani wants is a way to simplify everyday living. So like many urban professionals, she found the answer in artificial intelligence (AI). What once belonged to sci-fi, machines that anticipate needs, automate routines, and learn from our habits, now sit in living rooms, kitchens, and pockets. From voice assistants that manage grocery lists to appliances that adjust settings on their own, AI has woven itself into India’s daily life. For consumers like Manwani, it’s not just technology but life streamlined.
A growing market
India is seeing a rising demand for automated solutions. According to the Deloitte-FICCI 2025 report, smart appliances are moving from luxury to necessity in Indian households, especially urban and semi-urban areas. “The smart appliance market is poised for strong growth. AI-powered kitchen appliances are not just a trend — they’re becoming mainstream,” says Anand Ramanathan, partner & consumer industry leader, Deloitte India.
The report states smart appliance penetration is expected to double to 20-25% in five years and the consumer durables market is set to grow from $70 billion to $100 billion by FY2030. Brands, too, are shifting strategy with AI products expected to drive up to 70% of revenue in the coming years. From intelligent refrigerators that suggest recipes based on content, to AI dishwashers and ovens that adjust temperature and duration automatically, India is becoming a fertile ground for innovation that blends tradition with technology.
In fact, PwC Voice of the Consumer 2025: India Perspective report states that in India, 60% of consumers are open to using GenAI to create personalised diet plans and 56% are open to using it for meal planning. This signals a unique opportunity for companies to create a holistic wellness ecosystem merging food, health and technology.
Well-connected comfort
What if you could work on the screen on your refrigerator to handle household chores and recommendations, showing ingredients, and curated recipes, with cameras inside the refrigerator snapping everything you’re removing or inserting, and decoding ingredients and offers? Samsung Bespoke AI refrigerators can do exactly all of that, playing chef and suggesting a curated list of recipes. The refrigerator’s camera collects data to create tailored suggestions. The screen assists with daily tasks like checking ingredients, expiry, and usage. The refrigerator assists with controlling pods.
Similarly, Panasonic Life Solution India has launched MirAIe, an indigenously developed IoT and AI platform that connects air conditioners, fans, lighting, switches, security devices, and other home-environment solutions into a unified smart-home ecosystem. For devices such as lighting, fans, and smart switches, the MirAIe platform powers lighting adjustments, device scheduling, predictive maintenance alerts, and seamless control across voice assistants.
Godrej Enterprises Group has launched an AI-powered Eon Velvet side-by-side refrigerator. The 600-litre large-capacity refrigerator optimises cooling and energy consumption by sensing food load and usage like door openings, ensuring food stays fresher for longer. With intelligent modes like ‘eco mode’ for automatic temperature regulation, ‘holiday mode’ for energy conservation when away, and ‘super freeze’ mode for quick cooling, the ‘Made in India’ refrigerator features a smart convertible zone with temperature ranging from -3°C to 5°C enabling it to be used as a freezer, chiller or pantry section.
“Consumers are looking for premium kitchen appliances that deliver high performance and complement their lifestyle with smarter features. The range was launched this year at a starting price of Rs 1,15,990 across leading e-commerce platforms and offline pan-India stores,” says Anup Bhargava, product group head – refrigerators at the appliances business of Godrej Enterprises Group.
Meanwhile, interior brands are focusing on curating kitchens that integrate with smart home systems, enabling users to manage appliances, lighting, and ambience of the space with a simple touch. Plüsch is one such brand managing the kitchen through voice-enabled assistants, controlling ambience with innovative lighting systems, or using an iPad to stay connected.]
“Today, there’s no ‘one design fits all’ approach being used when it comes to any space, especially a kitchen. What we’re seeing today is a clear shift toward kitchens that adapt to the individuals who use them. More people seek spaces that are modular and capable of evolving with changing lifestyles,” says Sukriti Sharma, partner, Plüsch.
Home cleaning is another category in demand, with robotic vacuums, cordless stick vacuums, wet and dry vacuums, and high-speed hair dryers on offer for Indian consumers. “AI is the future of smart living — as the home appliance industry continues to evolve, AI is becoming integral to how products think, adapt, and perform,” says Manu Sharma, MD of Dreame Technology, India, a global tech brand that has a partnership with Croma stores to offer products across 165 cities.
The brand has invested heavily in innovation. “With about 7% of our total sales channelled into R&D and over 60% of our global workforce dedicated to research and technology development, we ensure our AI systems evolve with the changing needs of modern homes and lifestyles,” says Sharma.
What’s interesting is that the vacuum cleaners integrate multiple technologies such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) navigation, 3D structured light, and visual recognition for precise obstacle detection and contextual learning. The AI algorithms have been trained on 8 billion data sets, enabling recognition of up to 200 household objects with 99% accuracy.
Each cleaning session becomes smarter, more efficient, and deeply attuned to how people actually live. Qubo, another homegrown brand backed by the Hero Group, offers smart air purifiers for Indian homes. While Qubo’s proprietary AI engine QsensAI automatically analyses indoor air quality, users can control the purifiers through its app, track indoor AQI, receive filter alerts, and use voice commands via Alexa and Google Assistant.
Nikhil Rajpal, CEO & founder, Qubo, says, “AI today is not just helping people in their professional spaces but even in places much closer and more personal to them like homes. The real value of AI is not just in complex predictions but analyses in making everyday life safer and a lot more convenient.” Qubo’s larger Smart Home portfolio spans categories including smart door locks, smart security cameras, video doorbells and more.
Cooking meets code
The rise of conversational AI in daily appliances, from phones to stoves, is rapidly reshaping the cooking experience. The real opportunity lies in AI’s ability to deliver healthier, faster, and personalised food at home, a need that has always existed, especially in busy Indian households. From modular cooking systems to AI-powered recipe assistants, smart kitchen innovation is transforming how we cook, eat, and experience food.
Upliance.ai, a homegrown startup, is redefining how Indian households cook. With its recent launch of Upliance 2.0, the company has introduced a multi-functional, AI-powered cooking assistant that doesn’t just follow recipes, it understands context, taste preferences, and nutritional needs. “The demand has always existed for better food at home, what’s changed is that technology has matured to meet it,” says Mahek Mody, CEO and founder of Upliance.ai.
The cooking assistant is an AI-powered recipe personalisation (for vegan, Jain, gluten-free diets, etc.) and built-in weighing scale with macro tracking, virtual flame for intuitive heat control, 40% faster cooking with heating up to 160°C, works offline after sync, ensuring uninterrupted use and has 750+ guided recipes from Indian staples to global dishes. It’s not just a smart cooker, it’s a personal nutritionist, cooking coach, and time-saver rolled into one. With a price tag of Rs 39,999, Upliance 2.0 is designed to bring restaurant-quality food to every Indian kitchen, with less fuss and more flavour.
For the high-end home automation segment, brands like CasaDigi 4.0 offer a new dimension to kitchen experiences. Integrating personalised meal plans, butler services, and multi-home management, it turns ordinary kitchen routines into luxurious, fully coordinated events. “CasaDigi’s Butler Module lets users coordinate or prep meals via conversation. From the oven preheating to coffee brewing and lighting adjusted for dining, routines become adaptive and stress-free. Automation ensures that preparation, service, and ambience work in sync, turning everyday routines into effortless experiences,” explains Muskan Salgia, VP, CasaDigi, a luxury home automation solutions provider.
Food services provider Compass Group India, which serves 1.2 million meals daily across 857 client locations, is pushing the boundaries of AI in central kitchen operations. Their technology stack includes a SHIELD app for real-time food safety monitoring, Digital HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) for operational compliance, Custom Kitchen ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) for menu, supply chain, and production planning and IoT-based utility monitoring for water, gas, and energy conservation.
“Every plate is backed by innovation, responsibility, and care. This level of automation ensures safety, consistency, and sustainability at industrial scale — proving that smart kitchens aren’t limited to homes alone,” says Manish Mamtani, CIO, Compass Group India.
As per Ravi Saxena, CEO and founder of Wonderchef, a premium cookware and kitchen appliances brand co-founded by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, “Consumers are looking for appliances that make life easier, save time, and deliver consistency. Brands which adopt AI to make this possible will win the future.”
Wonderchef focuses on products that work intuitively and without unnecessary complexity. For instance, their smart kitchen robot, Chef Magic, priced at Rs 32,999, combines multiple functions with AI-guided recipes, making cooking simpler and precise even for novices. “It has seen huge demand across India and international markets, showing that customers are ready for smart cooking solutions. We are soon launching Chai Magic, the world’s first automatic tea maker,” adds Saxena.
When it comes to Indian consumers, brands like BSH Home Appliances ensure the authenticity of cooking practices while enhancing the experience. The Siemens iQ700 AI built-in oven is revolutionising how people cook. It can handle up to 100 different dishes and cooking scenarios like baking cakes, roasting meats, helping consumers achieve perfect results with minimal effort.
“AI in the Indian kitchen must go beyond executing commands. It should sense the nuances of diverse Indian cooking styles, adapt to individual preferences, and anticipate consumers’ needs, much like a trusted partner. However, adoption remains in its very early stages, as many consumers still value the human touch and personal connection that cooking brings,” says Saif Khan, MD and CEO, BSH Home Appliances.
According to Khan, one standout feature in the built-in oven is individual browning function, powered by an AI-integrated camera. “It allows users to personalise the browning level of their dishes, from lightly crisped to deeply roasted. The oven automatically stops once the desired level is reached, ensuring perfect results consistently,” says Khan. Additionally, their Home Connect App is designed with the modern Indian household in mind that enables seamless control of oven programmes through voice commands, smartphones, tablets, or the oven’s touch display.
Samsung Bespoke AI Dishwasher also optimises the cleaning cycle based on how dirty the dishes are, and Auto Open Door allows steam to escape, accelerating the drying process. The extractor induction hob integrating the extractor into the hob maximises kitchen space. Samsung aims to bring the Galaxy AI experience to over 400 million devices worldwide. “Samsung’s AI Home moves beyond smart devices to homes that truly understand you, adapt to your needs and care for what matters most,” said Cheolgi Kim, executive vice president & head of digital appliances business, Samsung.
Living made simple
The National Payments Corporation of India is in the process of developing UPI 3.0, an IoT (Internet of Things)-ready UPI system, which will allow individuals to automate UPI transactions through all smart devices and not just their phones. The IoT is a globally employed connection and data exchange tech, which enables connectivity and sharing between objects embedded with softwares or sensors connecting them to the internet. This would mean that UPI payments can be made through smart devices like TVs, fridges, washing machines, cars, smart watches, etc, without the involvement of the users or their mobile phones.
Consumer brands like Samsung with its Bespoke AI Laundry Combo have already entered a stage where a sleek, all-in-one washer-dryer can reimagine how laundry fits into your life. Its wash and dry technology senses fabric type, soil level, and load weight, then adjusts water, detergent, wash time, and drying conditions. The heat pump drying recycles warm air for gentle, efficient drying, cutting shrinkage and saving up to 75% energy and 60% drying time.
Similarly, Samsung’s WindFree air conditioner is engineered to cool efficiently with 23,000 micro-holes delivering airflow that maintains a consistent temperature without the discomfort of sharp drafts. Whether you’re working, relaxing, or winding down for the night, the built-in AI energy mode optimises compressor speed based on your preferences and environment, reducing energy consumption by up to 30%. At night, AI Good Sleep Mode personalised cooling to the sleep cycle, helping you rest better without midnight chills or stuffiness.
Brands like Lloyd Stunnair AC merges cooling with AI-driven intelligence as it intuitively adapts to the environment, optimises airflow, temperature, and energy use on a real-time basis. The INDRI (Individual Detection and Range Imaging) technology detects movement in the room and directs cooling where it’s needed; Find Me and Miss Me Mode ensures cooling follows the user’s position, making the experience personalised; the rapid cooling feature can reduce room temperature by up to 18°C in 30 seconds, ideal for extreme heat conditions; AI-powered voice command recognises over 800 Hindi and English commands, allowing hands-free control.
