Customer service which has for long been synonymous with long queues, IVR loops and endless call transfers, is being recast by artificial intelligence. Across sectors, companies are deploying chatbots, voice bots and AI-driven assistants to improve speed, accuracy and efficiency, while also cutting costs. From e-commerce and airlines to banks and D2C brands, AI is fast becoming the first point of contact for consumers.
AI-driven customer service across sectors
Travel platform EaseMyTrip, for instance, has built an intelligent routing system that co-founder Rikant Pittie says resolves queries “70% faster than traditional support models”. Similarly, Bank of Baroda has rolled out three Gen-AI-powered customer service tools, including a virtual relationship manager available round the clock. IndiGo launched its AI booking assistant, 6Eskai, on WhatsApp in 2023. Flyers can use it for ticketing, check-in, boarding passes and flight updates. “Currently, 93% of customer queries are resolved with complete closure through our AI chatbot, 6Eskai platform,” the airline’s spokesperson said.
Air India’s AI.g bot, launched in May 2023, claims 97% autonomous resolution rates. Meesho has built a multilingual, AI-driven voice bot that handles 60,000 daily calls with a 95% resolution rate, slashing handle time by half. Cost discipline was a key driver for Meesho, which is working toward profitability.
Not all companies are betting exclusively on bots. BigBasket has taken a hybrid approach. “We are early adopters of AI technology and believe that AI enables humans to perform their jobs more effectively rather than replacing them,” Rohil Ahmed, head of product, customer service, at BigBasket, said. Its system balances automation and empathy — chatbots for simple cases, human agents for complex or sensitive ones. “Around 80% of customers express satisfaction with bot responses, particularly appreciating instant answers without waiting in queues,” Ahmed added.
Opportunities and challenges of AI adoption
Velocity, an e-commerce solutions provider, is tackling scalability with its voice AI, Vani. Kopal Gupta, who heads AI labs at Velocity, explained, “Manual call centres are expensive and complex to scale. Vani AI resolves up to 70% of objections without human involvement, scaling automatically with demand during peak seasons like Diwali or Rakhi”.
Yet the growing reliance on bots has also triggered frustration among customers. Pragya Kumar, a consumer in Delhi, said her delayed grocery order with Amazon led to 40 minutes of waiting without resolution. “By the end of it, my problem wasn’t solved, and my patience was gone,” she said. Similarly, Gurugram-based entrepreneur Satwinder Singh recalled being unable to reach a human after entering a wrong delivery address online.
Amazon, which has laid off more than 27,000 staff since 2022, has been leaning heavily on AI. CEO Andy Jassy noted in an internal memo: “As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today”.
The broader shift is clear. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2025 shows 93% of Indian business leaders plan to deploy AI agents within the next 18 months. Capgemini Research Institute’s new report predicts nearly six in ten organisations will treat AI as an “active team member” within a year.
The potential scale is vast. The World Economic Forum forecasts 170 million new jobs globally by 2030 even as 92 million roles vanish, with customer service among the hardest hit. India, meanwhile, is pushing ahead. As Microsoft’s Puneet Chandok put it, “India is firmly in its AI-first era, with AI agility accelerating at an unprecedented pace”.
