How AI Is Transforming Industries According to a TeamLease report, AI is expected to add USD 450- 500 billion by 2025 and USD 967 billion by 2035 to the Indian economy. Several industries and businesses are optimistically integrating tech tools to improve customer experience, increase marketing and sales, and have an edge over their competitors

Artificial intelligence is propelling India's dream of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy and its use cases are becoming evident day-by-day. According to a TeamLease report, AI is expected to add USD 450- 500 billion by 2025 and USD 967 billion by 2035 to the Indian economy. The marvelous success story of OpenAI's ChatGPT opened doors to a world open to the adoption of AI at a high rate. AI is no longer a term used in future tense; it's very much a driving force in the present.

Several industries and businesses are optimistically integrating tech tools to improve customer experience, increase marketing and sales, and have an edge over their competitors. To shed light on the profound impact of AI across various domains, we spoke to a few players who have embarked on this co-AI journey to share real-world applications, benefits, and challenges of its integration.

A HELPING HAND IN HEALTHCARE:

In a country with a population of 1.4 billion, India accounts for a mere 64 doctors per 100,000 people. This falls below a world average of 150 doctors per 100,000 people. In situations like these, AI can be a good helping hand for medical professionals. In fact, in early 2023, The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) released the country's first Ethical Guidelines for Application of Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Research and Healthcare. With this, they aim to create "an ethics framework which can assist in the development, deployment, and adoption of AI-based solutions" in the specified fields. Tracxn, a market research firm, notes that there are 208 start-ups using AI when it comes to diagnosis or treatment in India. AI can particularly help with mental wellness for individuals. Some of the players in this space are Wysa, LISSUN, Shyft (formerly Mindhouse), Sukoon, Innerhour, Trijog, YourDOST, and Mitsu.

There are 531 AI Healthcare startups in India

United We Care, a deep-tech mental health-focused start-up, is driven to make quality mental wellness affordable and accessible and provide 24/7 comprehensive support. The idea for UWC germinated when one of its founders, Ritu Mehrotra, was diagnosed with cancer. Hence, in 2020, she along with Shumita Kakkar and Sourav Banerjee founded United We Care. How is it helping people cope? The answer lies in Stella, its AI wellness coach. With Stella, the start-up is on its way to touch one billion plus working lives in the next few years. "Being a whenever they seek support. She understands 40+ human emotions, detects intent with 90% accuracy, and is equipped with a recommendation engine powered by AI algorithms to match user requirements with the expert of choice. Stella's 24/7 availability enhances the platform's user-friendly nature and ensures that help is always at hand," adds Mehrotra.

In comparison with traditional EAP programs, UWC boasts of an impressive upward engagement rate of 30-40 per cent against the former's one-two per cent. Stella is also able to conduct psychometric assessments. The most prevalent assessment taken was the mental stress assessment with 47 per cent.

Periods are one such topic which is of utmost importance yet is brushed under the carpets in a typical household. And hence, Menopause becomes a topic even further to touch upon. But Menoveda, a Fem- Tech start-up, is dedicated to easing the menopausal transition for women using the power of Ayurveda. How does it do so? By merging Ayurveda with AI technology. It offers personalized Ayurvedic solutions for menopausal symptoms through our AI-driven platform.

"Our AI-powered offerings have garnered exceptional feedback. Over 90% of users reported improved symptom management within the first month. Client satisfaction surveys show a 95% approval rating, highlighting the effectiveness of our personalized Ayurvedic remedies, making a significant impact on women's well-being," shares Tamanna Singh, Co-Founder, Menoveda.

ORGANIZING AGRICULTURE:

A critical sector of the Indian economy, agriculture contributes to 18 per cent of the GDP. And several new-age start-ups are emerging in this segment with the likes of CropIn, DeHaat, BharatAgri, and Bijak. These start-ups are helping develop innovative solutions for various aspects of agriculture, especially precision farming, supply chain management, and market linkages The 2019 start-up Fyllo presently has over 100 agronomy models to help farmers produce over 20 crops. It provides insights on growing crops based on climate or occurrences of diseases/pests on crops. Fyllo believes that both problems can be solved with accurate data, which led to them building a number and pathogens prediction models using AI now. "We use AI for multiple use cases at Fyllo. The first use case is predicting the weather. We use climate data from our devices and machine learning-based weather Models to come up with a highly precise farm-level weather prediction model. Another use case is getting crop health, and crop stage identification from satellite imagery. We use various machine learning models to do that. We also predict disease and pests using AI. We also automatically analyze the crop images sent by farmers using AI models. Fyllo currently has over 2 Billion data points and over 180 machine learning models to get insights about crops, diseases and climate," shares Sumit Sheoran, Co- Founder, Fyllo.

There are 2207 DPIIT recognized startups in the Agri-Tech industry spread across 360

Its main clients are growers, corporate farming and other B2B agriculture companies. They have served 5000+ individual farmers mostly in India and some parts of Europe such as France and Spain. Fyllo reports that its farmers have been able to save 25 per cent on input costs and grow 30 per cent more crops using their models. "On a cumulative basis, we have saved around 53 Billion litres of water and over 2 Mn Kg of carbon emission from farms till now," shares Sheoran.

Sheoran, on being asked to share some instances, adds "Many grape farmers in Maharashtra, are now able to export 10 tonnes/acre because of the use of our technology which was about 6 tonnes /acres. A pomegranate farmer was almost on the verge of destroying his crop when he contacted us and now is able to make INR 10 lacs/acre from the same farm. A large tea company in Kerala is saving 50,000 rupees per month per estate on their plant protection sprays now. A cotton farmer in Haryana saved his crop from Pink Ball Worm because of the early prediction and produced 9 Quintals/Acre while the average production in the region is 5 Quintals/ Acres."

Poshn is aimed at making processed agriculture commodity trading easy. Its services include offering best-priced commodities, demand fulfillment, track delivery, and digital book-keeping. The start-up is bringing these costs down and passing the benefits to its SME users. "Mostly our AI implementations have increased the efficiencies in a low-margin value chain. This resulted in direct cost benefits for our SME suppliers. More than the technology itself these benefits are which are more valued by the user. We are working with more than 500 users who are impacted by our technology," shares Bhuvnesh Gupta, Co-Founder, Poshn. Recently, Wadhwani AI raised USD 3.3 million in grant funding for scaling AI technology which currently advises farmers on pest management for cotton crops.

BE FIT WITH TECH:

In a 2019 study, it was reported that about 64 per cent of Indians did not exercise. However, the pandemic truly shook us to the core and made the population realize that health is above everything else. And that's why, in 2023, people have begun taking their lifestyle and fitness seriously, either through gyming or diet. The Cube Club, a 2020-founded start-up, is your personal, multi-dimensional fitness solution. It offers equipment, training, and community, for workoutfrom- home sessions. They have catered to 20,000 customers with now over 1000+ monthly orders. Taking a step towards leveraging AI, the Club is launching Dopamine, a social fitness network. "AI will be a game-changer for Dopamine, tailoring fitness experiences to each individual. Through the advanced AI, users can create personalized workouts based on their history, health conditions, and goals. We're also integrating seamlessly with wearable fitness devices to provide in-depth health analytics. Nutrition is the next frontier we aim to conquer," shares Siddhesh Ghuge, Co-Founder, Dopamine, Cube Club.

The global AI fitness app market will surpass $23.98

HealthifyMe, a digital health and wellness start-up, has come up with Ria2.0. Previously, it launched Ria, an AI nutritionist five years ago. "Supercharged with Generative AI, Ria 2.0 now boasts a cutting-edge conversational interface, empowering users to seamlessly interact with Ria in a more natural and intuitive manner. It is location & context-aware along with being multimodal which allows interactions using Text, Voice, Images & Video. Ria 2.0's foundational engine will empower users to make informed decisions, stay motivated, and achieve their health goals like never before," shares Tushar Vashisht, CEO and Co-founder, HealthifyMe.

It also offers a feature called SNAP, a 'Fire & Forget' food recognition system, that automates the nutrition tracking process.

AI-ASSISTED TRAVEL PLANS:

In 2022, domestic tourism stood at 1,731 million, according to the Union Tourism Ministry data. However, not everyone is upbeat and skilled when it comes to planning a trip, but AI is changing the game here. Mappls KOGO, an AI travel expert app from Kogo Tech Labs is helping redefine travel experiences, travel discovery and planning.

India's travel industry is anticipated to grow from an estimated USD 75 billion in FY20 to USD 125 billion by FY27

"Our users have utilised the AI Trip Maker feature to generate thousands of trip options that they could choose from and book in seconds. Additionally, "Kogonaut" chat has fast become the mass favourite, with users asking it everything from what to order in a Korean restaurant to high altitude tips to the history of a city," shares Raj K Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Co-Founder, Kogo Tech Labs. Additionally, the Kogo AI stack is powering multiple apps on the B2B2C front such as KTM, TVS, Jawa, and Yezdi. Ixigo, an online travel aggregator, in July, launched its ChatGPT-powered 'intelligent' trip planner, PLAN. By entering your destination, PLAN suggests the most sought-after activities or experiences and even chalks out an itinerary for you.

THE FUTURE AHEAD: According to a McKinsey report titled "The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier", generative AI has the potential to generate USD 2.6 trillion to USD 4.4 trillion in value across Indian industries. The opportunity to leverage AI is not limited to a handful, rather it can be optimized by several industries. AI not only simplifies and eases processes, but also can be tailored to a business. "About 50 startups across the spectrum from retail, banks to AgriTech and to SAAS have opted for our hosted solution. Where they don't have the upfront cost and only pay what they use in AI leveraging," shares Deepika Loganathan, Co-Founder and CEO, Haive, an on-premise AI startup.