A survey shows that 82 percent of organizations are planning or actively moving toward AI adoption Photo credits: (Macbook pro)
Indian lenders are increasingly using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI, ML) in their core businesses including credit assessment, improving customer experience, building new products and managing treasuries, senior bankers say.
Praveen Kutty, MD and CEO, DCB Bank, said the lender is using AI and ML across multiple entry points, including bots, emails, voice interaction, risk mitigation and product customization.
“Using speech haptics and AI, we can determine the quality of the resolution of customer queries. The quality of interaction with AI is so good that you cannot determine if there is a person behind it… there is also a self-correcting mechanism. I think the possibilities in this area are endless. Currently we use AI and ML for customer experience, product creation, risk mitigation (identifying mule accounts) and on multiple areas. “
Public sector banks
State Bank of India (SBI) is making significant use of AI in developing the Yono 2.0 mobile app version. “We are using it to make the app hyper-personalized for fraud risk management and will develop more use cases over the next two to three years. AI can be deployed across categories from lending to treasury,” a senior SBI official said.
According to Monika Kalia, deputy MD and CFO, government-backed infrastructure financier NaBFID is using AI for assessing loan proposals and monitoring the project.
“AI and ML play a very big role. In metro cities we had the wrong assumptions about traffic, and if we had a map with the right demographic and future development estimates, the outcome would probably be different. And infrastructure, every project has different requirements. Therefore, from a monitoring perspective, it becomes very important to have your data and AI systems in place,” she said.
“We will probably create a dedicated AI vertical as we are working on our IT implementation this year, trying to capture the entire lifecycle of the project, from its inception and the credit monitoring part of it,” she added. Another expert said microfinance institutions are widely using AI to estimate potential delinquencies and collection trends.
A recent EY India Corporate Treasury survey also found that Indian corporate treasury teams view automation as their top investment priority. Based on responses from 85 finance ministry leaders, the survey found that Indian government bonds are moving away from their traditional cash and risk management roles and are now investing in AI-enabled transformation, talent upskilling and shared services in preparation for the 2030 government bonds.
The research shows that 82 percent of organizations are planning or actively moving toward AI adoption; Use cases, such as currency risk, trade finance and anomaly detection, are gaining ground.
Hemal Shah, Partner and Leader, Treasury and Commodity Advisory – Risk Consulting, EY India, said: “Economic volatility, regulatory shifts and rapid digitalization are forcing treasury teams to do more with less: automate without losing control, manage risk while enabling growth and provide predictive, real-time insights for strategic decision-making. Insights from our report show a see a major shift towards digitally intelligent government bonds. The majority are planning or deploying AI solutions for cash forecasting, trade finance, risk management and business model redesign. Future-proof government bonds will go beyond liquidity and compliance management to anticipate risks, shape capital allocation and build organizational resilience safeguards.”
Published on October 13, 2025
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