Kiran Jagannath of AWS India said the focus is shifting from productivity to ‘agentic AI’, where autonomous agents perform complex business tasks | Photo credit: iStockphoto
Kiran Jagannath, head of FSI and conglomerates at AWS India and South Asia, stated that while the initial conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) focused on productivity, the narrative is shifting to ‘agentic AI’, autonomous agents that can perform complex tasks, which he predicts will be the dominant technology story in Indian banking over the next three years.
“It’s a great time to be in financial services in India. If you look at what’s happened in the last five to 10 years, the whole digitalization movement in India is creating a lot of opportunities across the board.
“The pandemic has changed the way banks, insurers and others interact with and engage their customers. Before the pandemic, we were still largely an office-based engagement model. But post-pandemic, during the lockdowns, when branches were closed, digital channels became the key channels for engagement,” Jagannath said in an interview with PTI.
Revenue impact
He emphasized that AI-driven efficiency now translates directly into revenue growth. Citing an example, he noted that fintech player Cashfree used generative AI to accelerate merchant onboarding, reducing a process that took many hours to less than 10 minutes, preventing business loss.
“Last year we talked a lot about the productivity and efficiency that generative AI drives. Many of those use cases are already in production this year. This year we’re talking about something that goes even further, namely how agents can start driving more efficiency in business processes.
“And while the word efficiency is used, these efficiencies are actually driving sales and revenue growth,” he noted.
Core modernization
Jagannath highlighted a major structural shift in the sector: the modernization of the old core banking systems. For years, banks built digital layers on top of older systems, but that is changing.
He noted that banks are adopting different strategies, with some “hollowing out” the core to modernize it, while others are taking a “dual-engine approach,” onboarding new customers to modern, cloud-native cores while gradually upgrading the legacy system.
Risk resilience
Jagannath also pointed to the BSE as an example of leveraging cloud technology for mitigating critical risks. BSE, in collaboration with an AWS partner company, has built a system that can come online within 15 minutes if some stockbroking platforms go down, so that investors can still cash out positions in the futures and options (F&O) segment.
Looking ahead, Jagannath says the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has evolved, with technology leaders now having a “seat at the table” on the board.
“I think in three years we’ll be talking more about how agents have innovated different experiences, how they’ve transformed different business and technology processes,” he added.
While acknowledging the potential of quantum computing, he asserted that agentic AI remains the most immediate and transformative prospect for the sector.
“With technology making it very easy for even business users to build something… I think collaboration, where business and technology stakeholders come together and solve business problems, will be the need of the hour. That may require a cultural shift within the organizations, and that will obviously have to happen from the top down,” Jagannath said.
Published on December 25, 2025
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