PhonePe Uses AI to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Costs

Indian fintech firm PhonePe is leveraging artificial intelligence to significantly streamline its internal operations and reduce costs. According to CTO Srijon Biswas, certain audit processes that previously took four days are now completed in just three minutes. Additionally, manual effort for software releases has been reduced by approximately 22 person-days per release.

The company currently operates with over 200 AI agents, utilized daily by around 1,600 employees. Cost savings have been particularly noted in voice agent operations, where expenses have fallen to about one-sixth of their previous level. AI has also eliminated the need for human agents in certain KYC and onboarding workflows, reallocating former staff to other functions.

Within software development, AI is markedly accelerating the release process. For instance, a workflow that previously took two to three days from product manager to developer now takes around 10 minutes due to automated code generation. Unit testing for applications has also seen a reduction from three days to approximately half a day.

PhonePe is adopting a more cautious approach to consumer-facing AI applications, which require greater engineering effort and careful consideration of user experience. The company has ensured that AI agents operate within strict access control protocols, a critical aspect for a regulated fintech entity.