Indian banks cite up to 50% gains from AI systems

HDFC Bank said service-delivery turnaround times fell 30% during the September quarter, one of several artificial-intelligence gains reported by Indian lenders in an Economic Times article published Nov. 1, 2026.

The company-reported figures range from Axis Bank's more than 10% productivity gain in selected customer journeys to AU Small Finance Bank's 50% cost cut in AI-led voice operations, a wide spread that reflects different functions rather than a single industry benchmark.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has applied AI in wholesale banking through Project ACE, which classifies and directs corporate customer requests covering account servicing, payments, transaction disputes and inward remittances, according to the article.

"The project has resulted in a massive efficiency gain, resolution tags have improved twice and because of this efficiency gain, there is surplus capacity, allowing the same headcount to handle 20-30% more volumes with the same capacity," said Anu Aggarwal, head-corporate and transaction banking at Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Kotak is also building predictive tools for corporate clients, Aggarwal said. The systems are intended to forecast cash inflows, upcoming payments and surplus liquidity, then recommend investment options for excess funds.

"We are moving from information to intelligence. Instead of just providing CFOs with dashboards and data, we want to use predictive models to help them anticipate collections, upcoming payments and surplus liquidity, while suggesting where excess funds can be invested," Aggarwal said.

HDFC Bank said digitisation and straight-through processing, meaning automated transaction handling with limited manual intervention, reduced service-delivery turnaround times by 30% during the September quarter. The bank also said customer visits per frontline employee increased nearly 50% in the same period.

Axis Bank is deploying AI through its AXIOM platform across servicing, operations and decision-making, the article said. Its AI bots handled nearly 60% of collection calls during the September quarter, compared with Kotak's reported ability to handle 20%-30% more corporate-servicing volumes without adding staff.

"AI-driven solutions such as Doc AI, Voice AI and GenAI-powered collections continue to enhance customer experience, improve operational efficiency and deliver better business outcomes," said Amitabh Chaudhry, Axis Bank's managing director and chief executive.

ICICI Bank has developed an enterprise AI platform for customer onboarding, fraud detection, portfolio monitoring, document processing and customer servicing, according to the article. "Together, these capabilities help simplify processes, improve turnaround times and support decision-making across multiple banking functions," said Sandeep Batra, executive director at ICICI Bank.

The reported gains are not directly comparable. They cover different business lines and metrics, including productivity, service time, call handling and operating cost; the article did not provide investment spending, audited savings, error rates or market reaction.

HDFC Bank's former chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan had indicated that wider AI use could reduce manpower requirements in back-office, credit and corporate-support functions, the article said.

Source: news article, The Economic Times, Nov. 1, 2026