India's Corporate Hubs Leverage AI in Diverse Industries

India's Global Centers of Multinational Firms Leverage AI for Creative Innovations

Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to automate time-consuming tasks and drive far-reaching innovations across various functions, including marketing, finance, and human resources. Heads of several GCCs informed Reuters that they are deploying AI to automate repetitive tasks that previously required hours of manual effort.

AI Beyond Chatbots

AI has moved beyond chatbots and into the corporate engine room, with GCCs leveraging the technology to drive innovations. For instance, Indian hospital chain Apollo Hospitals has adopted an AI clinical assistant developed with Microsoft that helps doctors gather patient data and generate insights quickly. This has resulted in 20% time being given back to doctors and 20% time being given back to patients.

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Catalyst Brands, the owner of U.S. department store chain J.C.Penney, is piloting computer-generated imagery at its Bengaluru center to create product visuals and videos. This could reduce the need to move inventory across the globe for photo shoots, according to Nihar Nidhi, India managing director at Catalyst.

Marketing and Social Media

Huggies diaper maker Kimberly-Clark is using AI to speed up marketing processes, including an internal tool that helps identify and evaluate social media influencers to promote its products and expand reach.

Pharmaceutical Industry Embracing AI

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The pharmaceutical industry is also embracing AI, with Denmark's Novo Nordisk deploying AI across critical parts of the drug launch process, including drafting regulatory documents, analyzing safety data, and supporting commercial analytics. This is in line with efforts from drugmakers globally, including Amgen and AstraZeneca, which are deploying AI to identify trial participants more quickly and cut the time needed to produce drug safety reports, potentially saving millions of dollars.

IBM's AI Initiatives

IBM India is working with a top college and local authorities to introduce AI-enabled air-quality monitoring systems. The company is also working with the government to explore AI adoption and help with upskilling initiatives. Workday India President Sunil Jose stated that the business software maker is increasingly working alongside global teams to build AI tools for payroll, hiring, and finance operations.