On Day 2 of Goafest 2025, the conversation turned from celebration to transformation—with a powerful session spotlighting how AI in Indian business is reshaping everything from consumer engagement to internal operations. Executives from Swiggy, MakeMyTrip, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), and Voltas showcased real-world applications of artificial intelligence that are no longer limited to IT teams, but embedded across functions like marketing, sales, product, and operations.
Goafest 2025 spotlighted real-world innovation in the session ‘From Code to Commerce: Growth in the AI Age.’ Moderated by journalist Anuradha SenGupta, the discussion offered a ground-level view of how AI is transforming businesses across India—not in theory, but through daily execution.
AI in Action: Real Business Use Cases
Voltas: Humanizing Tech for Cost-Conscious Consumers
Pragya Bijalwan, CMO at Voltas, explained how AI is transforming HVAC products with smart, app-based temperature control and predictive maintenance. Through voice assistants like Alexa and Google, AI personalizes user experiences while improving energy efficiency—vital for India’s price-sensitive market.
One standout example: a personalized video campaign featuring mascot ‘Murthy’ addressing channel partners by name. The result? A 98% click-through rate and 87% video completion—evidence of AI-powered personalization done right.
HUL: From R&D to AI-Powered Marketing at Scale
Tejas Apte, Head of Media and Digital Marketing at HUL, illustrated how AI began in their Agile Innovation Hub—spotting trends, creating product prototypes, and even 3D-printing samples.
Today, it extends to the supply chain and marketing, where HUL recently rolled out 150,000 personalized video ads using actor Arshad Warsi’s AI-generated voice. Tools like Pencil Pro are helping HUL’s teams create fully AI-generated assets, allowing faster campaign rollouts and more experimentation.
MakeMyTrip: AI Assistants for Seamless Travel Planning
Sanket Prakash Tulangekar, Director at MakeMyTrip, unveiled how their AI assistant Myra is revolutionizing the customer journey.
- Uses review summarization for quick, meaningful hotel insights
- Enables conversational AI for trip planning
- Leverages multi-agent orchestration, simulating a team of AI assistants to coordinate flights, hotels, and local travel seamlessly
“The future of travel assistance is conversational,” Tulangekar emphasized.
Swiggy: Democratizing AI Across the Org
Arjun Choudhary, VP at Swiggy, highlighted how AI is now embedded in everyday business tools:
- AI-generated PRDs (product requirement documents)
- Meeting summaries turned into podcasts
- Sales co-pilots for field teams
“AI isn’t just for tech teams anymore,” Choudhary stated. “Business teams are creating product demos on their own.”
Balancing Innovation With Responsibility
While enthusiasm was high, the panel didn’t ignore the challenges. As generative AI content becomes widespread, ethical concerns around content authenticity and labeling surfaced.
Choudhary warned against using AI visuals in sensitive contexts, such as food imagery, preferring real photos for trust. He also stressed the need for responsible data use and intellectual property protection.
India’s current preference for self-regulation contrasts with the U.S. and EU’s more formal AI governance frameworks. But consensus among panelists suggested that clearer guardrails are inevitable.
Final Takeaway: AI Is Function-Agnostic
In her closing remark, Bijalwan summed up the future of AI in Indian business:
“AI will not replace jobs—it will transform them. And it won’t be just for tech or marketing. It’s for everyone.”
Whether you’re in operations, customer service, HR, or product development, the message from Goafest 2025 is clear: AI is no longer an isolated tool—it’s a company-wide enabler.
