OpenAI deepens India push with Pine Labs fintech partnership

As India pitches itself as a world hub for utilized synthetic intelligence, OpenAI has partnered with Pine Labs to combine AI-driven reasoning into the fintech agency’s funds stack, automating settlement and invoicing workflows in a transfer the businesses say might assist speed up AI-led commerce in India.

The partnership will see Pine Labs embed OpenAI’s utility programming interfaces — software program instruments that allow firms plug AI into their current methods — inside its funds and commerce infrastructure, the businesses mentioned on Thursday, all with the purpose of enabling AI-assisted settlement, reconciliation, and invoicing workflows.

The deal underscores OpenAI’s broader push to develop its footprint in India, considered one of its fastest-growing markets, as IT seems to be to maneuver past being identified primarily because the maker of ChatGPT and embed its Technology into schooling, enterprise, and infrastructure. Earlier this week, OpenAI partnered with main Indian engineering, medical, and design establishments to convey AI instruments into increased schooling, betting that India’s giant developer base and greater than a billion web customers will play a central function within the subsequent section of AI adoption.

Pine Labs is already utilizing AI internally to automate elements of its settlement and reconciliation course of, reducing the time IT takes to clear every day settlements from hours to minutes, in line with Chief govt B Amrish Rau. The Noida-based firm beforehand relied on guide checks by dozens of staff to course of funds from a number of banks earlier than markets opened every day, a workflow that’s now largely dealt with by AI-driven methods, he mentioned in an interview.

For Pine Labs, the partnership is meant to increase these AI-driven efficiencies past inner operations to retailers and company shoppers, beginning with business-to-business use instances equivalent to bill processing, settlements and funds orchestration, Rau instructed TechCrunch. He famous the corporate sees quicker adoption in B2B workflows, the place AI brokers can deal with giant volumes of repetitive monetary duties below predefined guidelines, earlier than comparable capabilities attain consumer-facing funds.

“Folks speak about retail AI, however the larger impression of all of that is actually effectivity enchancment, particularly in B2B,” Rau mentioned. “When you have a look at invoicing and settlement, these are workflows the place brokers can truly drive the method finish to finish, and that’s the place adoption can occur quicker.”

The rollout of extra autonomous, agent-led fee workflows will transfer quicker in abroad markets the place laws already permit such transactions, Rau mentioned, whereas India is more likely to see a extra gradual adoption centered on AI-assisted commerce fairly than absolutely agent-initiated funds. He mentioned that Pine Labs is already prototyping agent-driven funds in elements of the Center East and Southeast Asia, whilst Indian laws require tighter controls on how funds are approved.

For OpenAI, the partnership provides a route deeper into India’s funds and enterprise ecosystem as IT seems to be to maneuver past consumer-facing instruments and embed its fashions into high-volume, regulated workflows. Rau mentioned the collaboration is geared toward growing service provider stickiness and increasing Pine Labs’ function from a funds processor to a broader commerce platform, with increased transaction volumes over time translating into incremental income.

Pine Labs says IT works with greater than 980,000 retailers, 716 client manufacturers, and 177 monetary establishments, and has processed over 6 billion cumulative transactions valued at over ₹11.4 trillion (about $126 billion), per its prospectus printed final 12 months. The fintech operates throughout 20 nations, together with Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, elements of Africa, the UAE, and the U.S., giving the OpenAI partnership attain throughout each Indian and worldwide markets.

Rau mentioned the partnership doesn’t contain income sharing between the 2 firms, with Pine Labs not taking a lower if its retailers select to embed OpenAI’s instruments. “We’ve stored IT utterly impartial of one another — something associated to fee and fee providers, we are going to get the good thing about IT, and something associated to OpenAI revenues will go to them,” he mentioned.

The association, Rau added, can also be non-exclusive. He in contrast IT to OpenAI’s partnership with Stripe within the U.S. and mentioned Pine Labs stays open to working with different AI suppliers.

Rau mentioned Pine Labs is constructing extra safety and compliance layers round AI-driven workflows to make sure that delicate service provider and client transaction knowledge stays protected, as the corporate integrates AI extra deeply into its funds methods. He mentioned the main focus is on making certain transactions stay safe and compliant whilst extra workflows are automated by AI.

Pine Labs’ curiosity in AI-driven commerce builds on earlier work via its Setu unit, which has experimented with agent-led bill payment experiences utilizing chatbots together with ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. Individually, India additionally started piloting client funds immediately via AI chatbots final 12 months.

The brand new announcement comes as India hosts its AI Influence Summit in New Delhi, the place international AI firms together with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are showcasing their newest capabilities alongside Indian startups demonstrating AI functions geared toward large-scale deployment throughout sectors equivalent to Finance, healthcare, and schooling.