Payments provider Paytm has announced a partnership with AI search engine Perplexity to integrate AI-powered search into its app to help users make informed financial decisions. The new feature allows users to ask everyday questions, explore topics in their local language, and gain real-time financial assistance.
AIM spotted the feature on the app ahead of today’s official announcement.
“I am very excited to work together with Paytm. They are very forward-minded and are trying to bring the power of AI to Indians without them having to pay anything,” added Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, emphasising the power of democratisation. He pointed out how some of the most advanced AIs are often restricted behind paywalls.
Sharing his vision for AI in India during the announcement, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “The ultimate AI movement for India will be when commoners are able to talk to an AI assistant and achieve higher productivity in a way that was typically not possible.”
Sharma indicated the company is working on voice capabilities, focusing on learning what questions people are asking to build a system around it. On privacy concerns, he clarified that when users ask questions to the AI, only those specific queries go to the model, not any historical Paytm financial data.
This comes after Amazon teamed up with Anthropic to bring an AI-powered Alexa+ to millions of households in the US. With 600 million Alexa devices already out there in the US, this could be the first real experience with generative AI for many.
Inside this Partnership
Srinivas discussed the integration of AI into Paytm as part of the broader trend of ‘super apps’ which provide various services like payments, shopping, and AI assistance – all within one platform. This trend already exists in the West.
The partnership also aims to solve use cases specific to India and in accordance with India’s larger cultural and linguistic context.
Srinivas explained that the integration is not just about translating AI into different languages but also about adapting to the country’s infrastructure. This includes making agricultural laws and government policies more accessible, especially in rural areas with lower literacy and English proficiency.
According to him, just as payment is a very local and country-specific product, the intersection of financial services and AI will also need to be localised for different markets.
Meanwhile, Srinivas revealed that, during an interaction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the need for AI to support India’s local languages for better accessibility. “The ability to just ask a question comes very naturally to anyone in their mother tongue,” Srinivas added.
Given India’s vast cultural context, he added that PM Modi expressed interest in employing AI to access ancient Indian texts, especially those not indexed by the web or not translated into English, and integrating them with modern scientific knowledge.
Consistent with his previous post on X, Srinivas discussed how India should develop its own foundational AI models to ensure proper representation of Indian languages and build the necessary skills and infrastructure to compete globally.
According to The Indian Express, the IndiaAI mission has already received 67 proposals for building an AI model focused on India. A high-level committee of external experts will evaluate these proposals and make a decision by the end of the month.
Getting Perplexity to More Indians
“India is one of the most curious countries. [People are] curious about so many different topics, and Perplexity is the ultimate solution to their curiosity,” said Srinivas, regarding his vision for India.
He aims to make sure that no student has to pay for the pro version of Perplexity anywhere in the world. Recently, the company announced pro subscriptions for IIT campuses in India.
Responding to concerns regarding the restriction of the subscriptions to just IITs, Srinivas said, “I read a lot of comments like, why IITs? They already have all this. That’s not the point. It’s very difficult to go mass market instantly, but the goal is to understand the rollouts there and then learn from any mistakes we make there and try to bring it to everybody.”Perplexity is also betting big on India, which has the second-largest number of AI users in the world. The company recently announced plans to recruit talent to expand its presence in India.
