New Delhi, Nov 26 (PTI) The AI debate must move beyond the narrative of companies driving automation simply in pursuit of profits, Arundhati Bhattacharya, President and CEO of Salesforce South Asia, said, asserting that technology is essential to expand services, including healthcare and education, in a 1.4-billion-strong country and will enable, not replace, people.
A former banker, Bhattacharya told PTI that tech transitions may be "painful" but much like banking digitisation had, AI will lift productivity, create new roles and expand the reach of services such as healthcare in ways that go beyond what traditional brick-and-mortar systems alone cover.
"My biggest take on this is the need for continuous leap... You can't expect to participate in the coming days unless you are comfortable with a technology which is literally overwhelming us," Bhattacharya said.
Emphasising on the need for constant skilling in AI era, she said the discussions on new and emerging technologies cannot hinge solely on the narrative that companies today are chasing profits through automation.
Drawing attention to AI use cases (applications range from medical imaging to diagnosis, and from drug discovery to patient care) in healthcare, she said technology can expand medical facilities and services in India.
Hospitals, at times, may be overstretched and overcrowded, given the scale of healthcare needs, she said, adding agentic AI and digital support can ease the pressure on medical infrastructure.
Speaking about technology-boost in public welfare sectors, Bhattacharya said when it comes to healthcare, 'Agentic AI' can play a crucial role in recording symptoms, providing an initial analysis, and brief doctors before patients walk-in.
This, she noted, would improve outcomes rather than replace human expertise. Calling AI an enabler, she asserted that digital adoption cannot be viewed only through the lens of profits.
Drawing a parallel with India’s financial inclusion push, she pointed to the success of schemes such as Jan Dhan Yojana and how the expansion of banking services to first-time customers was accelerated due to technology and platforms like UPI.
"So it's not just a question of pursuit of profit. In a country as large as ours, that is 1.4 billion people, it's impossible to render services that people require or people should get with only a brick and mortar (infrastructure)," she elaborated.
Meanwhile, Salesforce's total reported revenue in India rose 47 per cent year-over-year to Rs 13,384.5 crore for FY25, according to regulatory filings.
India continues to be among Salesforce’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by strong customer demand for trusted, data-driven, and AI-powered solutions. Salesforce currently has an employee count of 14,000-plus across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, and Jaipur.
"We don't talk about job replacement with Agentic AI. We talk about the human in the loop, but with the human much more empowered, empowered faster and better, and empowered in a way that they are able to actually do much more in the same amount of time," Bhattacharya said, adding that this drives increased productivity and efficiency while at the same time meeting topline and your bottomline goals.
Distinct from conventional AI and Generative AI, Agentic AI' can accomplish specific tasks with limited supervision and ease, going beyond well-defined inputs, and is capable of taking initiatives. At its very core, it hasAI agents' or models that mimic human decision-making to solve complex issues in real time.