BENGALURU, INDIA – Once you hire a LimeChat agent, you never have to hire again—this bold statement came from Nikhil Gupta, LimeChat’s co-founder. This startup is offering genAI agents (chatbots) that can carry out human-like conversations and handle routine requests at a lower cost.
At present, its AI agents can reduce the need for staff by as much as 80% when handling 10,000 monthly queries. Some bots already manage up to 70% of customer complaints for clients; it plans to increase that to 90–95% within a year.
If you’re giving us 100,000 rupees per month, you are automating the job of at least 15 agents. At that price—about $1,130—the service costs roughly the same as three customer care staff.
— Nikhil Gupta, LimeChat Co-Founder
Implications on India’s IT Outsourcing Sector
With AI chatbots like those from LimeChat taking over back-office and support roles, clients are increasingly attracted to their potential to help them scale. As such, the IT outsourcing sector is scrambling to adapt to the change.
There’s also hope among some industry leaders, like Pramod Bhasin, that India can repurpose its outsourcing strength and become a global “AI factory”—a hub for AI deployment and operations.
And so, attention is given to future college graduates. Many training centers across India are shifting their curricula to focus on AI, data science, and prompt engineering rather than legacy IT skills to meet recruiters’ demand for students with AI skills.
Regarding the agents displaced by the AI disruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is optimistic that new job types will be created. He said that “work doesn’t disappear due to technology,” only “its nature changes.” The shift could create roles in higher-value segments of tech, such as AI trainers, prompt engineers, quality controllers, and data analytics.
