Generative AI (GenAI) is no longer an experimental novelty — it’s a strategic investment for India’s largest corporate houses. Reliance, Mahindra, Godrej and other conglomerates are putting money, partnerships, and people behind GenAI to transform operations, customer experience, product design, and decision-making. This article explains how they’re investing, why it matters, and what practical steps other businesses can take to adopt GenAI responsibly.
Key claims and evidence in this article are supported by recent industry reports and company announcements. -EY+4The Economic Times+4Reliance Industries Limited+4
Why conglomerates are investing in Generative AI now
- Scale & competition: Large groups can deploy AI fast across millions of customers, suppliers, and processes. That scale means small performance gains become big financial wins. -The Economic Times
- Platformization: Firms want proprietary AI platforms for retail, telecom, finance and energy — so they’re building or partnering to own the stack. Reliance’s new AI arm (Reliance Intelligence) is explicitly positioned as an enterprise AI hub. Reliance Industries Limited
- Workforce leverage: GenAI boosts productivity (drafting, coding, analytics), reducing turnaround time across functions. Independent studies estimate large productivity gains when GenAI is applied responsibly. EY
What the big players are doing — snapshot
| Conglomerate | GenAI Move | Primary Use Cases | Notable Partnerships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reliance | Launched Reliance Intelligence to centralize AI investments | Enterprise AI for retail, telecom, finance, healthcare | Partnerships announced with global cloud/AI players. Reliance Industries Limited |
| Mahindra Group | Built an internal AI division; Tech Mahindra offers Generative AI Studio | Manufacturing automation, field services, enterprise workflows | Tech Mahindra + Google Cloud joint initiatives. Mahindra+1 |
| Godrej | Implementing GenAI for customer insights & credit risk (Godrej Capital) | Customer analytics, credit risk, manufacturing optimizations | Godrej Capital GenAI deployments and pilots. PR Newswire+1 |
(This table summarises public announcements and press coverage from 2024–2025.)
Deep dive: Reliance Intelligence — platform + partnerships
Reliance has announced a dedicated AI subsidiary and is forming partnerships to power enterprise solutions across its businesses. The strategy is to combine Reliance’s distribution and customer reach (Jio, Retail) with advanced models and cloud infrastructure. That means:
- Vertical AI suites for retail personalization and supply-chain optimization. Reliance Industries Limited
- Embedding large language models (LLMs) into customer touchpoints to automate support and localized experiences.
- Investing in data centers and local cloud/edge compute to run AI workloads faster and more privately.
Why this matters: Reliance can rapidly scale AI features to millions of users across sectors. Owning the AI delivery path reduces reliance on a single external vendor and enables tailored, local solutions.
Mahindra’s approach: enterprise-first, use-case oriented
Mahindra’s AI journey emphasizes industrial and enterprise outcomes:
- A corporate AI division coordinates pilots across manufacturing, agriculture, mobility and finance. cio.inc
- Tech Mahindra (the group’s IT arm) provides a Generative AI Studio and prebuilt use-cases to speed up deployment. Features include model experimentation, monitoring, and performance KPIs — essential for production-grade GenAI. Tech Mahindra+1
Takeaway: Mahindra’s strategy reduces time-to-value by providing pretested GenAI building blocks for business units.
Godrej: targeted GenAI to improve finance & manufacturing
Godrej has been piloting GenAI for customer engagement, credit risk, and manufacturing optimization:
- Godrej Capital uses GenAI to analyze customer interactions, giving agents real-time suggestions and improving decision-making for credit. PR Newswire+1
- Godrej & Boyce applies AI for shop-floor efficiency and predictive maintenance. Deloitte
Why targeted pilots work: Smaller, high-impact projects (e.g., risk scoring or predictive maintenance) prove ROI faster and build trust for broader rollout.
Business areas most impacted by GenAI (practical examples)
- Customer service: Auto-responses, summarization of calls, and agent-assist.
- Marketing & personalization: Hyper-personal product recommendations, localized ad copy.
- Operations: Inventory planning, demand forecasting, and supply chain anomaly detection.
- Product design: Generative design tools for faster prototyping in manufacturing.
- Finance: Automated report generation, fraud detection, and credit-risk models.
- HR & recruitment: Automated screening summaries and candidate matching.
Practical framework for enterprises thinking of investing in GenAI
Use this 5-step framework before heavy investment:
- Identify high-frequency, high-value workflows (e.g., credit approvals, support tickets).
- Pilot small and measurable: run a 3-month pilot with concrete KPIs (error rate, time saved).
- Data hygiene first: improve data quality, metadata, and labeling before model rollout.
- Select deployment model: cloud, hybrid, or edge based on latency & privacy needs.
- Govern & monitor: use explainability tools and continuous performance tracking.
Risks, governance, and ethics (must-haves for big groups)
Large firms must invest in governance:
- Bias & fairness checks for training data.
- Privacy & compliance (local data residency and sector rules).
- Explainability for regulated decisions (credit, hiring).
- Responsible rollout with human-in-the-loop for final decisions.
Measurable business impact (what companies can expect)
Based on industry estimates and early deployments:
- Efficiency gains: 20–50% time savings in knowledge work (varies by role). EY
- Customer experience: Faster resolution and personalization often drive higher NPS and reduced churn.
- Cost savings: Automating repetitive tasks reduces operational costs; intelligent scheduling and supply-chain AI reduce waste.
Concrete pilots with measurable KPIs are the fastest route to demonstrate ROI.
Actionable roadmap for SMBs and mid-sized firms
- Start with a clear use case (e.g., automated invoices, customer FAQ bot).
- Choose a managed solution (GenAI APIs, small platform vendors) instead of building from scratch.
- Protect data: anonymize PII before using public models.
- Measure & iterate: track accuracy, user satisfaction, and time saved.
- Scale responsibly after governance checks.
This approach balances speed and safety for smaller organizations.
Sources & further reading
- “India Inc’s GenAI gambit” — Economic Times. The Economic Times
- Reliance press materials about Reliance Intelligence and enterprise AI plans. Reliance Industries Limited
- Tech Mahindra press releases and Generative AI Studio documentation. Mahindra+1
- Godrej Capital GenAI announcements and case studies. PR Newswire+1
- EY report: How much productivity can GenAI unlock in India (AIDEA report). EY
If you want direct links or a list of these sources formatted for publication, I can generate clickable citations and an attribution block for your article.
To explore how autonomous AI is transforming the workplace, read more in our detailed guide on AI Agents and the Future of Work 2025 for insights, examples, and practical applications.
FAQs
Q1: What is Generative AI and why are companies investing in it?
A: GenAI creates content (text, images, code) from prompts. Companies invest because it speeds tasks, personalizes customer experiences, and automates knowledge work, delivering measurable productivity gains. EY
Q2: Which Indian conglomerates are leading GenAI investment?
A: Reliance, Mahindra Group (Tech Mahindra), Godrej (Godrej Capital & Godrej & Boyce) are publicly investing in GenAI programs and partnerships. Reliance Industries Limited+2Mahindra+2
Q3: How should a company start with GenAI safely?
A: Start small with a pilot, ensure data quality and privacy, use human oversight, monitor performance, and scale after proving ROI.
Q4: Will GenAI replace jobs?
A: GenAI will automate repetitive tasks but also create new roles (AI trainers, prompt engineers, model ops). The net impact depends on reskilling and organizational strategy.
Q5 Want to explore how Generative AI is transforming Indian businesses in real-time?
A: Read more insightful AI and business articles on our Medium page.
Author Bio
Bal Kishan — Founder of Zipaitech.com, specializing in AI and technology insight for businesses. Bal helps companies understand practical AI adoption, SEO for tech content, and building evidence-based AI strategies.