Digital payments companies in India are privately building rails for artificial intelligence agents to enable autonomous shopping and transacting, but digital commerce platforms remain reluctant to open their systems to AI agents. According to reports from Business Standard, fully autonomous commerce from discovery to checkout is estimated to be at least two to three years away, with payments executives expressing frustration that commerce platforms are not showing urgency to adopt agentic commerce. As reported by industry executives, payments companies are discussing agentic commerce solutions while commerce platforms are not actively promoting agentic use cases, with marketplaces not positioning their inventories as agentic-first. The reluctance among digital commerce platforms stems from AI agents' inherent disintermediation of traditional business models, as these agents can complete shopping tasks in minutes that human shoppers might spend hours on, potentially reducing the need for users to visit commerce platforms entirely.
The reluctance among digital commerce platforms stems from AI agents' inherent disintermediation of traditional business models. According to senior fintech industry executives cited by Business Standard, AI agents bypass recommendation engines and discovery algorithms that platforms have invested years and substantial capital in building. These agents can complete shopping tasks in minutes that human shoppers might spend hours on, potentially reducing the need for users to visit commerce platforms entirely. The agents can also monitor prices continuously and initiate purchases at optimal times, directly impacting platform margins and revenue streams. As reported by industry executives, the reluctance to go truly agent-first is not accidental, as AI agents are disintermediating by design and platforms are concerned about losing control over their core business models.
AI agents are evolving from simple assistants to decision-makers that compress entire shopping journeys into single conversations. According to Business Standard, instead of spending thirty minutes comparing smartphones, a consumer could instruct an AI assistant to find the best device within a certain budget, prioritize battery life and camera performance, wait for a discount, and complete the purchase once the price falls below a specified threshold. Google has outlined this direction through its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), Agentic Payments Protocol (AP2) and Universal Cart, which together allow AI agents to discover products, monitor prices and complete purchases across retailers while keeping the merchant as the seller of record. OpenAI has expanded shopping capabilities inside ChatGPT, while Amazon continues integrating AI deeper into its shopping experience, gradually becoming shopping intermediaries rather than merely answering product questions.
Agentic AI fundamentally changes who controls product visibility and purchasing decisions. According to Business Standard, instead of consumers scrolling through dozens of listings, AI agents may evaluate thousands of products in seconds before presenting only a handful of recommendations. IDC argues this effectively replaces emotional and brand-driven purchasing with algorithmic decision making focused on measurable factors such as price, availability, delivery time and product specifications, creating the risk of reducing shopping into a race to the lowest price and placing further pressure on retail margins. The report notes that merchants risk losing direct engagement with customers as AI becomes the primary interface, potentially continuing to fulfill orders while gradually losing influence over consumer choice.
Consumer adoption of AI shopping agents remains in early stages, with 84.7% of consumers willing to use digital assistants or chatbots while shopping according to IDC's 2026 Worldwide Retail Consumer Sentiment Study, yet only 30.7% currently use AI tools such as ChatGPT to discover or research products. Earlier this year, Sensor Tower found that AI-generated referrals have started appearing as measurable sources of website traffic, with shopping emerging as the largest category receiving AI-driven referrals globally. However, AI traffic currently accounts for less than one percent of overall web traffic in most markets, indicating the shift remains in early stages. This aligns with industry executives who note that consumers appear comfortable experimenting with AI during product discovery but remain more cautious about allowing AI to complete transactions on their behalf.
