AI Agents Automate Payments, Boost Merchant Revenue

Fintech firm Cashfree Payments has introduced AI agents designed to automate payment operations for merchants. The AI agent, named Relay, is set to assist with tasks such as retrying failed payments, addressing abandoned carts, confirming cash-on-delivery orders, managing subscriptions, and filing disputes. This initiative targets the recovery of ₹20,000 crore in lost gross merchandise value by proactively engaging customers who might abandon a transaction.

Cashfree claims this AI solution can reduce the operational burden on small and medium businesses, potentially decreasing weekly payment operation time from approximately 60 hours to just 45 minutes. The company emphasizes that merchant transaction data remains on its own infrastructure and is not shared with external AI providers. This advancement also presents a significant new revenue stream for fintech companies operating within competitive payment processing margins.

Initially offered for free, Cashfree plans to implement outcome-based pricing in the future, linking costs to metrics like converted carts and resolved disputes. This development follows similar AI advancements in the sector, with competitors like Razorpay having previously launched AI models to enhance payment success rates and fraud detection.