MUMBAI – In the latest episode of All About AI, industry leaders from Salesforce declared that the era of digital experimentation is over, making way for a rapid shift toward the “Agentic-First” enterprise. The panel, featuring Arun Parameswaran (SVP & MD, Salesforce India), Ignasi Peral (EVP & COO, Global Sales), and Deepu Chhahira (VP, Solution Engineering), highlighted India’s unique position to lead this global wave of autonomous AI.
The Shift from Digital to Agentic
Ignasi Peral noted that while previous digital transformations took a decade to mature, the transition to agentic systems—AI that can reason, decide, and act independently—is moving ten times faster. “The future is no longer a distant concept; it is happening now,” Peral stated. He emphasized that we may be the last generation to work exclusively with humans, as digital agents become deeply integrated into business data and processes.
Why India is the “Fertile Ground”
The panel identified India as a uniquely advantaged market due to its robust public digital infrastructure, including Aadhaar and DigiYatra. Arun Parameswaran pointed out that India “skipped the laptop generation,” moving straight to mobile, which has created a massive repository of behavioral and engagement data.
Deepu Chhahira highlighted that India’s massive scale—driven by billions of transactions—allows for finer-tuned AI models compared to generic global alternatives. Furthermore, the favorable cost economics in India enable companies to iterate and experiment at a speed and volume rarely seen elsewhere .
From Boardroom Pilots to Production
The conversation in corporate boardrooms has shifted from “What is an agent?” to “How fast can we partner to go live?”. Key non-negotiables for this transition include high-quality data with context, ironclad security for B2B trust, and comprehensive change management to help employees adapt to their new “digital peers”.
The Path Ahead
When asked about the biggest barriers, the experts cited mindset and data quality. However, the opportunities remain vast. Chhahira expressed particular excitement for agentic AI’s potential in Indian languages via voice technology [16:17], while Parameswaran noted that AI assistants could level the playing field for India’s young workforce, allowing newcomers to perform with the proficiency of seasoned veterans from day one [16:54].
As India moves from the “pilot era” into full-scale execution, the message to enterprises is clear: the infrastructure is ready, and the competitive advantage will go to those who move with speed
