PayU introduces voice AI assistant to improve merchant experience

By Parth Prabhudesai

PayU has launched an AI-Powered Outbound Voice Call Assistant, marking a significant step in its strategy to become an AI-native organisation across the merchant lifecycle.

The newly introduced solution is designed to address long-standing challenges in merchant onboarding, which is often complex and time-consuming due to extensive documentation, Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, and multiple activation steps. These challenges frequently lead to delays and high drop-off rates among potential merchants.

PayU’s Voice AI assistant proactively engages merchant leads—particularly those who have not yet begun the onboarding process—through natural, conversational interactions in English and Hindi. The assistant helps guide merchants step-by-step while collecting key business details such as website information, expected revenue, and business category.

This approach enables faster verification, improves lead qualification, and ensures timely intervention by human account managers when required, creating a more efficient and seamless onboarding experience.

“We’re entering an era where Voice AI is becoming a core driver of how businesses operate and grow,” said Manas Mishra, Chief Product Officer at PayU. “At PayU, we are steadily building an AI-native platform where merchants remain at the center of every innovation. Our AI-Powered Outbound Voice Call Assistant is one example of how we are removing friction across the merchant lifecycle, from onboarding to activation and beyond, while enabling our teams to focus on deeper, high-impact engagement.”

The company plans to expand the use of Voice AI across additional merchant touchpoints, including KYC drop-off recovery, activation workflows, new product requests, and cross-sell opportunities. It also aims to scale the solution across multiple languages to better serve a diverse merchant base.

Backed by Prosus, PayU currently supports over 450,000 businesses, offering payment gateway solutions across more than 100 digital payment methods, including cards, net banking, UPI, wallets, and buy-now-pay-later options.