ToneTag launches AI-powered merchant banking platform

By Milan Rojan

ToneTag has launched eKosha, a voice-first business assistant designed to help banks deliver merchant banking services directly at the point of sale, enabling financial institutions to deepen engagement with India’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Kumar Abhishek, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ToneTag, said: “The merchant counter has always been at the centre of India’s commerce. With eKosha, we are reimagining it as the centre of merchant banking. For the first time, banks have a dedicated, always-on engagement channel embedded at the point where merchants conduct business every day, enabling access to banking services through simple, natural conversations in their own language.”

The platform has combined payments, banking services and artificial intelligence into a single device, transforming payment acceptance terminals into always-on banking touchpoints. Built for India’s more than 80 million MSMEs, eKosha has enabled banks to provide everyday banking services without requiring merchants to download applications or invest in additional infrastructure.

Powered by ToneTag’s proprietary analogue Edge AI technology, the solution has supported UPI, UPI 123Pay and CBDC payments while providing merchants with access to banking services, personalised lending, government schemes, business insights and customer support through natural voice interactions in local languages. By processing AI inference on the device rather than relying on cloud connectivity, the platform has delivered real-time voice interactions even in low-connectivity environments.

The company has said the platform creates a continuous engagement channel between banks and merchants, allowing financial institutions to strengthen customer relationships, generate richer merchant insights and support faster credit assessment and loan origination.

According to ToneTag, eKosha has also been designed to improve operational efficiency for banks. The company has estimated that the platform could reduce merchant servicing costs by up to 60%, double cross-selling opportunities per merchant and reduce merchant churn through continuous engagement.

The launch has reflected growing interest among financial institutions in deploying AI-powered, embedded banking capabilities to strengthen merchant relationships, improve service delivery and expand financial access for MSMEs through existing payment infrastructure.