Maruti Suzuki partners Sarvam AI, four startups to automate business operations
The automaker will deploy AI across procurement, customer engagement, software development, branding and battery recycling through startups selected from its incubation programme.
Maruti Suzuki India has partnered with five startups, including Sarvam AI, to develop AI, automation and sustainability solutions across its business operations.
The partnerships aim to improve operational efficiency, customer engagement and sustainability by deploying technologies across procurement, software development, brand management and battery recycling.
The five startups include MiniMines, Easework AI, Sarvam AI, Siftly and CodeMate AI, and were selected from the fifth cohort of the Maruti Suzuki Incubation Program (MSIP). Each startup will work with Maruti Suzuki teams to address specific business challenges and deploy practical technology solutions.
Among the selected startups, Sarvam AI will develop multilingual generative AI agents to improve customer interactions across Maruti Suzuki’s customer touchpoints.
The deployment will help strengthen customer engagement by enabling AI-powered conversations in multiple Indian languages.
Easework AI will implement agentic AI to automate end-to-end procurement workflows for indirect consumables, reducing manual processes and improving operational efficiency.
The project reflects the growing adoption of AI agents for enterprise workflows beyond customer-facing applications.
CodeMate AI will focus on accelerating the development of software applications used across Maruti Suzuki’s business processes, helping development teams build and deploy applications faster.
Siftly will use generative AI to improve brand visibility, extending the company’s use of AI beyond internal operations and customer engagement.
Sustainability remains part of the technology strategy
Alongside AI initiatives, Maruti Suzuki is also using startups to address sustainability challenges.
MiniMines will develop environmentally friendly processes for recycling end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and recovering valuable materials from them.
The initiative supports the company’s efforts to build sustainable battery lifecycle management as electric vehicle adoption continues to grow.
According to Maruti Suzuki, the selected startups will jointly develop practical technology solutions that can be deployed across different business functions.
The five startups are part of the latest cohort of Maruti Suzuki’s incubation programme, which supports early-stage startups through mentorship, incubation and access to business opportunities.
The programme is conducted in partnership with NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore.
Commenting on the partnerships, Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, said the company continues to work closely with startups to co-create practical solutions for real business challenges.
He added that MiniMines will support the company’s battery recycling initiatives, while the other four startups will help improve customer engagement and operational efficiency across the business.
Over 7,400 startups screened since 2019
Maruti Suzuki has steadily expanded its startup engagement over the past seven years.
Since 2019, the company has screened around 7,400 startups, engaged with more than 250, and onboarded 38 as business partners.
Beyond the incubation programme, Maruti Suzuki operates multiple startup initiatives covering different stages of innovation.
These include the Maruti Suzuki Accelerator for growth-stage startups, the Mobility Challenge for mature mobility innovations, the Nurture programme for idea-stage startups in partnership with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, and FundRays, launched in partnership with ISB Hyderabad to improve investment readiness for programme alumni.
With the latest partnerships, Maruti Suzuki is expanding the use of AI and automation across core business operations while continuing to use its startup ecosystem to develop enterprise technology solutions for procurement, customer engagement, software development and sustainability.
