Indian MSMEs Lag in AI Adoption Despite Economic Contribution, Fynd Executive Explains Benefits

India’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), a critical engine contributing 30.1% of the nation’s GDP and 45.73% of its exports, are significantly underutilising Artificial Intelligence. This slow uptake places them behind global counterparts in China, Germany, and the US, with AI adoption in organised manufacturing in India under 25% and even lower for MSMEs.

Ragini Varma, Chief Business Officer at Fynd, an AI-native commerce platform, addressed this disparity at her “MSME Sparks 2026” masterclass. She highlighted that the primary reason for hesitation is a misunderstanding of AI’s true role. Varma clarified that AI is not merely generative models like ChatGPT but a powerful tool for autonomous operations, enabling businesses to work faster and more efficiently.

Bridging the Operational Gap

Varma pointed out common challenges faced by small business owners, such as manual stock checks, inconsistent pricing across channels, and repetitive customer service inquiries. These manual processes often lead to missed orders, pricing errors, and customer dissatisfaction. AI, she explained, can close these gaps by tracking inventory, pricing, and orders in real-time, flagging issues that require attention while still allowing human oversight and approval.

According to Varma, AI acts as a “second pair of eyes that never gets tired or distracted,” forming a loop where human involvement remains crucial. This approach frees up business owners from mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on strategic growth.

Key facts:

Metric	Value
MSME Contribution to India’s GDP	1%
MSME Contribution to India’s Exports	73%
AI Adoption in Organised Manufacturing (India)	Under 25%
Fynd’s Focus	AI-native commerce platform

AI Tools for Efficiency and Growth

Fynd’s platform offers various AI-powered solutions designed to streamline MSME operations. Fynd AI Studio and Fynd Generative Media can transform a single product photo into studio-quality images, model shots, and marketing videos from a simple prompt. For customer support, Fynd’s AI assistant, Kaylee, handles routine queries and identifies urgent complaints based on tone. These tools improve over time by learning from a business’s specific data.

Varma recommends starting with customer support, calling it “always the king,” as unhappy customers rarely return. Other tools address coordination problems, such as a single dashboard for managing stock, orders, and prices across websites, marketplaces, and physical stores. Fynd AI PIM simplifies product catalog creation, handling an estimated 80% of the “grunt work” to create marketplace-ready listings. Fynd Manage Logistics tackles the common MSME pain point of tracking orders across disparate systems by centralising inventory and fulfilment.

Strategic Adoption for MSMEs

Fynd also provides AI consulting to help MSMEs identify their specific needs and entry points for AI adoption. Varma cautioned against the “monkey see, monkey do” approach, where businesses invest in entire tool stacks without first diagnosing their core problems. She advises identifying a single bottleneck and choosing a cost-effective solution for that specific issue, rather than overhauling everything at once.

Varma positioned Fynd as a modular bridge between large corporations and small businesses, allowing sellers to start small and scale their AI tools as they grow. Her ultimate advice for MSME owners is to empower themselves with AI rather than letting it dictate their operations: “Either AI is going to dictate to you, or you are going to dictate AI. So be the latter.” This underscores the importance of strategic and informed AI integration for sustained business growth in India’s competitive landscape.

Source: YourStory – https://yourstory.com/2026/07/fynd-ragini-varma-ai-for-msmes-autonomous-retail-msme-sparks-2026