- Voice AI companies have been competing to make the cheapest AI phone call
- But now, one overeager campaigner can get your entire pool of customers blacklisted across carriers
- Trai is borrowing from an old playbook, but some businesses may stay unscathed
- Yet, in India, human labour remains cheaper than AI
Saloni, 26, works at a call centre in Delhi that serves ride-hailing companies. She currently onboards new drivers, verifies their documents, and familiarises them with the companies’ code of conduct.
Until recently, she also handled calls from disgruntled Uber, Rapido, and Ola customers, a function now mostly relegatedEconomic Times Uber cuts 10% customer service jobs as AI becomes latest driver of tech layoffs to voice-AI bots. For a few weeks, Saloni was even the human in the loop, stepping in when the bot couldn’t resolve a customer’s problem.
“By the time the voice bot transferred a call to me [over a refund or lost belongings, for instance], the customer was already so frustrated that they would just start screaming,” Saloni said.
Voice-AI bots have increasingly become the first line of defence for customer complaints, while access to a human agent is being recast as a premium, paid perk.For instance, Flipkart’s Black, Swiggy’s One BLCK and Zomato’s VIP Mode–either requiring subscriptions or additional payments–promise priority support and direct access to human agents
Gnani.ai, Corover, Skit, Bolna, Haptik, Navana, Ringg AI, among countless others, are making it easier for businesses to automate customer calls, replacing human agents with bots that can handle thousands of conversations at a fraction of the cost.
This has also attracted significant investor interest. Indian voice-AI companies have raised nearly $450 million, a bump driven by Sarvam AI, long dubbed the country’s sovereign AI company, which alone has bagged over $350 million, according to data shared by Tracxn. Even London-based voice-AI company Elevenlabs plansReutersAI firm ElevenLabs to invest 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in India to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” in India.
But new rules on application-to-person (A2P) communication introduced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) last month could mess up voice-AI companies’ fragile unit economics.
Credits

Gnani, Eleven Labs’ cheap, human-like calls face a regulatory test
Sakshi Sadashiv
Know someone who'd appreciate this read?
Share this story with them.
This story is only available to subscribers of The Ken.
Already a subscriber? Log in
The only business subscription you need
Unrivaled analysis and powerful stories about businesses from award-winning journalists.
Read by 5,00,000+ subscribers globally who want to be prepared for what comes next.
-
MOST POPULAR
Only Free
+ Premium Podcasts
Only Free Podcasts
Access to podcasts covering the hottest business and startup trends in India
Only Free Podcasts
Access to podcasts covering the hottest business and startup trends in India
Partner Account Access
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Gift a 1 Year Subscription for Free
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
App Access
iPad App Access
Priority Access
To new product offerings, features, community features, and events
Daily Long-form
Stories
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Only Subscriber
+ Premium
Newsletters
Only Subscriber Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Only Subscriber Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Visual Stories
Only Free
+ Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Covering the most interesting workplaces, career and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Covering the most interesting workplaces, career and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
2 Years
Archive access to the last two years of stories
2
Simultaneous browser sessions
+
1
Android/iOS App
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Partner Account Access
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Gift a 1 Year Subscription for Free
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
App Access
iPad App Access
Priority Access
To new product offerings, features, community features, and events
Daily Long-form
Stories
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Visual Stories
Visual stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Visual stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, career, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, career, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Unlimited
Access to all The Ken's Archives
2
Simultaneous browser sessions
+
2
Android/iOS App + iPad App
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Partner Account Access
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Gift a 1 Year Subscription for Free
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
App Access
iPad App Access
Priority Access
To new product offerings, features, community features, and events
Daily Long-form
Stories
Daily Long-form stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Daily Long-form stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Visual Stories
Visual Stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Visual Stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, careers, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, careers, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Unlimited
Access to all The Ken's Archives
2 + 2
Simultaneous browser sessions
+
2 + 2
Android/iOS App + iPad App
Not ready to subscribe? Sign up for a free account.
Get complete access to select stories, free newsletters and podcasts.
Sign up for free Learn more
OR
Trusted by 5,00,000+ executives and leaders from the world’s most successful organisations and students at top post-graduate campuses
Sharp, Original, Insightful, Analytical, Handcrafted
Unrivaled analysis and powerful stories about businesses in India and abroad from award-winning journalists. Includes access to long-form articles, premium newsletters, and our top-ranked podcasts.
Coverage across Sectors, Companies, and Geographies
Decode the most significant shifts in business, technology, startups, and healthcare. All told through a combination of original reporting, beautifully visualised data, and compelling narratives.
Made even better by a 5,00,000+ community
Our subscribers include leaders from the world’s most successful companies, students at top post-graduate campuses, and smart, curious people who want to understand how business is shaping the future.
FAQs
We have three subscription plans - Basic, Premium, and Premium Duo.
- The Basic plan only gives you access to daily long-form stories, subscriber newsletters, free podcasts, and archive access for the previous two years. You won’t get our premium newsletters, premium podcasts, visual stories, and the iPad app.
- The Premium plan gives you complete access to all of The Ken’s products and features.
- The Premium Duo plan gives you complete access to The Ken for two independent accounts.
We publish sharp, original, deeply reported long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly listed tech and consumer companies. Our stories are forward-looking, analytical, and directional—supported by data, visualisations, and infographics. We use language and narrative that is accessible to even lay readers. And we optimise for quality over quantity, every single time.
Our specialised subscriber-only newsletters are written by our expert, award-winning journalists and cover a range of topics across finance, retail, clean energy, and edtech, alongside weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Yes, you can upgrade to a higher plan while your current subscription is still active. Our system will automatically give you a discount against the remainder of your current subscription.
You will get a discount equivalent to the time remaining in your current subscription.
Yes, we do have corporate subscriptions, corporate gift subscriptions, and campus plans for larger groups that wish to read The Ken together. Write to us at [email protected] and we'll help you with that.
Yes. You will have to upload a valid student ID card during checkout to avail the 50% discount. You can purchase a student subscription here.
We do not allow downloading and distribution of our stories. The Ken is a digital subscription-based product and only those with an active subscription will have access to the stories, either on our app or the website.
We allow three simultaneous logins per subscription for the Basic plan: two on the web and one on The Ken app on mobile.
We allow four simultaneous logins per subscription for the Premium and Premium Duo plans: two on the web, one on The Ken app on mobile, and one on the app on an Android tablet or iPad.
These are counted per platform and not pooled together. So signing in on a third browser will log out your earliest browser session, and the same applies to each app.
We do not offer any cancellations or refunds. If you are facing any issues with your subscription, you can write to us at [email protected].
No
Sorry, no. Our journalism is funded completely by our subscribers. We believe that quality journalism comes at a price, and readers trust and pay us so that we can remain independent.
Looking for Group Subscriptions?
