As AI reshapes how consumers discover and buy, businesses, particularly SMBs, need to remain relevant in the emerging commerce landscape. Industry reports suggest that about 50% of search traffic is shifting to AI agents, with AI-referred shoppers converting up to three times better.(1) PayU said Agent HQ was designed to provide merchants with a level playing field in this new commerce environment.
Agent HQ is built on more than a decade of commerce intelligence generated across a platform that powers 4.5 lakh+ merchants and 700+ million shoppers’ journeys and has processed Rs. 7,800 billion in transaction volume.
“As a merchant aggregator, PayU has been supporting merchants not just to collect payments but to grow their businesses through its value-added solutions. PayU Agent HQ builds on that foundation and expands on our value-added offerings for SMB merchants. By putting a personalized team of AI agents to work across the business - from improving discoverability and driving growth to managing chargebacks, reconciliations, refunds, settlements, etc. - we want to put control back in merchants' hands, enabling them to focus on their growth. Agent HQ is one of our biggest bets in that direction,” said Manas Mishra, Chief Product Officer, PayU & Wibmo.
PayU Agent HQ brings together a suite of AI agents aimed at helping merchants achieve two outcomes depending on their requirements: building an AI-ready growth engine, running the business efficiently, or both.
For building an AI-ready growth engine, PayU merchants can make their products, services and businesses discoverable and transactable on AI platforms such as Claude and ChatGPT, as well as channels such as WhatsApp, through Agent HQ. Merchants can also custom-create conversational AI assistants that work across their websites, apps and customer journeys, providing real-time assistance to shoppers and responding to post-purchase queries.
For running the business efficiently, Agent HQ offers AI agents that merchants can select to automate complex operational tasks, including transaction follow-ups, chargeback reconciliations, refund escalations and settlements. Drawing on merchant transaction data, including payment success and failure patterns, chargeback histories, settlement cycles and shopper behaviour, these agents can also act as growth enablers and suggest targeted campaigns across sales, marketing and other functions.
PayU said this can help merchants manage fraud and disputes more proactively, reduce operational effort and protect revenue.
Unlike standalone tools that require merchants to connect data sources, configure workflows or build integrations, PayU’s Agent HQ is a no-code AI agent storefront built into the PayU merchant dashboard. Merchants can hire an AI agent in a few clicks, select how frequently it runs and monitor its activity through the dashboard, while receiving outputs through email and WhatsApp.
No agent acts beyond the boundaries and limits defined by merchants, according to PayU.
Agent HQ represents PayU’s approach to building practical, outcome-oriented AI experiences for merchants across the full commerce journey, rather than payments alone. Policybazaar, Daily Objects, Pinq Polka and many more PayU merchants are already on Agent HQ, leveraging AI agents to drive their commerce story.
PayU, India’s leading diversified fintech platform with Prosus as an investor, operates businesses that are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and offers advanced solutions to meet the digital financial services needs of customers, including merchants, banks and consumers. PayU provides payment gateway solutions to online businesses through its cutting-edge and award-winning technology and has empowered 4.5 lakhs+ businesses, including India’s leading enterprises, e-commerce giants and SMBs.
The company enables businesses to collect digital payments across 100+ online payment methods, including Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Net Banking, EMIs, pay-later, QR, UPI, Wallets and more. It is a preferred partner in the affordability ecosystem, offering the maximum coverage of issuers and easy-to-implement integrations across card-based EMIs, pay-later options and new-age cardless EMIs. PayU offers e-commerce brands best-in-industry success rates while ensuring a seamless checkout experience.
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