PayU launches Agent HQ, an AI-driven platform enabling Indian SMEs to automate operations and enhance online discoverability, amid a shifting AI landscape in digital shopping.
PayU has launched Agent HQ, an AI agent store aimed at Indian small and medium-sized merchants as the fintech group looks to help businesses adapt to a shift in how customers search, discover and buy. The platform is designed to let merchants deploy different AI agents for different parts of commerce, from improving discoverability on AI-driven services to handling payments work and customer queries. PayU said the system is intended to give smaller sellers a way to compete as artificial intelligence increasingly shapes online shopping. According to the company, the product sits on top of data accumulated across more than 4.5 lakh merchants, over 700 million shoppers and Rs. 7,800 billion in transaction volume.
The launch reflects a wider pitch being made across the digital commerce sector: that merchants need tools built for a search environment increasingly influenced by AI assistants. Industry reports cited by PayU suggest that roughly half of search traffic is moving towards AI agents and that shoppers referred by AI can convert at up to three times the rate of ordinary traffic. PayU is using those claims to argue that smaller merchants need a more direct route into AI-led discovery, rather than having to assemble separate tools and integrations on their own.
Manas Mishra, chief product officer at PayU and Wibmo, said the company wants to extend its role beyond payments and help merchants manage the operational side of their businesses more efficiently. He said Agent HQ is meant to support tasks such as chargebacks, reconciliations, refunds and settlements, while also helping businesses focus on growth. The company describes the product as a no-code, zero-integration system built into the merchant dashboard, allowing users to activate agents in a few clicks and monitor them through the same interface, with outputs delivered by email or WhatsApp.
PayU said the platform can be used in two main ways: to build an AI-ready growth engine or to automate routine operations, or both. It said merchants can make products and services visible on AI platforms such as Claude and ChatGPT, as well as on channels including WhatsApp, while also creating conversational assistants for websites and apps. The company said early users already include Policybazaar, Daily Objects and Pinq Polka, suggesting that it is positioning Agent HQ as a broader commerce tool rather than a payments add-on.
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