Billions of dollars have not helped Indian e-tailers figure out AI and big data

Indian e-commerce companies are still novices when it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mining big data. Nevertheless, they are still betting big on AI, which they think could be the magic bullet that will help them offer tailored shopping experiences. In 2017, homegrown e-commerce firm Flipkart announced the launch of an initiative called AI for India, wherein the company would develop solutions for issues like deciphering complex addresses and catching address fraud. Flipkart-owned fashion brand Myntra runs two AI-powered brands, Moda Rapido, and Here and Now. Delhi-based Paytm's homepage is personalised and reordered differently for each of its 225 million users, and the platform makes 20,000 recommendations per second--each of them in under 20 milliseconds.