The company has onboarded five startups selected as winners of the fifth cohort of the Maruti Suzuki Incubation Program (MSIP), run in partnership with NSRCEL, the startup incubator at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
Since launching its innovation programmes seven years ago, Maruti Suzuki says it has screened around 7,400 startups, engaged with more than 250 and onboarded 38 as business partners.
This time, the chosen companies are Sarvam AI, Easework AI, Siftly, and Codemate AI and MiniMines.
Four of the five startups are focused on AI, reflecting Maruti Suzuki’s efforts to automate internal operations, improve customer interactions and accelerate software development.
The fifth, MiniMines, points to another emerging priority: building capabilities around the lifecycle of EV batteries as the company expands its electric vehicle portfolio.
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Each startup addresses a specific operational need, with the four AI-focused companies helping automate business processes, improve customer engagement and strengthen software development.
Sarvam AI develops multilingual large language models and voice AI systems designed for Indian languages. As part of the collaboration, Maruti Suzuki plans to use the startup’s GenAI agents to improve customer interactions across digital and physical touchpoints.
Easework AI develops agentic AI solutions for enterprise workflow automation. Maruti Suzuki plans to use the technology to automate procurement-related workflows for indirect consumables.
Siftly develops Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) tools that help brands improve their visibility on AI-powered search platforms such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. The collaboration aims to strengthen Maruti Suzuki’s brand visibility on AI-driven search and recommendation platforms.
CodeMate AI builds AI-powered coding assistants that help software teams generate, review and debug code more efficiently. Maruti Suzuki intends to use the technology to speed up the development of software applications used in its business processes.
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MiniMines, the sole EV sustainability focused startup in the cohort, extracts precious metals from used batteries helping Maruti Suzuki manage the environmental impact of EV waste while potentially recovering raw materials for reuse in its supply chain.
“MiniMines, will support us in safely recycling end-of-life batteries, while the other four startups will help improve customer engagement and drive efficiency across our business operations,” said Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India.
Together, the five startups offer a snapshot of where Maruti Suzuki is directing its technology investments—from using AI to automate internal operations and improve customer interactions to preparing for the long-term challenge of managing end-of-life EV batteries.
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