The next wave of consumer disruption in India will be defined as much by Artificial Intelligence as by a renewed focus on trust, hyperlocal execution and real-world outcomes, founders and industry leaders said at the Fortune India Startup Summit. 

Speaking in a session moderated by Ajita Shashidhar, National Editor, Fortune India, Siddharth Nihalani, co-founder of Practo, underscored how data and AI are transforming consumer decision-making in healthcare. “How consumers discover the right provider for their use case is what we have been trying to change,” he said, adding that the platform has built 30–40 million data points, backed by physical verification through on-ground surveys. “AI agents are now making this data far more accessible.”

Nihalani stressed that trust in healthcare cannot be bought through discounts. “There is no way to subsidise your way to trust here. It comes from consistently delivering better medical outcomes,” he said, pointing to Covid-19 as a key inflection point that accelerated digital consultations and reshaped adoption curves.

Saumyajit Roy, co-founder and CEO of Emoha Elder Care, highlighted a similar trust-deficit challenge in senior care, where nearly 99% of India’s 140 million elderly prefer ageing at home. “We had to reinvent trust through what we call the ‘Emoha daughter’—a care coordinator digitally connected to a group of elders,” he said. Roy added that while elder care may be less disrupted by AI, it stands to benefit significantly from AI-led enablement, including predictive healthcare insights and AI companions. “Digital and physical have to coexist. Without hyperlocal reach, you cannot build trust,” he said.

For Shashi Kumar, founder and CEO of Akshayakalpa Organic, the shift in consumer behaviour is equally pronounced in the food and agriculture space. “Consumers today are asking deeper questions about what they consume, especially when it concerns their families,” he said. Kumar emphasised that consistent delivery on promises is now the bedrock of brand loyalty. “The days of competing purely on price are fading—trust and execution are what set you apart.”

Rishav Jain, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, pointed to a structural shift driven by the convergence of supply and demand. “There is a confluence of supply-side and demand-side factors playing out. In many cases, supply is creating demand—no one knew they needed 10-minute delivery until it existed,” he said. According to Jain, hyperlocal, tech-enabled supply chains are reshaping availability, while increasingly informed consumers are driving higher expectations, resulting in a more aware, digital-first market.

As India’s startup ecosystem matures, the conversation is moving beyond growth-at-all-costs to building durable businesses. The consensus: AI may be the enabler, but trust, execution, and proximity to the consumer will ultimately determine who wins.