India is set to become one of the first countries to see the wider scale of voice AI, Mati Staniszewski, co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs, has said. The global AI leader is in India to attend the NDTV Ind.AI Summit 2026 on Wednesday in Delhi.
“Voice is often the most natural interface, especially in markets like India,” Staniszewski told The Economic Times in an interview. “It removes barriers and allows people to access services much more easily.”
“India is one of our strongest developer communities today,” he added. “Many of the most creative voice-first applications are emerging from Indian teams solving for scale and language diversity.”
Initially, enterprises used voice AI to reduce call centre costs and manage routine queries.
Voice agents are expected to play a larger role in commerce, functioning like digital assistants that recommend, explain, and guide customers in real time. Banks, e-commerce platforms, and healthcare providers are already using these AI agents for tasks ranging from loan inquiries to appointment scheduling.
ElevenLabs, a platform for voice AI that has raised $500 million at an $11 billion valuation, is among the earliest companies to make AI-generated speech sound natural and human.
The firm is now handling tens of thousands of support and outbound calls across Indian languages.
Staniszewski told Business Standard, “We've rolled out support for 11 Indian languages and are working toward covering 22 over the coming months. That expansion has been a key driver of the enterprise adoption we've seen in the last six months, because companies can now deploy across regions rather than being limited to one or two languages.”
India is already ElevenLabs' second-largest market and is fast becoming one of its biggest growth engines, as enterprises scale voice AI across customer service, sales, and operations.
Staniszewski said the technology is evolving from reactive support to “proactive AI agents” that will redefine industries such as e-commerce and banking.
ElevenLabs, last month, announced its India office and appointed Karthik Rajaram as head.
Over 1,000 Indian startups have joined ElevenLabs' global grants programme, making India one of its largest developer communities. Staniszewski said founders in fintech, healthcare, education, and ecommerce are increasingly building voice-first products to reach users beyond metro cities, where speech is often easier than typing.
Globally, ElevenLabs is investing in expanding language support, improving voice realism, and building tools to customise AI agents for different industries and interaction styles.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
