You can’t yet summon a Jarvis or Pepper Potts to run your life. But you can have something close: An AI (artificial intelligence) assistant that picks up your phone calls and talks on your behalf—like telling a stranger you aren’t interested in a lottery win or that lucrative WFH option.
Over 60 percent of Indians receive three or more spam calls every day, according to a LocalCircles survey, among the highest in the world. And the problem shows no signs of slowing. For years, Indians have relied on Truecaller, a caller ID app that flags suspicious numbers. But as scams grow more sophisticated, more and more Indians have come to dread calls.
Now, a small but growing number of companies is trying to solve this problem with, what else but, AI.
Truecaller had rolled out Truecaller Assistant for paying subscribers in 2023, and another app, Phone AI, has been offering such a service in India since late last year, primarily targeting enterprise customers. Both are paid. On Tuesday, a new startup entered the field with a bolder pitch: It’s built in India, for India and its AI assistant is free.
Hyderabad-based Equal has announced the launch of Equal AI, which will roll out on October 2 with an early access programme for the first 10,000 Android users in Delhi-NCR.
“There are so many calls we get on a daily basis, and more often than not, there’s that one important call you don’t want to miss and so you end up answering all unknown numbers,” Keshav Reddy, founder of Equal AI, tells Forbes India.
“Equal AI is designed to solve this at scale. Equal AI takes the call for you. It listens, speaks, transcribes, and shares what’s happening live—so you decide if it’s worth your time. It’s like having your own personal secretary—giving back what matters to you most: Time,” says Reddy, the third-generation scion of the GVK family. The user can take over at any time.
How is Equal AI different from other services in the market? “The core differentiator is that it’s not just a caller ID or screener; it’s a fully conversational, AI-powered assistant designed for India. It speaks naturally in English, Hindi, and Hinglish, and dynamically manages interactions—whether giving delivery instructions, filtering spam, or clarifying intent,” says Reddy.
“Unlike global screeners, Equal AI understands Indian names, accents, and contexts. For example, global screeners can't pronounce HDFC Bank or an Indian name like Krishna correctly, but Equal AI can. It uses 15 mini AI agents per call to interpret whether it’s delivery, loan, real estate, or fraud, and respond accordingly."
On data privacy, Reddy says that since the app only answers unknown numbers, there are no concerns. “All user data is stored securely within the country, ensuring sovereignty and giving users full control over their information.”
The company plans to extend its offerings and move to a freemium model later, but for now its goal is scale—capturing a slice of a market with nearly 1 billion smartphone users. It is targeting 1 million daily active users by mid-2026.
Another such app is Mitra, developed by Sai Mandava, a former AI researcher at Berkeley. Though Mitra—which can answer calls in most popular languages, including Hindi—is currently available only in the US, Canada, Australia, South America and Europe, Mandava is eyeing India. “We have plans to launch in India but it’s been a bit tough since India’s telecom regulations don’t currently allow Mitra to function as intended with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and related services. We’re actively looking at different avenues to bring Mitra to India,” the Indian-origin founder tells Forbes India.
Queries sent to Truecaller remained unanswered.
Spidex AI, dual headquartered in the US and India, launched Phone AI to primarily help businesses. While it was conceptualised in California, the app was developed in India, says a spokesperson.
The opportunity is clear. What remains to be seen is whether consumers will trust an AI with their phone. For now, startups like Equal AI are betting that in a country where the phone might buzz twenty times a day, an AI assistant may feel less like science fiction and more like relief.
First Published: Sep 30, 2025, 13:20
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