Global trade isn’t just about shipping goods between ports anymore—it’s about steering through volatile tariffs, regulatory compliance, and disruptions that can upend entire industries. We spoke with Nagendra Bandaru, President, Technology Services at Wipro, about how AI—especially “agentic AI”—is helping companies make order from chaos: turning complexity into strategy, fortifying supply chains, and accelerating decisions like never before.
How do you see AI evolving alongside global trade policy—serving as a tool for data-driven decision making without supplanting the roles of regulators and policymakers?
Artificial intelligence can bring precision, speed, and strong analytical power to the table in trade policy contexts. For example, with tariffs and trade flows, AI systems can analyze huge datasets—compliance rules, historical flows, regulatory changes—to spot patterns, run simulations, and flag potential chokepoints. Then policymakers can use those insights to make informed, timely, context-aware choices.
At Wipro, we view AI as an accelerator for evidence-based policy implementation. The aim is to strengthen regulatory systems, while keeping human judgment, diplomacy, and oversight central to trade policy decisions.
What major trends are you seeing in how industries are using AI for global trade and supply chain management?
- Industries are increasingly deploying agentic AI: autonomous agents that don’t just analyze but adapt—responding to shifting tariffs, logistics challenges, demand swings.
- There’s a movement toward hybrid infrastructures: combining cloud, local datacenters, strong data platforms plus AI capabilities. This supports both agility and regulatory compliance.
- The strategic orientation is shifting: companies aren’t only aiming for cost-cutting. They’re using AI to de-risk operations, anticipate geopolitical or regulatory shocks, ensure continuity in unstable environments.
- Also, ethical, sovereign, and responsible AI is rising as a theme—organizations want tools that are transparent, secure, and that preserve data sovereignty. Wipro’s recent announcements relating to sovereign AI and AI accelerators, in partnership with NVIDIA, reflect this.
