Published on 28 May 2025
min read
We are standing at the edge of an intelligence revolution — one where machines no longer just respond to commands, but reason, act, and evolve.
This is the world of Agentic AI, where intelligent systems that can proactively make decisions, adapt to change, and drive outcomes without human intervention.
At L&T Technology Services (LTTS), we believe this is not just the next step in AI but a massive leap since automation began. And it’s not theoretical. Across industries, from mobility to healthcare, we are embedding this intelligence into the physical world through engineering R&D (ER&D), where software meets hardware, and decisions turn into action.
As the CEO of an engineering powerhouse, I see Agentic AI not just as a tech trend, but as a strategic imperative for every enterprise building intelligent, resilient, and autonomous systems for tomorrow.
According to Gartner, by 2028, one in three enterprise software applications will incorporate agentic AI, up from less than 1% today. These systems will drive 15% of all day-to-day work decisions autonomously.
At the same time, NASSCOM projects that global ER&D spending will soar to $2.5–3.3 trillion by 2030 — and India's ER&D exports will triple, growing from ~$45 billion today to as much as $170 billion.
This convergence of AI and engineering is defining the future — and India, led by companies like LTTS, is poised to be at the heart of it.
From Automation to Agency
The AI journey began with machines that followed rules. We then moved into the era of predictive analytics and machine learning — where systems learned from data. But Agentic AI represents a new threshold: these systems don’t wait for instructions. They interpret dynamic environments, set internal goals, make real-time decisions, and learn from their consequences.
The implications are profound, especially in industries where intelligence must be embedded into the physical infrastructure, from vehicles and energy grids to manufacturing plants and medical devices.
This is where ER&D becomes essential. At LTTS, we are not just witnessing the agentic revolution — we are engineering it from the ground up.
Where Agentic AI Is Already Changing the Game
Mobility: From ADAS to Autonomous Intelligence
Today’s electric and software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are already complex digital ecosystems. With Agentic AI, we go further — enabling vehicles to learn driver behaviours, adjust energy usage in real time, self-diagnose faults, and communicate proactively with service infrastructure.
LTTS is at the forefront of this evolution. We are working with global OEMs and Tier-1s to design AI-enabled ECUs, V2X platforms, and dynamic simulation environments that are the foundation of agentic behaviour on the road.
Smart Manufacturing: Building Factories That Think
In the factory of the future, machines will not wait for manual calibration. They will decide which production tasks to prioritize, when to self-heal, and how to optimize energy and throughput.
We are deploying multi-agent systems across our industrial clients’ operations — integrating IoT, AI, and control systems to deliver cognitive manufacturing environments. These factories can now adapt to real-world shocks, demand variability, and even supply-side uncertainty — all without halting production.
Healthcare: Agents That Augment Life-Saving Decisions
In healthcare, intelligent agents are improving patient outcomes. Think of a wearable that doesn’t just monitor vitals but adjusts therapy based on predictive markers — or surgical robots that learn and assist in real time.
We’ve helped clients develop AI-powered medical devices that dynamically adapt treatment protocols and offer decision support to clinicians. In this domain, engineering excellence is non-negotiable — the systems must be safe, compliant, real-time, and trusted.
Why ER&D Is the Enabler of the Agentic Era
To turn intelligent software into physical outcomes, you need end-to-end systems thinking — not just algorithms, but deep product knowledge, edge processing, embedded software, real-time control, and seamless cloud integration.
That’s the strength ER&D brings to the table. At LTTS, we’re:
Developing IP-driven platforms for AI at the edge — from autonomous drones to smart meters
Co-creating solutions with hyperscalers and semiconductor leaders to bring intelligence into silicon
Building modular, scalable AI architectures that span concept to deployment across verticals
Agentic AI is not plug-and-play. It must be engineered — securely, sustainably, and at scale. This is exactly what ER&D enables.
Building Responsible Agentic Systems
With power comes responsibility. Agentic systems must not just be intelligent — they must be safe, ethical, and explainable. At LTTS, we embed responsible AI principles into every project:
Explainability: We ensure decisions made by agents can be audited and understood.
Security: Our systems are resilient against cyber threats, especially in safety-critical sectors.
Bounded autonomy: We define limits for agents to ensure compliance and override capability.
Human-centric design: We design agents to augment humans, not replace them — keeping human-in-the-loop for all mission-critical applications.
As engineers, we know that trust is built not by speed, but by rigor, repeatability, and reliability.
The Road Ahead: AI as a Co-Pilot for Engineering
Looking forward, we envision Agentic AI not as a replacement for engineers, but as their co-pilot — helping them design better, simulate faster, and make bolder decisions.
In the future:
Product design cycles will shorten from months to days.
Maintenance will shift from reactive to self-managed.
Engineering will move from deterministic models to learning systems that evolve over time.
Agentic AI will be central to all of this — and LTTS will be leading the charge, combining engineering depth with AI-native thinking.
LTTS' $3 Billion Vision — Powered by Intelligence
As we scale our operations globally and move toward becoming a $3 billion engineering giant, Agentic AI is one of our core strategic pillars. It aligns perfectly with our journey of Purposeful. Agile. Innovation.
We are investing in:
Next-gen talent with hybrid AI + engineering skills
Global partnerships that accelerate intelligent systems development
Customer co-creation platforms that bring Agentic AI from pilot to production
With India poised to contribute nearly a quarter of the global ER&D sourcing market by 2030, the moment is ripe for Indian engineering firms to lead not just in cost, but in innovation, IP, and intelligence.
The message is clear: the future belongs to companies that can engineer intelligence into reality. At LTTS, that’s exactly what we do.
The Next Frontier
Agentic AI marks a new chapter in industrial intelligence. It promises not just smarter software, but intelligent products, systems, and infrastructure that adapt, evolve, and make decisions autonomously.
I believe our role is not just to enable this future — but to build it, shape it, and lead it responsibly.
Because when AI becomes an agent of change, engineering becomes the engine of impact.
