Rakuten Product Conference 2026 explores the rise of the Agentic Enterprise

The conversation around artificial intelligence is changing. A year ago, most discussions focused on what AI could generate. Now, increasingly, the focus is on how it can independently execute complex tasks.

That shift formed the backdrop of the Rakuten Product Conference 2026, organized by Rakuten India on April 22, 2026. Built around the theme “The Agentic Enterprise,” the conference brought together product leaders, technologists and industry experts to discuss how businesses are beginning to integrate AI systems into everyday decision-making and operations.

Blending cultures, driving innovation

The sixth edition of the conference featured speakers from tech leaders including Google, Microsoft, Reliance Jio, Mahindra Group and Yatra Online.

Opening the conference, Tsubasa Shiraishi, Vice Chairman and CEO of Rakuten India, reflected on how Rakuten has approached successive waves of technological change through a culture of continuous innovation, noting that while technological breakthroughs rarely lead to permanent advantage for companies, the ability to keep building and adapting remains an enduring differentiator.

He also highlighted the importance of Rakuten India as a vital hub for innovation for Rakuten Group and noted how intentionally blending the unique cultural strengths of Japan and India can drive innovation. “When the Japanese pursuit of perfection meets an Indian drive for rapid execution, innovation is born. If we combine Japanese omotenashi and India’s results-oriented way, I believe we can innovate something new.”

This was carried forward in a session by Sekhar MK, Vice President at Rakuten India, who offered a closer look at how Rakuten is building AI systems across its ecosystem, and the practical challenges of moving from experimentation to enterprise scale adoption. He explained how Agentic AI is fundamentally redefining the user experience. This evolution, he explained, introduces an ‘action layer’, a critical differentiator where AI no longer just provides information, but supports with tasks like discovery, search, and checkout. This transformation is key to removing friction, as it allows the AI to handle the heavy lifting and deliver a seamless, end-to-end purchase experience for the customer.

What makes AI agentic?

The term “agentic AI” appeared repeatedly throughout the day’s discussions. Unlike AI assistants that respond to prompts, agentic systems are designed to observe, reason and carry out tasks with minimal human intervention. Anshumani Ruddra, Product Leader for APAC and India Payments at Google, anchored this idea in his keynote, walking through what agentic AI means in practice and why the window for enterprises to engage with it seriously is narrowing. Speakers across sessions explored what this could mean for industries such as commerce, travel, fintech and telecommunications.

One discussion focused on the evolution of entertainment platforms and how AI is reshaping recommendation and discovery systems, with Prashant Paulose, Lead – Apps, Google Play, and Google TV, India in conversation with Nishant Nayak, Vice President at Rakuten India.

Dr. Shakti Goel from Yatra Online examined how AI agents can simplify travel experiences by handling bookings, itineraries and customer interactions within a single workflow. He emphasized that the true power of this technology lies in its ability to move beyond mere information retrieval, shifting from simple search queries to the execution of complex tasks. This evolution is particularly transformative for predictive disruption management; rather than leaving a traveler to manually navigate cancellations, an AI agent can proactively rebook flights and accommodations, offering seamless resolutions to travel emergencies.

The conference also looked at the infrastructure required to support these systems. A session on 6G and enterprise transformation featuring Dr. Shivani Gupta and Santhosh Kumar discussed how low latency networks may enable faster coordination between AI driven systems across organizations.

Alongside the optimism, there were conversations around governance and accountability. Divya Krishnamurthy, Chief Enterprise Architect at Microsoft’s Innovation Hub, steered the conversation towards challenges of trust and responsibility when AI systems participate in high stakes financial decisions. Another session, delivered by Ankit Bose, Head of Nasscom AI examined India’s efforts towards building homegrown AI capabilities and national scale ecosystems.

As the conference neared its conclusion, a leadership huddle brought together executives including Mukund Seetharaman, Chief AI Officer, Adani Group; Suvro Shankar Ghosh, Head of AI Solutions, MFCWL, Mahindra Group and Prajakta Kanaglekar, Chief People Officer, Rakuten Symphony to debate how organizational structures may need to evolve in response to AI-led workflows. Kaushik Mukherjee, Chief Technology Officer of super.money followed with a practitioner’s account of what it actually takes to move AI agents from prototype to production.

From potential to practicality

The most compelling takeaway from the conference wasn’t that AI is getting stronger; it’s that our approach to it is getting smarter and more practical. Less about spectacle, more about systems. Less about automating out human inputs, more about rethinking how people, products and decisions come together.

And perhaps that is where the real shift lies. Technology may eventually become accessible to everyone. The important thing to replicate will be the culture that keeps building what comes next.