Abound, the financial super-app for Indians abroad by The Times of India Group, announced its plans to build an AI-powered Financial Autopilot in collaboration with NEAR AI, NEAR’s initiative to build confidential, verifiable AI infrastructure for a user-owned AI economy. This next-generation capability is designed to help Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) seamlessly manage, grow, and automate their financial lives across borders.
The planned AI Financial Autopilot is Abound’s sophisticated, new AI-driven system that moves beyond remittances to act as an intelligent financial agent, proactively monitoring, deciding, and executing optimal actions on behalf of users. Developed in partnership with NEAR AI for advanced real-time capabilities, this system reimagines cross-border finance by focusing on achieving financial outcomes, allowing users to set goals while the AI continuously monitors foreign exchange rates, bank balances, bills, and investments, and handles the execution behind the scenes.
“We believe the future of finance is not about better dashboards, it is about delivering outcomes,” said Nishkaam Mehta, CEO, Abound by The Times of India. “For millions of NRIs, managing finances in India is fragmented and time-consuming. With our AI Financial Autopilot, built in partnership with NEAR AI, we are building toward a world where users can simply set their goals, and their financial life runs itself. Our goal is simple: to become the default financial operating system for Indians globally, replacing faster transactions with smarter systems that work for you.”
Once launched, Abound’s AI capability is expected to introduce a powerful set of features tailored for cross-border users:
- Smart Remittances: Automatically executing transfers when exchange rates meet user-defined targets.
- India Banking and Investment Management: Monitoring Non-Resident External (NRE) and Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts, identifying better returns, and managing fixed deposits.
- Autonomous Bill Payments: Learning and handling recurring obligations such as EMIs, utilities, and school fees,
- Unified Net Worth View: Providing a consolidated snapshot of assets across geographies.
“The shift here is from recommendations to execution,” said Sunit Agarwal, Product Lead, Abound by The Times of India. “We are building a system that does not just inform users, but actually acts on their behalf, whether that is optimizing a remittance, managing an investment, or taking care of routine financial tasks.”
George Zeng, Chief Product Officer and General Manager of NEAR AI, said, “NEAR AI’s core mission is to provide the secure, scalable, and reliable intelligence layer necessary for the next generation of financial automation. Our partnership with Abound is a commitment to powering this vision, moving cross-border finance beyond simple transactions toward smarter, goal-driven systems that deliver genuine outcomes for millions of Indians around the world. We are proud to combine our expertise in secure, reliable AI with Abound’s deep understanding of NRI financial needs.”
Abound is developing its AI Financial Autopilot with security and user trust as foundational priorities, incorporating strong safeguards for sensitive financial data, clear user control and approvals for critical actions, and transparent visibility into AI-driven activities. The partnership with NEAR AI is critical to this vision, as NEAR provides the underlying secure, scalable, and reliable intelligence layer, allowing Abound to deliver intuitive user experiences and meaningful financial outcomes.
Currently serving over 800,000 NRIs and processing more than $300 million in remittance volume, Abound is utilizing AI-driven automation to expand its cross-border financial services beyond remittances into a comprehensive ecosystem including wealth management, payments, and financial planning. The rollout of the AI Financial Autopilot will proceed in phases, prioritizing intelligent remittance optimization before deeper integrations into banking, investments, and bill payments.