Cashfree Payments launches Relay, an AI platform automating payment retries, disputes, and subscription workflows for SMB merchants.
The payment services provider describes that their product carries out payment operations on behalf of merchants rather than simply flagging issues for manual follow-up. The platform has been tested in beta with merchants since May 2026 and is now available to all Cashfree merchants.
Shifting from alerts to execution
Usually, businesses use AI as a surfacing tool that extracts data and reports issues for the merchant to resolve separately. With this in mind, the company said Relay is built to read merchant transaction records directly and take action. The platform can retry failed payments, follow up on left behind online carts, validate cash-on-delivery orders before dispatch, manage failed subscriptions, and file payment disputes ahead of deadlines.
Ramkumar Venkatesan, Cashfree's CTO, said automating business processes offers a strong return on investment for SMBs, but noted that many currently rely on fragmented tools such as AI callers or automated messaging that lack broader context.
According to the company, instead of requiring merchants to configure individual steps, Relay allows users to describe a desired outcome through a prompt or voice input. The system then builds a custom agent or deploys an existing one to carry out the task. This approach is intended to reduce the technical setup typically associated with automation tools, shifting the software's role from providing analytics to directly executing workflows.
Cashfree estimates that an average SMB spends 60 hours a week on payment operations, a figure the company states Relay is designed to reduce to under 45 minutes. According to the announcement, these figures are based on Cashfree's own data and have not been independently verified.
Approval and oversight built in
Because payment automation can affect money movement and customer relationships, Cashfree said Relay requires merchant approval for two reasons: before funds move and before a customer is contacted. The company added that all actions taken by the platform remain visible to merchants. Additionally, Relay operates entirely on its own infrastructure and merchant transaction data is not shared with external AI providers.
Through its platform, Cashfree aims to build an execution-based AI system that can reduce human effort and support an entire workflow. However, Relay's broader reliability will depend on how it performs across real-world exceptions.
Relay is free for Cashfree merchants at launch. The company said it also plans to introduce outcome-based pricing as adoption increases, though it has not detailed how that model would work.
