Harish Narayanan, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, HDFC Mutual Fund, said at Cafe Mutual Idea Fest 2026 that artificial intelligence has the potential to significantly change the way mutual fund distributors work and grow their businesses.
He said technology should not be seen as a threat to advisors. Instead, it helps you serve more customers while continuing to provide human guidance.
“AI and technology will not replace humans. But distributors that use AI will replace distributors that do not use AI,” he said.
The opportunity, Narayanan says, lies in combining human judgment with technology. With the right tools, MFPs/advisors have the potential to serve 10 or even 100 times more clients than before.
Digital and AI change the scale of work
Mr. Narayanan described digital technology as a form of exploitation that allows individuals to create and distribute services without the need for extensive infrastructure.
He said artificial intelligence would take this further by making intelligence widely accessible across devices and systems. “AI is the new power,” he said.
This means that MFDs/advisors not only automate processes, but also scale up analytics, research, and content creation.
Think of AI as a team of experts
“AI should be considered available to 100 PhD-level interns.”
Narayanan encouraged distributors to view AI as a powerful assistant rather than just a tool.
These tools help advisors analyze documents, summarize research, create presentations, and prepare communications with clients in a very short time.
He demonstrated one such tool, Google’s NotebookLM. This tool can take multiple sources such as PDFs, videos, and documents and automatically generate summaries, analysis, and even visual descriptions. This allows MFDs/advisers to quickly transform complex research into simple insights that can be shared with investors.
Content creation just got a whole lot easier
Mr. Narayanan also shared how AI can help create communication materials for clients. MFDs/Advisors can use AI tools to generate personalized messages, images, newsletters, and even videos.
To illustrate the speed of these tools, he shared an example of a song he created using AI for a fund house.
He explained that previously creating such content typically required a complete process involving writers, composers and production teams. AI tools can quickly generate lyrics and music using prompts, significantly reducing time and effort.
Personalized communications at scale
Narayanan said AI can also help advisors tailor the same message to different types of clients.
For example, market updates may be written differently for seniors, Gen Z investors, or high-net-worth customers, even if the core information is the same.
This type of personalization helps distributors more effectively manage communications with hundreds of clients.
To get better results from AI, we recommended using structured prompting techniques. He mentioned the ACT framework, which tells AI what role it should play, provides enough context, and specifies the desired output format.
He also encouraged advisors to experiment with different AI platforms and use them regularly to learn.
“Get hands-on,” he said, urging distributors to start considering tools like ChatGPT and Gemini.
Briefly explain the main points of the session.
- Use NotebookLM to analyze documents, videos, and research materials and generate quick summaries.
- Use AI to create different versions of the same client message for seniors, Gen Z investors, and HNIs.
- Generate images, graphics, and marketing visuals using AI prompts instead of manual design work.
- Create newsletters, reports, and presentations from your research materials using AI tools.
- Follows the ACT prompt framework. Act as a role, give context, define output formats, and ask AI to identify gaps.
- Use AI tools to generate music, videos, and creative content for client engagement.
- Automate routine client interactions such as basic queries, statements, and support requests.
- Try out platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI tools to understand how they fit into your daily workflow.
