Kotak Neo: Moving from tool-led navigation to intent-led intelligence
For decades, investing platforms have largely been built around screens, charts, research tools and execution interfaces, leaving investors to navigate multiple features and connect the dots themselves. The next phase of digital investing is beginning to challenge that model by making the platform more responsive to what an investor is actually trying to accomplish.
At Kotak Securities, this shift is taking shape through Neome, an AI assistant for Kotak Neo customers that allows investors to interact with the platform using natural language.
According to Sandeep Chordia, Chief Operating Officer, Kotak Securities, the objective is not to replace the trading application but to add an intelligence layer that makes its capabilities easier to discover, understand and use.
“The objective is not to replace the trading application but to add an intelligence layer that makes its capabilities easier to discover, understand and use,” says Chordia.
This changes the fundamental interaction model from asking investors to identify which tool they need to use towards understanding what they are trying to achieve.
The technology foundation for this shift is Kotak Securities’ cloud-integrated, microservices-based architecture, which is designed around scalability, speed and resilience. On top of this foundation, Neome brings together live market data, company financials, Kotak Research, curated news and portfolio insights to provide more contextualised intelligence.
The broader ambition is to move the investing experience from “Which tool should I use?” to “What am I trying to accomplish?”
Moving from information to relevance
Financial markets already generate vast amounts of information. The challenge for investors, however, is increasingly not access to data but understanding what is relevant to a particular decision.
Chordia argues that AI can play a role in closing this gap by bringing together different sources of information around an investor’s query and context.
For instance, understanding why a stock has moved requires more than looking at a price chart. An investor may need to consider market activity, company fundamentals, research and recent news together.
Neome uses conversational discovery, portfolio intelligence and natural-language screening to help investors move from a question to relevant insights.
But Kotak Securities is drawing a clear boundary around the role of AI.
“At Kotak Securities, we see AI as an enabler of investor judgement, not a substitute for it,” says Chordia.
Neome provides information and education but does not recommend investments or execute trades. The distinction is important because the success of an AI-enabled investing platform cannot simply be measured through increased transactions.
Instead, Chordia says its value should be assessed by whether it helps investors make decisions with greater clarity and confidence.
Personalisation needs portfolio context
Personalisation in investing is more complicated than simply customising an interface. The same market event can have very different implications for two investors depending on their portfolios, investment objectives and exposure.
Kotak Neo already incorporates elements of personalisation. Its home page, order window and funds experience can adapt depending on whether a customer primarily behaves as an investor or trader, while customised journeys address different investing requirements.
Neome adds another layer by bringing portfolio context into market intelligence.
A market development may be relevant to an investor researching a particular stock but considerably more significant for someone holding substantial exposure to it. Contextual intelligence can help investors understand not just what is happening in the market, but why it may matter to them.
Behavioural signals could further improve this relevance as these capabilities evolve. However, Chordia stresses that personalisation should be used to reduce noise and improve understanding rather than encourage unnecessary transactions.
This distinction could become increasingly important as AI systems become capable of understanding individual user behaviour at greater depth.
Execution is becoming more than speed
AI is also changing the way broking platforms need to think about competitive differentiation.
Pricing, execution speed, stability and reliability will remain fundamental to a broking business. Kotak Securities continues to invest in cloud-integrated and hybrid architecture, microservices, real-time data processing and multiple trading engines to support scalability and resilience, including during periods of heightened market activity.
But Chordia believes these capabilities are increasingly becoming foundational rather than sufficient differentiators.
The next competitive advantage will come from how effectively a platform can help an investor move from intent to informed action.
Kotak Neo is already bringing together different parts of this journey. InstaTrade integrates the option chain, charts and order flow, while Scalper Pro allows traders to view option legs and the underlying on a single screen. Strategy Bot supports strategy-level entry, exit and backtesting.
Neome complements these capabilities by supporting the discovery and understanding that happens before execution.
This makes execution quality broader than the technical ability to place an order quickly.
“Execution quality must therefore be viewed across the entire journey: identifying an opportunity, understanding its context, evaluating alternatives, managing risk and executing efficiently,” Chordia explains.
Intelligence becomes a measurable advantage when it reduces cognitive and operational complexity while preserving transparency and investor control.
The rise of the intent-led investing platform
Looking ahead, Chordia expects investing platforms to become increasingly intent-led.
Instead of having to know what to search for or which feature to open, investors should be able to express what they want to understand and allow the platform to identify the relevant information and capabilities.
Kotak Securities is building towards this through Neome, while other elements of the platform address specific stages of the investing journey.
Strategy Bot, for instance, simplifies complex trading workflows. The company is also using MCP to enable trusted external AI agents to interact with platform capabilities such as holdings, portfolio details, order books and research.
The next evolution is to connect these capabilities more seamlessly.
The resulting experience could span discovery, research, portfolio understanding and eventually execution, without requiring investors to navigate a collection of disconnected tools.
But increasing automation does not mean transferring control to the machine.
“As AI becomes more powerful, the principle remains clear: technology should empower investors with better context and insight while keeping them firmly in control of their decisions,” says Chordia.
That requires safeguards around security, accuracy and transparency, ensuring that the investor remains the final decision-maker.
Building for self-directed investing
The shift towards AI-enabled investing also reflects the changing behaviour of retail investors. According to Kotak Securities, the platform has recorded more than 10 million Play Store downloads, while 97% of Q4FY26 orders were self-traded.
For Chordia, this creates an opportunity to make self-directed investing more intelligent without making it more complicated.
The challenge is particularly relevant in an environment where investors are surrounded by more market information, research and digital tools than ever before. Simply adding more features risks increasing rather than reducing cognitive load.
AI can potentially provide a different model: one where the complexity remains within the technology layer while the investor interacts with the platform through intent and natural language.
The long-term opportunity is therefore not simply to build an AI chatbot on top of an existing broking application. It is to rethink the relationship between the investor and the platform.
Instead of asking investors to understand the architecture of the application before they can use it effectively, the platform can increasingly understand the investor’s intent and connect that intent to the relevant information, tools and capabilities.
That could mark a significant change in the way digital investing platforms are designed.
The most successful platforms of the future may not necessarily be those with the largest number of features. They could be those capable of making the complexity of markets easier to navigate while giving investors greater context at the moment they need it.
For Kotak Securities, AI should make investing more intelligent without making the investor less involved. The technology can surface the right information, connect the relevant signals and simplify the journey, but the decision remains with the person behind the portfolio.
