The Indian instant payments platform Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is exploring the use of agentic AI to automate small payments, according to Reuters.

Citing three sources familiar with the matter, the newswire reported that the public sector National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs UPI, is preparing to integrate AI agents within the platform to automate purchases.

The sources suggested that AI agents could make repeat purchases such as groceries on behalf of customers. They added that NPCI is also exploring more advanced features such as UPI making purchases for customers when items are discounted, or placing investments based on pre-agreed limits.

Sources said that NPCI is preparing agentic AI frameworks that it will offer directly to merchants, allowing them to facilitate agentic payments according to customer configurations.

Safeguards around the frameworks are expected to include audit trails, identity checks, and payment limits, the sources added.

Around half of the world’s instant digital transactions are made through UPI, with 640 million transactions made on the platform each day compared to Visa’s 639 million and according to data from India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB).

PIB has measured UPI’s active user base as 555 million, with customers across India commonly using the platform to instantly pay for goods and services, complete ecommerce transactions, and send regular payments such as utility bills.

Reuters reported the new features will draw on NPCI’s delegated payments offering UPI Circle, which allows users to authorise a trusted secondary user to make payments on their behalf, as well as Reserve Pay through which customers can set aside money for multiple future debits without needing to repeatedly approve transactions.

Agentic payments are a growing area of interest for financial services firms, particularly payments infrastructure operators.

In March, Santander and Mastercard announced a successful agentic payment, which the firms said was the first end-to-end payment of its kind completed within a regulated banking framework.

Visa has also partnered with more than 30 European banks to enable live agentic AI payments, tying in with participating merchants to enable autonomous purchases.

---