India’s NPCI and Razorpay have joined forces with OpenAI to pilot AI-enabled payments on ChatGPT, marking a milestone for digital commerce in the country. The collaboration allows users to make UPI-based purchases directly within the chatbot using agentic AI, which automates transactions with minimal human input.
The system uses UPI’s new ‘reserve pay’ capability, enabling users to allocate funds for specific merchants. Banking partners Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank are supporting the pilot, with Bigbasket as the first e-commerce platform to go live.
“Agentic payments will turn AI assistants into complete shopping agents,” said Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur, while OpenAI’s Oliver Jay highlighted the potential to merge UPI’s reliability with cutting-edge AI.
The pilot, launched amid similar global efforts by Google and Perplexity AI, underscores India’s leadership in real-time payment innovation. If successful, it could redefine how consumers interact with AI, blending conversation, commerce, and secure transactions into one seamless experience.
