Whereas main fee corporations have launched such frameworks within the U.S., Europe, Singapore and Australia, a rollout on the favored Unified Payments Interface would additionally put India among the many first nations to have a nationwide infrastructure for agentic AI funds.
UPI, operated by the Nationwide Funds Company of India, is the world’s largest retail fast-payment system by transaction quantity, in accordance with a 2025 IMF report.
It processed 24.51 billion transactions value Rs 29.82 lakh crore ($314.21 billion) in August, with Google Pay and Walmart’s PhonePe accounting for round three-fourths of month-to-month transaction volumes.
The Unified Agent Protocol is prone to be unveiled subsequent week on the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, the sources mentioned, requesting anonymity as the main points are personal.
The NPCI didn’t instantly reply to Reuters queries in search of remark.
Early use instances
Low-value, frequent purchases comparable to groceries are prone to be among the many first use instances, the primary supply mentioned, including that e-commerce platforms are well-placed to seize early demand.
NPCI expects use instances to finally change into extra subtle, the supply mentioned. For instance, AI brokers may place orders based mostly on sale provides and reductions and make investments based mostly on specified directions round value thresholds.
The protocol is predicted to attract on two present UPI mechanisms – UPI Circle, which lets a major account holder delegate fee authority to a secondary person comparable to an AI agent, and Reserve Pay, which lets prospects block funds for a number of debits.
Banks at present cap such blocks at Rs 10,000 ($105.44) for as much as 90 days, although this restrict and its validity could also be revisited for agentic use, the sources added.
NPCI is predicted to supply infrastructure for retailers to combine straight, letting prospects set rule-based directions for AI brokers on when and the way a lot to pay, with built-in spending limits, audit trails and id checks, the sources mentioned.
They added that the NPCI plans to construct in a legal responsibility framework, however didn’t present particulars.
International push
International card networks Mastercard and Visa are additionally individually constructing comparable agentic capabilities for funds in India, mirroring a world push by these corporations to safe AI-driven commerce.
Mastercard accomplished its first authenticated agentic transaction in New Delhi in June.
Earlier this yr, fintech agency Pine Labs launched its personal agentic protocol, P3P, letting AI brokers full UPI funds after a single upfront authorisation.
