India is set to unveil a new framework for artificial intelligence agents to facilitate frictionless low-value digital transactions on its dominant UPI platform, potentially positioning the country as a leader in agentic commerce.
India is preparing a framework that would allow artificial intelligence agents to make low-value digital payments with less friction, according to sources familiar with the matter, a move that could push the country’s Unified Payments Interface into an early lead in so-called agentic commerce. The proposed system is expected to be unveiled next week at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, the sources said.
UPI is already the backbone of India’s retail digital payments market. The National Payments Corporation of India runs the system, which processed 24.51 billion transactions worth 29.82 trillion rupees in August, according to data cited in the report. The International Monetary Fund has described UPI as the world’s largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume, underlining the scale of any shift in how it is used.
The planned protocol would build on existing UPI features such as UPI Circle, which lets a primary account holder delegate payment authority, and Reserve Pay, which allows funds to be set aside for repeated debits. Early use cases are likely to centre on routine, low-value purchases such as groceries, while e-commerce platforms may be among the first to benefit. Over time, the sources said, AI agents could also be authorised to place orders based on discounts or to carry out investments within preset price limits.
The National Payments Corporation of India did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The move comes as card networks and fintech firms race to develop similar tools. Mastercard said it completed its first authenticated agentic transaction in New Delhi in June, while Pine Labs has already launched a protocol that allows an AI agent to complete a UPI payment after one upfront authorisation. Reuters has also reported that Mastercard’s full commercial rollout depends on regulatory clarity, while NPCI has separately rolled out FiMI, its in-house language model for payment workflows, as it expands AI tools across the payments stack.
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