- Published on
Indian payments chief thinks AI will be heavily involved in next era of digital payment growth
- Authors
- Name
- DeepHorus
Dilip Asbe, managing director and CEO of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has predicted that artificial intelligence will play a central role in the next phase of digital payment growth. Speaking at Mumbai Tech Week 2026 last month, Asbe highlighted that AI could drive the addition of half a billion new users to the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) ecosystem, which currently handles over 750 million daily transactions. NPCI, along with India's central bank and the government, is actively exploring AI integration to reach a target of over a billion daily transactions.
UPI has seen remarkable adoption since its launch, with transaction volumes growing exponentially each year. Asbe noted that AI will be essential for protecting users, detecting fraud, and identifying mules, as well as for extending credit to users and merchants with digital footprints. He emphasized that AI-powered voice and multilingual solutions could simplify onboarding, though he acknowledged that voice models need to become more accurate before widespread adoption. NPCI launched a voice assistant-based system in 2023, but uptake has been slow.
In the United States, companies like Coinbase and Robinhood are already enabling AI agents to trade on behalf of users, while OpenAI allows personal account data integration for financial advice. NPCI has demonstrated agentic commerce and payment prototypes with Razorpay, but has not yet rolled them out broadly. Asbe believes India can adopt AI-powered finance with robust regulations and a clear framework to protect users and mitigate risks, including mechanisms to review user consent and instructions to agents.
Asbe sees an opportunity for India to develop small, specialized language models tailored to the financial ecosystem. He stated that models will differentiate based on the data sets they are trained on, and India possesses rich data sets through banks, fintechs, and payment networks. NPCI already launched a model called FIMI last year to resolve user disputes, and Asbe reported that it now serves over a million users, helping cancel mandates and resolve issues quickly.
Regarding UPI competition, Asbe acknowledged the dominance of Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay, which together control over 80% of the market. The regulator's plan to cap any single app's market share at 30% is set to take effect on December 31, 2026, unless delayed again. Asbe attributed the concentration to the lack of viable commercial models for newer players, noting that PhonePe and Google have invested heavily to attain their positions.
Asbe expressed optimism that once a commercial model becomes available, new entrants will invest heavily, increasing competition. In 2024, NPCI spun off its BHIM UPI app to make it more competitive, though its market share remains modest. Looking ahead, Asbe sees AI as a transformative force that can address fraud, credit access, and user growth, but stresses the need for careful regulation to ensure safety and trust in India's digital payment ecosystem.
