India is developing a system that would allow artificial intelligence agents to make small digital transactions automatically within preset limits, positioning the country among early adopters of agentic AI payments on a national scale.
India's National Payments Corporation is preparing infrastructure to enable AI agents to conduct transactions on the Unified Payments Interface without requiring approval for each individual payment, according to sources familiar with the initiative. The framework, known as the Unified Agent Protocol, is expected to be presented at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai next week. This development would extend agentic payment capabilities to UPI, which processes over 24 billion transactions monthly and ranks as the world's largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume.
Initial applications are expected to focus on routine, low-value purchases such as groceries, with e-commerce platforms positioned to capture early demand. The system would eventually enable more sophisticated functions, such as AI agents automatically placing orders during sales or making investments based on specified price thresholds. The framework will reportedly leverage existing UPI mechanisms including UPI Circle, which allows primary account holders to delegate payment authority, and Reserve Pay, which blocks funds for multiple debits.
The NPCI intends to provide infrastructure enabling merchants to integrate directly with the system, allowing customers to establish rule-based instructions for AI agents with built-in spending limits, audit trails, and identity verification. While the organization plans to establish a liability framework, specific details remain undisclosed. Currently, banks cap Reserve Pay blocks at 10,000 rupees for up to 90 days, though these limits may be adjusted for agentic use.
Global payment networks including Mastercard and Visa are simultaneously developing comparable agentic capabilities in India. Mastercard completed its first authenticated agentic transaction in New Delhi in June, while fintech firm Pine Labs launched its own agentic protocol called P3P earlier this year. The NPCI has not yet responded to requests for official comment on the initiative.