India’s payments authority is building a registry to verify and monitor artificial intelligence agents that make transactions on its network, three sources involved in the discussions said. The registry will form part of the National Payments Corporation of India’s planned Unified Agentic Protocol. It will vet AI agents that make payments on behalf of users. NPCI operates the country’s retail payment systems, including the widely used Unified Payments Interface. The body is preparing to roll out agentic payments on UPI. The registry will initially cover AI agents making UPI payments and could later expand to cards, bill payments and other methods. Agentic payments would let AI agents handle small, frequent digital payments without requiring approval for each transaction. Groceries and other low-value purchases are expected early use cases. Over time agents could follow more complex instructions, such as buying when discounts hit a set level or investing when prices cross thresholds.
India’s payments authority is building a registry to verify and monitor artificial intelligence agents that make transactions on its network, three sources involved in the discussions said. The registry will form part of the National Payments Corporation of India’s planned Unified Agentic Protocol. It will vet AI agents that make payments on behalf of users. NPCI operates the country’s retail payment systems, including the widely used Unified Payments Interface. The body is preparing to roll out agentic payments on UPI. The registry will initially cover AI agents making UPI payments and could later expand to cards, bill payments and other methods. Agentic payments would let AI agents handle small, frequent digital payments without requiring approval for each transaction. Groceries and other low-value purchases are expected early use cases. Over time agents could follow more complex instructions, such as buying when discounts hit a set level or investing when prices cross thresholds.