UPI certainly has evolved to be India’s tech success story for the world. One may hardly find anyone carrying cash on the streets of Bengaluru.
In August 2025 alone, UPI processed over 20 billion payments, totalling about ₹24.85 lakh crore (nearly $300 billion). UPI payments now account for roughly 85% of all digital transactions in India, far outstripping credit cards or net banking.
India is now set to make UPI more user-friendly and secure by ditching the PIN. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has introduced new biometric authentication for UPI. Users can approve a payment with their face or fingerprint. Instead of entering a PIN, users opt in to have UPI check their identity using their phone’s built-in FaceID or fingerprint scanner.
AIM spoke to several active UPI users to understand their views on the upcoming biometric feature. While most users seem open to fingerprint authentication, many were hesitant about using facial recognition.
On the contrary, Sonu Yadav, associate director – lending at CheQ, told AIM that the biometric feature will completely wipe out the “PIN paranoia.”
“It’s also a blessing for low literacy users who struggle to remember digits and understand digital payments,” he added.
Yadav said giants like Paytm, PhonePe, and GPay will race to embed AI-powered shopping agents and biometric authentication deep into their ecosystems. He believes startups will carve out niches, building vernacular AI layers, biometric POS tools for micro-merchants, and fraud-proof identity stacks.
Building on this push for easier and safer payments, at the Global Fintech Festival (GFF 2025), RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra also introduced a new set of digital payment initiatives.
The RBI introduced AI-based UPI Help, a chatbot trained on UPI data. It lets users check transaction status, raise complaints, manage payment mandates, and understand UPI features in simple terms. Think of it as a 24/7 virtual assistant for payment issues, powered by NPCI’s own small language model. The goal is to make support faster, smarter, and multilingual so that anyone in India can get real-time help with UPI queries.
Other new features include IoT payments, which let users pay directly through connected devices like cars, smart TVs, and wearables. Banking Connect offers easy access to net banking and merchant onboarding. UPI Reserve Pay allows users to block and manage credit limits for specific purposes across UPI apps and merchant platforms.
Indian eyewear company Lenskart has announced plans to enable direct UPI payments in its upcoming B Camera smartglasses. Users will be able to make payments by simply scanning a QR code through their smartglasses.
ChatGPT x UPI
ChatGPT and UPI will soon collaborate to let users make payments within the AI tool. Powered by Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank, and built on UPI innovations such as UPI Circle and UPI Reserve Pay, Agentic Payments enables real-time, secure transactions. BigBasket is among the first merchants to allow AI-powered shopping on ChatGPT.
Users can now ask an AI assistant to do their shopping. For example, a retailer on ChatGPT might prompt, “Help me order groceries,” and behind the scenes, ChatGPT will execute a UPI transaction with retailers like BigBasket.
“Artificial Intelligence is transforming how people discover, choose, and pay for products and services. OpenAI and NPCI will explore additional payment use cases like personalised, secure AI commerce through conversational shopping and checkout experiences,” said OpenAI’s Pragya Misra in a LinkedIn post.
Yadav told AIM that AI will rewrite the rules of digital payments. It can find the best deals, compare prices, and complete the payment, “no more switching apps or typing card details,” he said. This shift makes payments invisible, frictionless, and intuitive, integrating them directly into intent, Yadav added.
“It will pull in impulse buyers who usually abandon carts and make paying online feel as natural as talking.”
This development isn’t happening in isolation. In the US, OpenAI has also introduced an Instant Checkout feature that lets users shop directly within ChatGPT from Etsy and Shopify merchants.
While ChatGPT integration promises a conversational way to shop, not all users see a clear advantage.
One person, who works at Tuco Kids in Bengaluru, told AIM that he would rather order directly from apps like Swiggy or Blinkit. He pointed out Ola Kruti as an example, which tried a similar approach but has not seen much traction so far.
One Reddit comment noted that using ChatGPT for purchases requires roughly the same steps as traditional apps, including item selection, amount confirmation, and PIN entry. For some, the benefit of AI-assisted payments is not obvious yet.
UPI has Crossed Borders
At the same time, UPI has crossed borders and gone global. It’s now accepted in seven countries, with more joining soon. Whether in Singapore, the UAE, or even Qatar, Indian tourists can scan a local QR code and pay from their Indian bank accounts.
PayPal has officially rolled out UPI integration as the first payment system on its new global platform, PayPal World. This partnership leverages India’s UPI network to facilitate smooth cross-border transactions, offering users quicker settlements and lower costs for international payments.
UPI is no longer just about moving money. It is about making payments effortless, intelligent, and truly part of how people live, shop, and connect in a digital world.
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