NPCI Sees AI Pushing UPI Past 1 Billion Daily Payments as PhonePe, Google Hold 80%
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Jun 27
NPCI Sees AI Pushing UPI Past 1 Billion Daily Payments as PhonePe, Google Hold 80%
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Jun 27
Summary
UPI already handles more than 750 million transactions a day, and NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe said AI will be central to reaching the next target of over 1 billion.
AI's role, he said, spans onboarding the next 500 million users, detecting fraud and mule accounts, and extending credit to users and merchants with digital payment histories.
Voice and multilingual tools are part of that push, though Asbe said voice adoption remains early; NPCI's 2023 voice assistant has yet to see broad uptake.
NPCI is also testing AI in finance more broadly, including agentic commerce demos and its FIMI dispute model, which now serves more than 1 million users.
The expansion comes as UPI competition stays concentrated: PhonePe and Google Pay control over 80% of the market, while a 30% market-share cap is due on Dec. 31, 2026.