OpenAI partners with NPCI to bring UPI payments to ChatGPT: How it works

Razorpay, NPCI, and OpenAI collaborate to pilot AI-powered UPI payments in ChatGPT, offering an automated shopping experience

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Indian users might soon be able to make Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments from OpenAI without needing to leave the app. According to a report by Reuters, India's payments authority National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and fintech firm Razorpay have collaborated with OpenAI to launch AI-driven payments on ChatGPT. For those wondering how it will make the payment, it will use UPI's newly launched 'reserve pay' feature, which lets users reserve funds for specific merchants.

 

According to the report, Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank will be the banking partners during the pilot phase, and BigBasket is among the first platforms to allow users to shop through ChatGPT.

 

According to a report by The Mint, Razorpay, NPCI, and OpenAI will explore AI-driven payment solutions, focusing on delivering a personalised and secure shopping experience through UPI. They also highlighted that, eventually, AI agents could be equipped with payment credentials to carry out transactions autonomously, while maintaining user control and security. 

UPI payments on OpenAI: How it works

The co-founder and CEO of RazorPay, Harshil Mathur, showed a demo of the service on X. According to the video, a user can share a screenshot of the grocery items they wish to order and ask ChatGPT to order them.

 

ChatGPT will access BigBasket and search for the best available options there of the items that the user wishes to order. It will add them to the cart, and if any product is out of stock, then it will give the user alternatives for it, too.

 

It also asks the user if they wish to source the items from the “best value brands” or prefer premium and organic brands. Once opted, ChatGPT will make the cart accordingly and proceed to give users the itemised bill and total cost of the order. Once the user confirms it, the order will be placed at the desired address by making the payment from the UPI reserve pay token. An order confirmation message will then be shown in the chat to signify that the order has been placed. 

  No specific timeline for the stable release of the feature has been provided as of now. It also remains uncertain whether, once launched, it will be accessible to all users or limited to paid-tier subscribers with access to the company’s AI Agent.