Digital Payment

Payments giant Visa said Wednesday that it has embedded its payment network inside of ChatGPT, empowering the chatbot to independently shop and complete transactions on behalf of its user. It means AI agents can not only recommend products but complete the purchase on the user's behalf, at potentially any merchant that accepts Visa. The payment network's previous attempts at this technological leap were confined to a single retailer or a small set of enrolled merchants. It is not OpenAI's first attempt at e-commerce. The company late last year announced Instant Checkout, which allowed ChatGPT to scour the internet for a specific item like a digital personal shopper. But the process was prone to errors and was not widely adopted by merchants due to the fee that OpenAI was charging merchants. The company retired Instant Checkout in March. Visa's collaboration is different from OpenAI's previous attempts, as it will allow users to link their Visa cards to ChatGPT to shop and make it ..

Central bank is exploring transaction delays, broader customer controls and a kill switch mechanism as digital payment frauds continue to rise in value

Move aims to track originators of money transfers via mule accounts

The RBI's paper correctly identifies that the nature of fraud has changed. Most frauds today are authorised push payments, or APP frauds

RBI holds repo rate steady The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, maintaining a neutral stance.

Growth in QR codes and transaction volumes underscores rising merchant adoption and expanding digital payments ecosystem across India

MobiKwik plans to scale soundbox and EDC deployment, targeting 10% revenue contribution as it expands offline merchant acquiring beyond Tier I cities

According to the latest data, BHIM currently holds a 0.86 per cent share of UPI transactions

Under the draft, an eligible victim will receive 85 per cent of the net loss amount, or ₹25,000, whichever is lower

Parliamentary panel urges government to create a sustainable revenue model for the UPI ecosystem, warning that current incentives cover only a fraction of industry costs

Fintech firm Cred receives RBI's final licence to operate as a payment aggregator, allowing it to onboard merchants and process payments across instruments

The clarification follows industry representations seeking clarity on whether PA norms apply to P2PM transactions, which typically involve small merchants and low ticket sizes

Govt sources say rural-focused feature phone solutions such as UPI 123Pay, IVR systems and offline payments will drive the next phase of India's digital payments expansion beyond smartphones

Fintechs, NPCI are deepening AI integration across India's payments stack, from agentic interfaces and conversational payments to domain-specific LLMs designed to streamline disputes and transactions

RBI's Digital Payments Index climbed to 516.76 in September 2025 from 465.33 a year earlier, driven by gains in payment performance and enablers

Walmart-backed PhonePe, which aims to float its initial public offering (IPO) in April, plans to deepen its presence in India's digital payments market while expanding into financial services and new consumer platforms. In its draft papers, the company said digital payments will remain the core driver of growth, supported by investments to expand its user base, addressable market and platform scale. India's total addressable market for digital consumer payments stood at Rs 301 lakh crore in fiscal 2025 and is projected to grow to Rs 602-681 lakh crore by fiscal 2030, the company said, citing industry estimates. According to sources, PhonePe is aiming to launch its IPO in April. The proposed offering will be entirely an offer for sale of 5.06 crore shares by Walmart, Microsoft and Tiger Global, with no fresh issue component. In January, the company received regulatory approval from the Sebi to proceed with its maiden public offering, following its confidential filing in September.

RBI has announced a one-time compensation of up to Rs 25,000 for victims of small-value digital frauds, while also moving to tighten norms on mis-selling and loan recovery practices

Fraud moves fast, so must we

Budget stays silent on MDR, industry to pursue bid in coming months

Paytm on Friday issued a clarification to stock exchanges to address recent market speculation, stating that any potential impact from the conclusion of the RBI's Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme is expected to be significantly offset over time through higher revenues and more targeted sales efforts. In a filing with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE, One 97 Communications Ltd said it has revenues recognised as incentives from the programme, linked to qualifying expenditure incurred towards the deployment of payment acceptance devices such as Soundboxes and EDC machines. Addressing the scenario directly where the scheme is not extended, the company said it expects to "meaningfully offset the impact over time through a combination of stronger revenue growth and more focused, targeted sales execution". The PIDF incentive was aimed at accelerating digital payments infrastructure across Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres, as well as underserved regions including the .