UPI

NHAI is considering a complete shift to FASTag and UPI toll payments from April to curb leakages, reduce congestion and create a fully digital, seamless tolling system across National Highways

NPCI will use Nvidia's Nemotron open models to develop a sovereign, payments-focused AI foundation model aimed at enhancing trust, resilience and scalability across India's payments network

Speaking at the AI Impact Summit, NPCI's Executive Director-Growth said that the Corporation is pursuing both bilateral and multilateral models, including work with other countries' payment systems

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

A DFS report shows UPI has overtaken cash as the most preferred payment mode and recommends focused merchant enablement and stronger support for RuPay debit card usage in rural and semi-urban India

India's currency in circulation reached a record ₹40 trillion in January even as the cash-to-GDP ratio fell to 11%, signalling incremental GDP growth increasingly financed through digital payments

UPI has emerged as the most preferred mode of transaction, surpassing cash transactions, and there is a need for targeted interventions to strengthen RuPay debit card usage, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas, a report said. The Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, released a report titled "Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of the Incentive Scheme for Promotion of RuPay Debit Card and low-value BHIM-UPI (Person-to-Merchant) transactions" during the Chintan Shivir held on 13-14 February 2026. The socio-economic impact analysis is based on an extensive primary survey covering 10,378 respondents across 15 States, including 6,167 users, 2,199 merchants, and 2,012 service providers, representing the key stakeholders of India's digital payments ecosystem along with in-depth secondary research. The evaluation indicates a significant and sustained increase in the adoption of digital payments across diverse socio-economic segments. Among surveyed users UPI has .

NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of NPCI, has signed an agreement with Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet), Malaysia's national payments network, to enable QR-based merchant payments between India and Malaysia. The rollout of this initiative will happen in a phase-wise manner, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said in a statement. In the first phase, Indian travellers visiting Malaysia will be able to use their UPI apps to make seamless cross-border merchant payments at DuitNow QR acceptance touchpoints, it said. "DuitNow QR is Malaysia's national QR standard, operated by PayNet. In the subsequent phase, Malaysians visiting India will be able to scan UPI QR codes to make merchant payments using their DuitNow apps," it said. With this integration, Indian tourists will gain access to millions of DuitNow QR merchant touchpoints in Malaysia, across restaurants, retail stores, tourist attractions, and other establishments, it said. Simila

RBI's ULI onboards 89 lenders, supports 12+ digital loan journeys, enabling MSME, agri and retail credit via common tech infrastructure

Subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO will be able to withdraw their employees' provident fund (EPF) directly into their bank accounts through UPI payment gateway using its newly designed mobile application to be launched in April this year, a top source said. The labour ministry is working on a project where a certain proportion of the EPF will be frozen, and a large chunk will be available for withdrawal through their bank account using Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the source told PTI. The source further informed that the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation will roll out a new mobile phone application through which the member would be able to withdraw their EPF money using UPI gateway as well as avail other services like passbook balance. Currently, the member uses either the Universal Account Number (UAN) portal or the UMANG app to access their EPF accounts and avail of their services. The source said that these services will remain available on both platforms, while t

India is reportedly in talks to link UPI with Alipay+, a global payments platform operated by Ant International. The move could allow Indian users to make cross-border payments more easily

A moderation in UPI growth is worrying industry players, who warn that low incentives and lack of monetisation could slow expansion of India's digital payments ecosystem

The talks between Indian government and central bank officials and Singapore-based Ant International, which was founded by China's fintech giant Ant Group

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

UPI transactions rose marginally in January, with volumes at 21.7 billion and value touching ₹28.3 trillion, underscoring steady momentum in India's digital payments ecosystem despite month-on-month m

Transactions through the popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI) touched a record Rs 28.33 lakh crore and 21.70 billion in value and volume terms, respectively, in January, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). NPCI said the value of transactions was at Rs 27.97 lakh crore in December. On a month-on-month basis, the growth was 21 per cent in value terms. The average daily transaction in January was 700 million with an average value of Rs 91,4033 crore. Worldline CEO Ramesh Narasimhan said, "UPI's growth momentum continues to strengthen. In January 2026 alone, Indians made 21.7 billion UPI transactions worth Rs 28.33 lakh crore -- an increase over December and a solid 28 per cent growth year-on-year.

With thin margins in the UPI era, Indian fintechs are looking overseas, betting on cross-border payments, CBDCs, and new digital rails for sustainable growth

As fintech shifts to devices, AI, IoT, and on-device intelligence are transforming payments, lending, and fraud control, making devices central to the next phase of banking

Japan will trial India's UPI in 2026, allowing Indian tourists to make QR code payments directly from their Indian bank accounts while travelling

Shares of Paytm fell 9.53 per cent to ₹1,140.75 on BSE on Friday