Reserve Bank Of India To Adopt AI In Making UPI Payments
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The Reserve Bank of India has announced integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in making UPI payments. Conversational payments are the ones processed during a chat or a messaging conversation. The payment in such transactions will be processed when one of the parties is the chat operator while the other is the payment provider.
India to integrate AI-powered conversational payments to UPI
The RBI governor said that the initiative was part of a goal to tap new technologies to support digital payment experiences for users. As such, the bank will allow users to participate in conversations using AI-powered systems while making payments. It will also offer offline payments on UPI through Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to promote UPI-Lite.
The bank also said it would improve the transaction limit on digital payments of small value by having an offline mode ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 500. The overall limit is Rs 2000 for each payment instrument. The initiatives will promote the reach and use of digital payments in India.
RBI said UPI offered ease in usage, safety, and security. It also had a real-time feature that transformed the digital payments industry across India. Most of the features provided by the platform also allowed UPI to meet a wide range of payment needs across the economy.
The bank also noted that AI was gaining adoption across the digital economy and held massive potential in promoting ease of use while expanding reach to the UPI system. The bank is also proposing the release of an innovative payment mode that allows users to participate in conversations using an AI-powered system that will see transactions being done safely and securely.
“This channel will be made available in both smartphones and feature phones-based UPI channels, thereby helping in the deepening of digital penetration in the country. The facility will initially, be available in Hindi and English and will subsequently be made available in more Indian languages. Instructions to NPCI will be issued shortly,” the bank said.
The CEO of Cashfree Payments, Akash Sinha, said the integrated solution will allow customers to easily make payments through AI-powered conversations with Intelligent Virtual Assistants, chatbots and Voicebots.
Other developments around RBI
There have been a series of positive developments around RBI. In 2022, the bank started the digitalization of Kisan Credit Card loans while testing the end-to-end digitalization of the lending process. The pilot phase is still ongoing, with the initial results showing positive results.
A digital platform will enable the seamless flow of digital information to lenders. This end-to-end digital platform will support an open architecture to players across the financial sector to ensure they can connect seamlessly.
The RBI has not changed the repo rate and raised the inflation projection for the 2024 fiscal year to 5.4%. The development comes as central banks globally continue raising rates to tame inflation.
