NPCI launches UPI Tap & Pay and My UPI AI as RBI calls for globally scalable fintech

RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra unveiled NPCI’s NFC-based UPI Tap & Pay feature and My UPI AI support platform in Mumbai, positioning trusted, multilingual and consumer-protected payment infrastructure as India’s next fintech growth opportunity.

— Source publishedThu, 10 Sept, 2026, 21:48 IST·First seen Thu, 10 Sept, 2026, 21:50 IST·Source Mint · Industry

What happened

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) · RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra unveiled NPCI’s UPI Tap & Pay NFC feature and My UPI AI support platform, while

Key facts

  • $2.4 billion fintech funding last year
  • 30 fintech unicorns
  • two new UPI products
  • 24x7 multilingual grievance support

Why this matters

Payments, POS, device and fintech platforms should assess partnerships around NFC UPI acceptance and AI-led grievance support as NPCI broadens the ecosystem’s product surface.

What to watch

  • NPCI publication of merchant-acquirer specifications, transaction limits, security standards and commercial terms for UPI Tap & Pay.
  • Major bank and UPI-app integration announcements, especially support within leading consumer payment apps.
  • Evidence of NFC UPI acceptance expansion at large grocery, QSR, pharmacy, fuel, transit and department-store chains.
  • RBI or NPCI guidance on AI-assisted grievance handling, data use, consumer consent, fraud liability and mandatory human escalation.
  • Merchant data showing materially faster checkout or higher UPI conversion versus QR-based flows.
  • International partnership announcements that position UPI's tap-to-pay or AI-support stack for cross-border deployment.
  • Prioritize NFC UPI acceptance pilots at high-volume, low-basket-size stores where checkout speed has measurable value.
  • Ask payment aggregators and banks for rollout timelines, device compatibility requirements, pricing and settlement/dispute workflows for UPI Tap & Pay.
  • Instrument checkout analytics to compare transaction time, authorization success, repeat use, cash displacement and customer abandonment across QR UPI, Tap & Pay, cards and cash.
  • Prepare multilingual payment-help content and escalation paths that can connect to My UPI AI while retaining human support for fraud, refunds and charge disputes.
  • Review POS refresh cycles and evaluate whether NFC-capable Android devices can support acceptance without adding dedicated terminal costs.