AI agents can now make your UPI payments, here is how

AI agents can already search for products, compare prices and recommend the best options based on a user’s preferences. However, one major hurdle always comes, which is making the final payment. In India, every UPI transaction usually requires entering an MPI or completing an authentication step. While this works for people, it creates a problem for AI agents. The agent can reach the payment page, but it cannot complete the transaction on its own. So, the buying process stops and the users have to step in for approval.

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To address this, Pine Labs has announced the Pine Labs Payment Protocol (P3P), a new system that allows AI agents to complete UPI payments without requiring human authentication at the time of purchase. The company says this is the first solution of its kind in India and is already live in production.

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How the system works

P3P works by using UPI’s existing mandate framework. Instead of approving every transaction individually, users provide permission once through a UPI mandate. After that, the AI agent can make payments on its own without any human authentication.

Users can decide how much money the AI agent can spend and under what conditions it can make payments. “Grantex allows the consumer to be in absolute control – checking agent identity, enforcing pre-approved spending limits, and creating a full audit trail for every payment. The consumer can revoke or update the mandate at any time. Compliance is not an afterthought – it is built into the protocol layer. No guardrails, no payment,” Pine Labs explained.

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Digital gold savings platform Gullak is already using the technology. For example, a user can set a rule such as, “Buy Rs 500 worth of gold if the price falls below Rs 16,000 per gram.” After approving a UPI mandate once, Gullak’s AI agent can automatically complete the purchase whenever the condition is met.

Pine Labs says more deployments are underway across sectors such as retail, fintech and travel. Vijay Sales is also testing the technology through an active proof of concept.

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Ayushi Jain

Ayushi works as Chief Copy Editor at Digit, covering everything from breaking tech news to in-depth smartphone reviews. Prior to Digit, she was part of the editorial team at IANS. View Full Profile