[Explained] How OpenAI, NPCI Tie-Up Will Soon Let You Make UPI Payments on ChatGPT

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a transformative technology that is advancing exponentially. In 2023, most were impressed that a chatbot could respond to people conversationally, no matter what they typed. In 2024, AI-generated images and videos became all the hype. And now, with just a couple of months to 2026, we have been told that AI can now place a grocery order and make the payment, all while the user just texts what they need. Plus, here's the kicker: you might soon be able to do that yourself.

Making Agentic UPI Payments via ChatGPT: What Is It All About

On Thursday, at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025, Razorpay announced that it has partnered with OpenAI and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to bring agentic AI-based unified payment interface (UPI) transactions on ChatGPT. While it is a pilot project at present, the company is already allowing users to register for early access.

Once it is available, you will be able to tell ChatGPT your grocery list, and it can place the order on platforms such as BigBasket and make the payment without ever having to leave the chatbot interface. This means no need to visit multiple pages to choose the products, then navigate to the checkout page, and then enter the UPI Pin to complete an order. Tell ChatGPT about it, and it will take care of the rest.

How Does Agentic UPI Payments Work

Underneath the conversational shopping experience lies a complex set of processes powered by AI. This includes OpenAI's large language models (LLMs) with agentic capabilities, the ability to connect with NPCI's network, the ability to connect with the vendor's interface, and the ability to connect to the user's UPI account.

Due to this complex network of data hub connections, completing multiple actions at once (choosing the right products from the grocer and navigating through pages to go to checkout), and telling the end user (you) about the process in a conversational manner, AI agents are used. These mini chatbots are designed to complete specific actions, and multiple agents can be combined to simultaneously complete different tasks faster.

So, what does this look like on the front end? Harshil Mathur, Co-Founder and CEO at Razorpay, shared a demo of the entire process in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).

As you can see in the video above, all you have to do is tell ChatGPT what you want and approve or reject its suggestions. It takes care of everything (likely after you have consented to share your UPI ID and BigBasket account details with it). Notably, Razorpay has only onboarded BigBasket for this, but as more UPI players and e-commerce platforms sign up for this, the use case should keep increasing.

However, this also brings us to the most important question.

Should You Be Worried About AI Handling Your Grocery Orders?

Let's be honest. While ChatGPT is not Skynet, giving it access to so many personal accounts, including your UPI details, can be concerning. But the UPI payments thing is just part of OpenAI's broader plan. It has recently introduced an apps feature in the chatbot that allows users to complete actions across apps such as Canva, Spotify, Zillow, and others without leaving the interface.

OpenAI claims that the feature will only collect the minimum data they need, and the entire process follows an open-source protocol, which means there will be enough transparency. However, you will still be sharing basic account details and be permitting the chatbot to make financial transactions on your behalf.

This means you are vulnerable to security risks such as data breaches, prompt injection attacks to extract data, and the potential for privacy violations from data collection and leaks in third-party integrations.

The risks are real, but so is the convenience of automating a recurring (and annoying) task such as placing grocery orders. However, user adoption will depend on reassurances from governing bodies, transparency from the AI provider and all associated players, and improved safeguards to protect users from cyberattacks.