India plans AI registry as it looks to roll out agentic payments, sources say

India's payments authority is building a ​registry to verify and monitor ​artificial intelligence agents making transactions on its homegrown payments ​network, three sources involved in the discussions said.

The registry will form part of the National Payments Corporation of India's planned Unified Agentic Protocol and vet AI agents that make payments on ‌behalf of ⁠users, the ⁠sources said.

None of them could be named because they are not authorised to speak with ​media.


NPCI, which operates the country's retail payment systems including the widely used Unified Payments Interface (UPI), is preparing to roll out agentic payments on UPI, Reuters reported last week.

The registry will initially vet AI agents making payments on UPI and could later ​cover cards, bill payments and other payment methods, the ⁠first source, ‌a senior industry executive, said.

NPCI did not immediately respond ​to a request ​for comment.

India's efforts come as governments and payments companies ⁠elsewhere develop similar systems to identify and authenticate AI agents.

China's ​Payment & Clearing Association, an industry body overseen by the ​central bank, has issued guidelines for AI-agent payments covering identification, security and risk controls.

Amazon, Google and Microsoft have also developed agent registries for agentic commerce.

The NPCI's move to build a registry of agents also comes in the backdrop of heightened attention on rogue behavior by agents at leading AI firms such ‌as OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic.

STARTING SMALL

Agentic payments on UPI, for instance, would allow AI agents to make small, frequent digital payments ​without requiring users ​to approve each ⁠transaction, with groceries and other low-value purchases expected to be among the first applications.

The system could eventually allow agents to act on more complex instructions, such as ​buying products when discounts reach a specified level or making investments when prices cross set thresholds, the second of the three sources said.

While the agents would be indexed in the registry, elements like liability for wrong or unauthorised payments will need to be addressed through regulation, the third source said.