NPCI on AI agents and UPI: who shows what was authorised?
At Global Fintech Fest on 10 September 2026, NPCI's chairman said, as MediaNama reported it: "AI may recommend, but authentication and final settlement must follow deterministic auditable rules." And: "Decision making and execution must remain separate."
NPCI is examining protocols for identifying and authorising digital agents on UPI, and Business Standard has reported it is building a Unified Agent Protocol; NPCI had not responded to either outlet.
The open question is the one customers will ask first: when an agent pays and gets it wrong, who can show what the customer actually authorised, and who decided it was within that authority?
Today the answer often sits with whoever ran the agent. That is a party to the dispute, not a witness.
This is a reading of public reporting, not legal advice.
Source: MediaNama, 10 September 2026. https://www.medianama.com/2026/09/223-npci-ai-agents-upi-payments/