Talk to Pay: India Lets ChatGPT Do Your UPI Checkout

What's happening right now

India is testing a new way to pay where you can use conversational AI instead of tapping buttons. The payments network behind much of India’s digital money — UPI — is running a pilot that connects with ChatGPT, so people can ask for purchases in plain language and the system starts the payment process. The project is being run with help from NPCI and fintech partners like Razorpay, and a few merchants such as Bigbasket are trying it out.

How this conversational checkout works

Instead of opening an app and filling fields, you type or say what you want. The AI reads your request, confirms details, and then triggers a UPI payment with your permission. Users makes the choice at each step, so the bot won't just send money without asking — though the goal is to make that permission quick and natural. It seems like the idea is to let the AI act as an assistant that handles the awkward parts of checkout (address, delivery slot, coupons)— which honestly could save a lot of time.

Why people care (and why some are wary)

The obvious win is convenience: no more switching apps or hunting for pay buttons, it's like telling your phone to buy something and it gets done. It's totally and completely obvious why merchants love quicker checkouts — more completed orders, less cart abandonment. But there are questions about safety and control, because handing payment-triggering power to an AI could be risky if not tightly governed, and regulators will want guarantees about consent and data use.

The practical bits and what might change

Right now the pilot is limited to a few partners and use-cases, but if it scales this could change how Indians interact with money on a day-to-day basis — paying via chat could move beyond groceries to subscriptions, bill payments, or in-app buys. NPCI and collaborators are likely building guardrails (auth steps, transaction limits, audit logs), but the real test will be real users asking messy, ambiguous things — and whether the AI responds safely and clearly. There’s also the user experience angle — sometimes these systems over-explain or mess up, and people will judge fast.

(And yes — this is an experiment, it could be bumpy at first as engineers and regulators iterate on safety and UX — expect some weird requests, partial failures, and then fixes).

Final thought

If this works, conversational payments could make everyday transactions feel more natural and faster, and they might reshape how apps and merchants design checkout flows.