India, Oct. 13 -- In a move that could redefine how Indians shop and pay online, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and fintech major Razorpay have partnered with Microsoft-backed OpenAI to launch a pilot programme that enables users to make UPI payments directly through ChatGPT.

Announced on Thursday, the initiative will test how artificial intelligence can handle real financial transactions, from exploring products to completing purchases, while ensuring user data and passwords remain protected.

The pilot brings "agentic AI" to payments, a form of artificial intelligence capable of performing multi-step tasks with minimal human input. In this case, users can chat with ChatGPT, browse products, and make secure UPI paymen...