The Future of Shopping: AI-Powered Payments Come to ChatGPT
India’s digital payments landscape is witnessing another revolutionary leap. In a groundbreaking collaboration, Razorpay, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and OpenAI have launched a pilot program that brings AI-driven commerce directly into ChatGPT. This innovative initiative, known as “Agentic Payments,” promises to transform how Indians discover, compare, and purchase products online.
Shopping Reimagined Through Conversation
Imagine asking your AI assistant, “Help me order ingredients for a Thai-style vegetable curry for 4 people from BigBasket,” and having the entire transaction completed within the same chat interface. That’s exactly what this pilot enables. Users can now shop and pay seamlessly without leaving their conversation with ChatGPT, marking a significant shift from traditional e-commerce experiences.
The technology leverages India’s robust UPI infrastructure, which has already revolutionized digital payments across the country. By integrating UPI payments into ChatGPT’s conversational interface, the partnership creates a frictionless shopping experience where AI handles everything from product discovery to payment completion.
How It Works
The pilot program currently features BigBasket as the first retail partner, with Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank providing the payment infrastructure. Users can browse products, compare options, and complete purchases entirely through natural language conversations. The AI understands context, preferences, and requirements, then facilitates the transaction in the background.
Harshil Mathur, CEO of Razorpay, envisions a future where payments become nearly instantaneous. “With AI, that change is going to come far more faster where the time that you are purchasing something, your payments and credit are sorted in the background,” he explained. This vision points toward transactions completing in just one or two seconds, fundamentally changing the rhythm of online commerce.
The Broader Implications
This collaboration represents more than just a convenience feature. It signals a paradigm shift in how commerce might operate in an AI-driven world. By embedding payment capabilities within conversational AI, the partnership is exploring what they call “AI-driven commerce at a national scale.”
For India, already a global leader in digital payments with UPI processing billions of transactions monthly, this pilot could cement its position at the forefront of AI-powered financial innovation. The country’s strong digital infrastructure and high smartphone penetration create an ideal testing ground for such experimental features.
What’s Next?
While currently in pilot stage, the success of Agentic Payments could pave the way for broader adoption across multiple platforms and merchants. The integration of shopping, decision-making, and payments into a single conversational flow could redefine customer expectations and set new standards for digital commerce globally.
As AI continues to evolve and integrate into our daily lives, initiatives like this demonstrate how technology can make complex transactions feel effortless. The future of shopping might not involve browsing websites or apps at all—just a simple conversation with an intelligent assistant that understands your needs and executes them instantly.
