Fintech Force

What next after the success of UPI? At the Global Fintech Fest, experts raise concerns amid rising AI adoption and new use cases

- By PAYAL GANGULY

THE UNIFIED PAYMENTS Interface (UPI) developed by the National Payments Corporation of India in 2016 revolutionised digital payments in the country. The use cases built on top of the instant payment system and protocol have seen rapid adoption over the years. India contributes to nearly half of the world's real-time digital transactions and reports an adoption rate of 87 percent compared to 67 percent globally, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during a keynote address at the annual Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025.

At the sixth edition of India's largest fintech event, held in Mumbai in October, the question that loomed large was what could be the next big idea in payments that can replicate the success of UPI. The answer seems to be blowing in the wind, with rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and new use cases emerging every day.

AI for driving access and inclusion for financial services formed the central theme at GFF 2025. The common use cases and launches spanned the use of agentic AI and small language models to solve consumer or merchant issues, enabling AI-based identity verification and KYC (know your customer), AI for underwriting credit and using AI responsibly to avoid fraud detection and creating safeguards against misuse of financial data.

AI-FORTIFIED UPI STACK