On Wednesday, February 18, 2026, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced a landmark partnership with Nvidia. The goal is to build a high-performance AI foundation designed specifically for India’s digital payments, ensuring it meets the country’s strict security and regulatory rules.
A New AI Foundation for UPI
NPCI, the organization behind the popular UPI platform, will use Nvidia’s Nemotron family of open AI models. This collaboration combines NPCI’s expertise in running massive payment systems with Nvidia’s world-class computing power.
The project focuses on making real-time payments safer and more resilient. By creating a “sovereign” AI model—one built and kept within India—NPCI ensures that data stays protected while following national laws.
How AI is Already Changing UPI
NPCI has already started using AI to help users. A pilot program called the UPI Help Assistant is currently live. It uses a specialized small language model called FiMI (Financial Model for India) to help resolve user complaints quickly and consistently.
With UPI now serving nearly 50 crore active users and handling up to 21 billion transactions a month, these AI tools are essential for managing such a massive scale.
The Future: Scalable AI for Everyone
NPCI’s vision goes beyond simple assistants. They plan to build a scalable AI layer that can handle high-volume, low-latency environments—meaning the AI works instantly during a transaction.
Key features of the next phase include:
- Advanced Architecture: Using “Mixture of Experts” (MoE) to handle millions of transactions with zero delay.
- Multilingual Support: Expanding AI capabilities to understand and respond in many Indian languages.
- Ecosystem Innovation: Providing a secure platform that banks and fintech companies can use to build their own tools for fraud detection and customer service.
Vishal Kanvaty, CTO of NPCI, noted that this initiative is designed to strengthen trust and security while keeping India at the forefront of global payment technology.
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