ChatGPT now makes UPI payments and does your shopping

India’s favourite digital companion just got a wallet. OpenAI’s ChatGPT can now make UPI payments, thanks to a new pilot program powered by Razorpay and NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India). The move folds together three things India does better than most: real-time payments, conversational AI, and a hunger for convenience.

Here’s how it works. You ask ChatGPT for a grocery refill or a specific item, say, almond milk or basmati rice, and it fetches live listings from an app or website of your choosing. Once you pick what you want, ChatGPT processes the payment securely through Razorpay’s UPI integration, without ever leaving the chat window. No switching apps, no manual PIN entries, no clutter, just a frictionless conversation that ends with a confirmed order.

Underneath the simplicity sits Razorpay’s Agentic Payments framework, built in collaboration with Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank. The system verifies identity, triggers transactions through existing UPI handles, and manages confirmations, all within seconds. You can even ask ChatGPT to track or cancel your order mid-conversation.

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For years, voice assistants promised to handle errands but stopped short at playing music or setting timers. This leap puts AI squarely into the domain of real-world transactions, bridging thought and action.

The new checkout lane

Bigbasket, a Tata enterprise, is one of the first merchants allowing customers to shop via AI interactions on ChatGPT. In the future, many more avenues will open up. Imagine booking movie tickets, paying for coffee, or tipping your delivery agent, all through natural dialogue.

With UPI as the backbone, India could become the proving ground for AI-driven financial interactions, where conversation becomes the new checkout experience. Do note that as of writing this, the feature is in the testing phase, though. It is poised to roll out soon.

So, the next time ChatGPT asks, “Would you like to order that now?”, it might not just be making small talk. It could be finalising your groceries before you’ve even left the chat.