India just launched the world's first nationwide pilot letting consumers shop and pay directly through AI chatbots, starting with OpenAI's ChatGPT and expanding to Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. The initiative transforms how 1.4 billion Indians might discover and buy products, potentially reshaping global e-commerce.
India just rewrote the playbook for AI commerce. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced Thursday it's partnering with OpenAI and fintech giant Razorpay to let consumers shop and pay directly through ChatGPT - no app switching required.
The pilot launches nationwide immediately and scales to full availability within months, Razorpay confirmed to TechCrunch. It's built on two breakthrough protocols: UPI Reserve Pay, which pre-authorizes specific amounts for future purchases, and UPI Circle, which handles authentication without leaving the chat interface.
"It's not just a payment experience," Razorpay co-founder and CEO Harshil Mathur told TechCrunch. "It's a whole new discovery and commerce experience." The company has already completed proofs-of-concept with Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude, with consumer rollouts planned within weeks.
Tata Group's Bigbasket grocery chain and telecom operator Vi are the initial merchant partners, letting users order groceries or recharge mobile plans through natural conversation. Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank power the underlying financial rails.
The timing couldn't be better for OpenAI. India is already one of ChatGPT's largest markets globally, with the company launching a sub-$5 ChatGPT Go plan in August specifically for price-sensitive Indian users. The commerce pilot deepens engagement in a market where OpenAI sees massive growth potential.
India's Unified Payments Interface already processes over 20 billion transactions monthly, making it the world's most successful real-time payment system. Now NPCI is betting that embedding UPI into AI conversations could drive even broader adoption among India's billion-plus internet users.
The move puts India ahead of global markets in AI-native commerce. While OpenAI launched "Instant Checkout" with Stripe last month and Google introduced its Agent Payments Protocol, India's government-backed initiative represents the first nationwide pilot for direct AI shopping.
