NPCI Tech Solutions takes AI and blockchain off the UPI core
NPCI Tech Solutions takes AI and blockchain off the UPI core. Vishal Kanvaty will lead the new subsidiary after board and Reserve Bank of India approval.
Having tracked payment operators that keep an experimental bench beside the settlement engine, I read the Mumbai notice of November 4, 2026 as that split. NPCI Tech Solutions Limited is the bench: a wholly owned subsidiary set up to build capabilities beyond the core payments mandate. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) stays on the parent's product list in that same document, while artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain sit with the new company.
The same pattern is already visible on the fintech desk. CellPoint's Zenith puts an AI decisioning layer above payment orchestrators, rather than inside the switch those orchestrators sit on. NPCI Tech Solutions is the operator-side version of that arrangement. The release puts UPI with the systems the parent operates and puts AI and blockchain on the subsidiary's focus list, which is how this brief comes off the UPI core.
What NPCI Tech Solutions will build
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) describes NPCI Tech Solutions as the technology and innovation arm of the NPCI Group. The focus areas are artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital financial infrastructure, together with Global Capability Centre (GCC) services. The company will also provide technology services for electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) Setu, the Unified Ticketing Platform (UTP) and other Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) programmes.
The text names eKYC Setu and the ticketing platform as technology services, and it keeps AI and blockchain outside UPI transaction processing. Apple Pay's India launch on Axis Bank credit cards is a card-rail opening, separate from this core.
Board approval and the sister companies
NPCI Tech Solutions was established in pursuance of NPCI board approval and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval. The release lists four wholly owned subsidiaries: NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL), NPCI BHIM Services Limited (NBSL) and NPCI Tech Solutions Limited. The notice gives the technology role to the fourth name and leaves the other three as names on that list.
The parent is the umbrella entity for India's retail payments and settlement systems, set up by the RBI and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and incorporated as a "Not for Profit" company. The products it names there include UPI, RuPay, the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and the National Automated Clearing House (NACH). Those systems stay with the parent, while AI, blockchain, GCC services, eKYC Setu and the ticketing platform sit with the subsidiary.
Regulator approval, and silence from the apps
The Hindu's November 6 account stays inside the release: the subsidiary, the chief executive, the four-company list, and the board and RBI approval. ETBFSI carried the same release on November 4. The Hindu account carries no statement from PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, Visa or Mastercard. On npci.org.in the RBI appears as the authority that approved the formation.
Silence from the apps matches the document's subject, because those firms ride UPI while the notice assigns the technology build to a different company. Partior's instant-payments design left its settlement banks to square positions on the existing path. NPCI Tech Solutions draws a related line, with the experimental work in one company and the retail systems left with the parent.
Who leads NPCI Tech Solutions
Vishal Kanvaty is managing director and chief executive of NPCI Tech Solutions. The release says he has been associated with the parent for nearly a decade, led the development and commercialisation of several market innovation platforms that now sit in the subsidiary's focus areas, and will lead the company as it builds in those domains.
"As we look ahead, advancements in Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies are creating new possibilities across digital infrastructure and financial services," said Dilip Asbe, managing director and chief executive of the parent, in the November 4 release.
What bank teams should watch next
The release names no capital figure, no headcount and no date for a first product. What it does fix is the reporting line: a named chief executive, approval from the board and the RBI, and a list of work placed outside the core payments mandate. Banks that clear UPI will meet NPCI Tech Solutions first as the group company attached to eKYC Setu, the ticketing platform and the other DPI programmes the notice already names.
GCC services are a commercial technology line, and the parent describes itself as a "Not for Profit" company for the banking system's payment rails. Housing AI, blockchain and GCC work inside NPCI Tech Solutions, a company with its own chief executive, is how that brief stays off the UPI core. The test is whether later AI and blockchain projects are announced in the subsidiary's name, while UPI product changes stay with the parent.
This report is for information only and is not investment, legal or financial advice.
Reporting by Rick Steves. Filed 6 November 2026, 15:12 GMT.
Senior Reporter, Regulation and Fintech
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011.
