Sibin Soman 
The UPI (Unified Payments System) digital payment system is getting an upgrade, including the addition of conversational payments that allows users to chat with AI-powered systems to make payments, offline UPI payments and an increased limit for UPI Lite. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced three new features during the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Thursday, August 10.
AI-powered conversational UPI payments
NPCI plans to introduce ‘Conversational Payments’ on UPI, allowing users to make payments by conversing with AI-powered systems, which is expected to increase digital penetration in the country.
Conversational instructions can enhance UPI’s ease of use and reach, which has transformed India’s digital payments ecosystem, notes Das. The feature will be available on both smartphones and feature phones-based UPI channels, initially in Hindi and English and later in more Indian languages.
Offline UPI payments
Another feature to be announced is that UPI Lite will allow for offline UPI payments with near-field communication (NFC) technology, making payments easier for users by tapping their smartphone on the point-of-sale (PoS) machine.
“To promote the use of UPI Lite, it is proposed to facilitate offline transactions using NFC technology. This feature will not only enable retail digital payments in situations where internet or telecom connectivity is weak or not available, it will also ensure speed, with minimal transaction decline,” the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said in a statement.
Increased UPI Lite limit
RBI has proposed to increase the per transaction limit for UPI Lite to Rs 500 from Rs 200 in offline mode. The current limit for small-value digital payments in offline mode, including for National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) and UPI Lite, is Rs 2,000 per payment instrument. However, the overall limit remains at Rs 2,000 to limit the risks associated with relaxing two-factor authentication. RBI will issue instructions regarding this soon.
“There have been demands for enhancing these limits. To encourage wider adoption of this mode of payments and bring in more use cases into this mode, it is now proposed to increase the per transaction limit to Rs 500,” RBI Governer said.
