India's NPCI Forms Technology Subsidiary NTSL to Push Into AI and Blockchain

The new company, NPCI Tech Solutions Limited (NTSL), will work on artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital financial infrastructure and global capability centre services, according to the report.

NPCI has appointed its chief technology officer, Vishal Kanvaty, as managing director and chief executive of NTSL. Kanvaty has worked at NPCI for almost ten years, Reuters said.

NTSL's role goes beyond NPCI's core payments mandate. The subsidiary is expected to build new capabilities and supply technology services to several of India's digital public infrastructure programmes, not just the payment rails NPCI operates.

"Advancements in AI and other emerging technologies are creating new possibilities," NPCI chief executive Dilip Asbe said, according to Reuters.

NTSL is NPCI's fourth wholly owned subsidiary. The other three are NPCI International Payments, which takes UPI and RuPay to overseas markets, NPCI Bharat BillPay and NPCI BHIM Services.

Why It Matters

NPCI is the umbrella body for India's retail payments and settlement systems, and UPI has become one of the world's most widely used real-time payment networks. A dedicated technology arm gives the organisation a vehicle to develop and sell AI and distributed-ledger tools outside its regulated payments business, and could make it a supplier of technology to other parts of India's public digital stack.

The move comes as India pushes harder on AI research and development, particularly in banking and financial services. Separately, the government is close to finishing a consultation paper on AI regulation, according to recent reports.

For Gulf readers, the development is worth watching because NPCI International has linked UPI with payment systems abroad, including in the UAE. A technology arm focused on AI and blockchain could shape the services India offers to partner markets, although NPCI has not said whether NTSL will operate outside India.

NPCI did not say how much it is investing in the subsidiary or give a timeline for its first products.