Pine Labs launches AI agent for autonomous UPI payments

The P3P AI agent can complete a UPI payment without any human authentication. However, the human still stays in control. Currently, AI agents need a human authentication step, an MPIN, to make any payments. Pine Labs has removed this wall. It builds on UPI’s existing mandate framework - UPI One Time Mandates (OTM) and Reserve Pay.

You say, “Buy gold worth Rs 500 as soon as the price goes below Rs 16,000 per gram”, and its done! Sounds utopian, right? But it could soon become a reality with an AI agent making autonomous payments at the price set by you, so you never miss a deal, discount or sale.

Every investor would feel the pain of missing a trade at a lower price before it went out of reach. But now, you can deploy an AI agent to do this, without having to worry about missing out on the extra returns.

While you might be extensively using artificial intelligence (AI) for automating tasks, writing emails, finding the best deals, but now it can decide when to strike deals using UPI mandate. Fintech firm Pine Labs has introduced India’s first agent-to-agent payment capability.

Automated transactions: An AI agent that can make UPI payments on its own

Called Pine Labs Payment Protocol (P3P), this AI agent can complete a UPI payment without any human authentication. However, the human still stays in control. Currently, AI agents need a human authentication step, an MPIN, to make any payments. Pine Labs has removed this wall.

In agentic commerce, where AI acts on a user’s behalf, there is no person at that moment. The agent reaches checkout. The authentication screen appears. The transaction fails, the company explained.

It’s AI agent P3P builds on UPI’s existing mandate framework - UPI One Time Mandates (OTM) and Reserve Pay - wherein a user gets a mandate for a particular payment (SIP, IPO etc.), which they approve and the transaction is complete. This AI agent would need an authorisation from the consumer once. After that, the agent would browse, select, negotiate, and pay.

How P3P will work

The offering is already live on digital gold savings platform Gullak. How it works is that a Gullak user sets a simple rule: “Buy ₹500 of gold if the price drops below Rs 16,000 per gram” and approves a UPI mandate once. Gullak’s AI agent keeps a track of gold prices and does the rest. The consumer gets a confirmation, not a request for permission.

According to Gullak co-founder Manthan Shah, “With P3P, we are moving from manual savings to autonomous wealth creation.”

AI agent needs authorisation from the consumer once

After that, it would browse, select, negotiate, and pay

Can AI agents also help in online shopping, deals?

Yes. This P3P agent is also at work at Vijay Sales. Here, the value-conscious consumer can deploy the AI agent to secure a product the moment it hits their target price, instead of constantly checking for the right deal. “It’s like giving every customer a personal shopper who never misses a deal,” says Karan Gupta, Managing Director, Vijay Sales.

Meanwhile, the AI agent would soon be deployed across retail, fintech, travel, and beyond.

“An agent securing a flash sale the moment it goes live. A down payment locked in before inventory disappears. A savings trigger at the right price. These are new behaviours, native to how India transacts,” added Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau.

Is an AI agent for UPI payments safe?

Money is something that every individual is very cautious about. So, it is smart to let AI take control of the same? According to Pine Labs, Grantex takes control of keeping the AI in check. Grantex provides verifiable identity, delegated authorisation, spend controls, and auditability.

It allows the consumer to be in absolute control - checking agent identity, enforcing pre-approved spending limits, and creating a full audit trail for every payment. Moreover, the consumer can revoke or update the mandate at any time.