Agentic Payments Emerge As India’s Next Big Payments Trend: PwC Survey

India’s payments industry could be entering a new phase, with artificial intelligence beginning to play a bigger role in how payments are initiated, processed, and secured. More than half (56%) of senior fintech and payments leaders surveyed by PwC India identified agentic payments and autonomous commerce as the most disruptive trend likely to shape the industry over the next five years. The finding comes from PwC India’s The Indian Payments Handbook: 2026–31 , which describes the next stage of India’s digital payments growth as “digital depth” — a shift from simply getting more people to use digital payments towards expanding how, where, and why they are used. The report expects India’s digital payment transaction volumes to grow from about 266 billion in FY26 to 702 billion by FY31. The value of these transactions is projected to rise from ₹362 trillion to more than ₹1,086 trillion. In other words, payment volumes are expected to grow 2.5 times, while transaction value is expected to nearly triple over the next five years. UPI Still Drives Digital Payments UPI will continue to be at the centre of this growth. The payment system processed 241.6 billion transactions worth ₹314.2 trillion in FY26, according to PwC India. Merchant payments are expected to become an even larger part of UPI activity. Person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions accounted for 63% of UPI volumes in FY26 and are projected to reach 72% by FY31. Person-to-person (P2P) payments, however, are expected to remain more important when measured by value, accounting for an estimated 62% of UPI transaction value by FY31. The report identifies merchant expansion and credit-linked payments as two important drivers of UPI's next phase. In the PwC survey, 31% of respondents pointed to cross-border payment corridors and merchant transactions, while 23% identified credit-led products such as BNPL and EMI financing as key drivers of future UPI adoption. AI Moves Into the Payments Infrastructure The growing role of agentic payments is part of a wider shift towards AI across financial services. According to the report, 90% of Indian financial institutions now count AI and GenAI among their core technology priorities. Around 21% of regulated entities have already deployed AI, while another 67% are exploring additional use cases. For payments specifically, 44% of respondents expect AI's biggest impact to be on customer experience. Another 28% believe AI and machine-learning-based behavioural analytics will be critical for fraud prevention. Rajan Pental, Partner and Leader – Financial Services, PwC India, said the industry was moving from experimenting with AI to embedding it directly into payment systems. “AI is no longer just enhancing the payments experience — it's beginning to reshape how transactions are initiated, secured, and trusted,” Pental said. He added that scaling AI in payments would require the right guardrails around governance, consent, and risk. Credit Cards Become the Second Growth Engine Credit is also expected to play a bigger role in India's digital payments ecosystem. PwC India projects credit card transaction volumes to increase from 6 billion in FY26 to 17.9 billion by FY31. The number of outstanding credit cards is expected to rise from 118.6 million to 204 million during the same period. The survey found that 27% of industry leaders expect credit cards and credit to become increasingly embedded in digital ecosystems. Another 23% identified co-branded cards as a key growth opportunity. Virtual cards and agentic AI-powered payments were identified by 19% of respondents as potential drivers of the next wave of payments innovation. Debit cards, meanwhile, are expected to take on a more limited role. Although the number of debit cards in circulation is projected to increase from more than 1.04 billion in FY26 to about 1.13 billion by FY31, their transaction activity is expected to moderate as consumers increasingly use UPI and credit cards for everyday payments. Payments Move Beyond Transactions The changes are not limited to how consumers pay. The business around payments is also expected to evolve. About 33% of industry leaders surveyed by PwC India expect merchant-acquiring businesses to increasingly generate revenue from services beyond payment processing, including lending, advertising, and software-as-a-service offerings. For consumers and businesses, that points to a payments ecosystem where the transaction itself becomes just one part of a broader digital service. Mihir Gandhi, Partner and Leader – Payments Transformation and FinTech, PwC India, said India's next phase of payments growth would be defined by “digital depth rather than digital adoption”. The focus, he said, would shift towards making payments more relevant in everyday life, while building systems that are trusted, connected, global, and inclusive. PwC India conducted the Pulse survey among 20 senior professionals from the payments and fintech industry, including CXOs, product heads, strategy leads, and other senior leaders overseeing payment products. The survey covered emerging trends, innovation drivers, regulatory impact, and the outlook for India's digital payments industry.