The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the launch of new products on India's real-time payments system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), at the Global Fintech Fest 2026. According to reports from Business Standard, the new features include tap-to-pay functionality at point-of-sale terminals and a customer support solution using the Finance Model for India (FiMI) language model. The UPI tap-to-pay feature supports transactions across multiple account types, including UPI and RuPay credit cards on UPI, with the ability to transact without requiring network connectivity on mobile phones.
At the Global Fintech Fest 2026, PhonePe announced a strategic partnership with Visa to roll out three new payment solutions on its platform. The companies launched Tap to Pay, Cross Border Scan to Pay and Smart Accept solutions, building on Visa Device Tokenization introduced by PhonePe in February 2025. As reported by Business Standard, Tap to Pay allows Android users to tokenise their Visa cards and make contactless payments at point-of-sale terminals, designed to work even in low-connectivity environments. The rollout will take place in phases, starting today (9 September). PhonePe is the first app in India to launch Cross Border Scan to Pay for international transactions, designed to let users scan Visa-supported QR codes across 14 overseas markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Japan, China and South Korea.
As reported by Business Standard, the tap-to-pay feature is enabled by near-field communication (NFC) technology supported by compatible smartphones and PoS devices. Users can make UPI PIN-less transactions of up to ₹5,000, above which the user needs to enter their UPI PIN on the POS terminal. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) stated that transactions authenticated by biometrics, including face scans or fingerprints, have surpassed 6.29 billion since the launch last year.
According to Business Standard, MyUPI provides users with a single view of UPI transactions and Autopay mandates in a single window across banks and UPI apps. The platform introduces User Controls to empower users with safety features, including a Safety Switch that allows users to decline UPI debit transactions in case of suspected compromise. MyUPI also allows users to delink their mobile number from receiving UPI payments and provides payers with contextual information when paying merchants, along with automated chargeback processing for eligible transactions.
On Wednesday, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain announced the introduction of multicurrency capabilities for the forex category on Bharat Connect as part of a controlled user group (CUG) launch, as reported by Business Standard. The platform will now support Euro (EUR), British Pound (GBP), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Swiss Franc (CHF) and UAE Dirham (AED). Following the successful completion and assessment of the CUG phase, the offering is proposed to be extended across more Bharat Connect channels and participating banks, with the initiative aiming to extend the existing forex proposition beyond the US Dollar.
