India is introducing methods for voice-based and offline digital payments to develop the nation's quickly expanding digital infrastructure and bridge a gaping rural-urban divide. In order to develop India's digital infrastructure and bring the world's most populous nation online, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it a priority to watch the progress of the Universal Payments Interface, a digital payments system.

 

Digital transactions have exploded since UPI's introduction in 2016: around 350 million individuals now use UPI to pay for goods and services or to send money instantaneously. More than 50% more transactions were processed through the system in July compared to the same month last year, totaling approximately 10 billion. However, limited internet connection and lower levels of literacy outside of metropolitan regions have made it difficult for it to spread into India's poorest rural communities.

 

The Reserve Bank of India last month unveiled a strategy for "conversational" payments to close this gap. Users of UPI will be able to initiate transactions by speaking vocal transfer instructions on their phones, which will be processed via AI-based voice recognition.

 

The service will initially be offered in English and Hindi before being expanded to other languages. It will leverage open-source AI language technologies created by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

 

Users will also be able to conduct transactions devoid of the internet thanks to "near field communication" technology, which connects two nearby phones and is commonly used in contactless card transactions. According to the RBI, this will "enable retail digital payments in circumstances where internet [or] telecom connectivity is inadequate or not available."